Deregulation presented both challenges and opportunities for Kelvin Scottish. During the regulated era, bus operators were protected from competition but could not change their routes without the approval of the licensing authority, and rival operators could object to applications. Historically, Glasgow Corporation had sought to prevent Scottish Bus Group services from penetrating into the middle of the city centre, partly to avoid congestion in the busiest streets but also as a means of bolstering their own tramway revenue. When Kelvin Scottish was formed, the former Alexander (Midland) and Scottish Omnibuses routes from north and east of the city terminated at Buchanan bus station on the northern edge of the city centre, whilst the former Central SMT routes from the west used Anderston bus station on the western extremity of the city centre. Passengers wishing to travel further into the city centre had to either walk or change to a Strathclyde Buses service. Deregulation allowed services to be extended further into the city centre, which would make services more convenient for passengers. On the other hand, a significant proportion of Kelvin's route network served the city's suburbs and peripheral estates and had been protected from competition from Strathclyde Buses due to the arbitrary company boundaries which regulation had created. As the city had expanded outward, Glasgow Corporation had not been allowed to extend its own services to serve these new estates as they were deemed to be SBG 'territory'. These busy and profitable urban routes were an important part of Kelvin's business, but with deregulation Strathclyde Buses would be able to extend their existing city services out to serve these areas, which would cause a serious loss of revenue for Kelvin. The inherited route network was therefore extensively reorganised in an effort to retain as many of the suburban passengers as possible whilst gaining new passengers within the city. Although deregulation itself took place in October 1986, Kelvin received permission to introduce its new routes from 31 August. Many of the routes serving the suburbs and peripheral estates were linked together to create new cross-city routes instead of terminating in the city centre, with some of these being operated by former London Transport AEC Routemasters. The elderly Routemasters were faster than other buses because instead of passengers paying the driver on entry the fares were collected by a conductor whilst on the move, and the much shorter dwell time at bus