JOHN YOUNG samples bus services on the border between England and Scotland, primarily the territory of Borders Buses
As the name implies, Borders Buses’ smart, attractive red and cream liveried buses can be seen across a large swathe of the Borders region. This is only a relatively recent phenomenon, however.
Munro’s of Jedburgh had a significant presence in the local bus service market until it closed down in July 2013.
Subsequent to this, Perryman’s gained a large contract to operate tendered services across the Borders region, stretching into Northumberland. In turn, Perryman’s was bought by West Coast Motors in February 2016. Later the same year some former First operations were also taken on by West Coast and then in March 2017, First made the decision to quit their remaining Borders operations, with West Coast again picking up the mantle. Four months later, local operations were rebranded to the more geographically appropriate Borders Buses name.
In the intervening six years I have been impressed by the fleet presentation of Borders Buses and have come to see them more often. Keen to sample their offer, a friend and I had positioned ourselves in Edinburgh on a weekday at the end of September …
