Stagecoach West Scotland () is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, comprising Western Buses Ltd based in Ayr, Scotland. Operations Stagecoach West Scotland operates in west central and southwest Scotland, in an area bounded by Largs and Braehead to the north, Hamilton to the east, Stranraer and Lockerbie to the south and the Isle of Arran to the west. Frequent express services also reach Glasgow and Edinburgh from throughout Ayrshire & the X74 and 101 from Dumfries. Stagecoach West Scotland operates under Stagecoach Western which is the prevalent brand and is used for the vast majority of bus operations throughout the West Scotland region. Most Stagecoach Western branded vehicles wear the old Stagecoach corporate livery of red, blue, orange and white, while the remainder wear the new Stagecoach corporate liveries. It is the principal trading name of Western Buses Ltd. The company also provide vehicles for Scottish Citylink express work, mainly on the Glasgow to Edinburgh corridor, and also for Megabus, mainly running from Aberdeen to London. Stagecoach West Scotland had faced sustained competition from the FirstGroup between Ardrossan and Kilmarnock since Stagecoach launched its network of Glasgow city services in the heart of First's Glasgow operating territory in 1997, though First withdrew from Ayrshire in October 2005 leaving Stagecoach the sole dominant operator once again. While minor competition existed for several years from T & E Docherty around Irvine, Stagecoach has since purchased the routes and vehicles used by that operator. Minor competition exists from Shuttle Buses between Irvine and Girdle Toll (including local operation around Kilmarnock and Irvine) along with competition in the Irvine area from Bennetts of Kilwinning, JAS Transport around the Ardrossan, West Kilbride and Largs areas and also McGill's Bus Services between Largs and Greenock. At both the 2005 and 2006 UK Bus Awards, Stagecoach West Scotland took the top award of 'UK Bus Operator of the Year', having narrowly missed out on the prize in 2004. It also received the 'Best Large Fleet Operator' award at the industry ceremony for both years. History Stagecoach arrived in the west of Scotland when it purchased Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd of Kilmarnock for £6 million in July 1994. Western Scottish was, at that time, owned by its management and employees, who had purchased the company from the state-owned Scottish Bus Group in October 1991 on the breakup and privatisation of that concern. Stagecoach wasted no time