Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd and operated until 1997, when it became Western Buses Ltd. This successor company is now a part of Stagecoach West Scotland. Operation From its head office in Nursery Avenue, Kilmarnock, Western Scottish covered an operating area bounded by Ardrossan in the north, Glasgow to the east, the Firth of Clyde to the west and Carlisle to the south. Western was the largest operator in south west Scotland and was responsible for local bus services in the towns of Kilmarnock, Ayr, Cumnock, Girvan, Stranraer and Dumfries as well as rural services, interurban connections and cross-border journeys into north west England. Depots were located in those towns, as well as Annan, Ardrossan, Carlisle (shared with Cumberland Motor Services) and Whithorn. Vehicles were also 'outstationed' at Kirkcudbright, Lockerbie, Penpont and Sanquhar. The company would eventually establish bases in Brodick, Isle of Arran and Dunoon, Argyll also. Western Scottish also provided coaches for Scottish Citylink work, mainly from the south west of Scotland to Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and the south. Though the northern portion of the former Western SMT's operating area, covering Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and the Isle of Bute, was ceded to a new company, Clydeside Scottish, in June 1985 (in order to prepare the Scottish Bus Group for deregulation in 1986 and eventual privatisation), Clydeside Scottish was remerged with Western in May 1989. Depots at Largs, Greenock, Paisley, Johnstone, Inchinnan, Rothesay and Thornliebank on the south side of Glasgow were added on the merger of the two companies. History Though its predecessor company Western SMT had a much longer and more distinguished history, Western Scottish was a relatively short lived legal creation. The traditional, smart red and cream livery the vehicles wore gave way to a black, white and two-tone grey scheme shortly after the company was created. This livery was short lived, however, and a black, white and red scheme took over within a couple of years. Due to the length of time taken to repaint the fleet, for a number of years vehicles appeared in three distinct liveries. Western suffered from heavy competition after deregulation, particularly around Kilmarnock and Ayr, which, as the heavier populated areas of its operating area, provided the firm with the bulk of its income. Keenan of Ayr, Carrick Coaches, Shuttle Buses