Stagecoach Bluebird (also known by its legal operating name Bluebird Buses Ltd, and formerly Northern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd) is a Scottish bus company which operates bus services in the areas of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group. The company held a royal warrant granted by Elizabeth II for bus and coach services in 1996, which expired with the death of Elizabeth II in 2022. Operation From its head office on Guild Street, Aberdeen, Stagecoach Bluebird covers an operating range stretching over Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray. It is the largest operator in the north east of Scotland and is responsible for urban, rural and interurban services in the towns of Alford, Ballater, Braemar, Buckie, Elgin, Forres, Fraserburgh, Fyvie, Macduff, Mintlaw, Peterhead and Stonehaven as well as city services in Aberdeen. Depots are also located in these towns. Bluebird also provide coaches for Scottish Citylink services, mainly from Aberdeen to Perth, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh. History The company was formed as Northern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd in June 1985 from the northern operations of W. Alexander & Sons (Northern) Ltd, then a member of the Scottish Bus Group. The southern operations in Blairgowrie, Arbroath, Montrose, Forfar and Dundee were ceded to a new company, Strathtay Scottish, now Stagecoach Strathtay. From its creation, the company retained the traditional yellow and cream livery from its SBG predecessor. On the approach to deregulation of the British bus industry in 1986, Northern had a working relationship with Aberdeen city operator Grampian Regional Transport, and operated some services together under the Grampian Scottish name. However, the co-operation would be short lived, and upon deregulation Northern Scottish launched a network of services throughout Aberdeen under the CityBus brand and adopting dual-door double deckers, non-standard for Northern but common with Grampian. A livery was adopted for the CityBus operation incorporating large areas of blue. In response, Grampian would extend its operations outwith Aberdeen and into Northern's rural operating base. Outside Aberdeen, Northern saw little to no competition, thanks in part to its largely rural and remote territory. Toward privatisation the company resurrected the classic bluebird logo that was once used by Walter Alexander for its coaching operations. Midland Scottish, itself a fellow SBG subsidiary and once also part of the Alexander's company, had continued to use the same logo, and as it rebranded itself as Midland Bluebird, Northern Scottish began trading as Bluebird