Kelvin Scottish - Fleet

Fleet

The fleet acquired by Kelvin at its formation was very mixed. Of the 381 vehicles initially used, 135 were double-deck. Nine types of vehicles were operated. The largest constituent was 153 Leyland Leopard single-deckers; the first new buses were six Leyland Tigers ordered by Central Scottish prior to the creation of Kelvin.

A fleet of 40 Routemaster buses were purchased from London Transport in 1986 to launch the new services in competition with Strathclyde Buses. Kelvin had not previously employed conductors, but introduced them for these services. This meant the vehicles did not have to spend as long loading at bus stops as one-person operated buses and were able to offer quicker journeys through Glasgow. The Routemasters proved popular with both passengers and staff and continued to operate into the 1990s under successor company Kelvin Central, which was one of the last operators of the type in regular service in Scotland.

Although the original fleet did not include any minibuses, a large number of Mercedes-Benz vehicles were introduced from September 1986 on a high-frequency route in central and northern Glasgow; it did not prove profitable and was converted to full-size operation a year later, with many of the minibuses transferred to other SBG subsidiaries. Another unusual vehicle in the Kelvin fleet was the only Leyland Lynx bought by Scottish Bus Group, which was delivered new in 1989. Six rare Leyland Lion double-deckers were ordered in 1988, but owing to a large cut in Kelvin's peak vehicle requirement they did not enter service with the company and were instead sent to Clydeside Scottish.