The company has its origins in the Dundee and District Tramways Company, which commenced horse tram operations on 30 August 1877. Steam traction was adopted in 1885. On 1 June 1899, the company was compulsorily acquired by the local municipality to become Dundee City Tramways, which was electrified between 1900 and 1902. From 1922, motor buses began to be operated in addition to the trams. The tram system continued to be extended until 1933, however by 1956, the trams had been fully replaced by buses and the company renamed Dundee Corporation Transport.^[1]

Local government reorganisation meant that the bus operation passed to Tayside Regional Council in May 1975.^[2][3] In spite of the change of name, the council's bus operations were confined to the Dundee area. The livery was changed from green to dark blue, light blue and white.^[4]

In preparation for bus deregulation in October 1986, Tayside was restructured into a separate legal entity, Tayside Bus Company Limited.^{[5][better source needed]} In 1990, the company acquired the operations of Greyhound Luxury Coaches and rebranded it as Tayside Greyhound, operating it as the company's private coach and bus hire arm.^{[6][better source needed]} Tayside Public Transport was eventually sold in an employee buyout in June 1991.^[7][8]

In February 1997, Tayside was sold to National Express and was subsequently rebranded Travel Dundee.^[9][10] The livery changed again, this time to blue, red and white.

Travel Dundee had been a contractor to Scottish Citylink for many years. However, shortly after the formation of a joint venture between Citylink and Stagecoach in November 2005, Travel Dundee's services ceased.^{[citation needed]} They were reinstated at short notice from 9 January 2006 when extra journeys were added to route M91 from Perth direct to Edinburgh. In May 2006, Travel Dundee commenced operating journeys on route M90 Perth - Kinross - Dunfermline - Edinburgh. Citylink ceased for the third time in September 2008, as part of a review of coaching activities.^{[11][better source needed]}

In November 2007, the National Express Group announced plans to re-brand all of their operations under a new unified National Express identity. Travel Dundee was rebranded as National Express Dundee in line with the group's other bus operations in October 2008, with buses taking on a red and white livery.^[12]

On 12 September 2015 National Express Dundee was rebranded as Xplore Dundee, with a green livery resembling that of Dundee Corporation Transport.^[13]

In December 2020 the National Express Group sold the business to McGill's Bus Services.^[14][15]

As of January 2024, Xplore Dundee operates a fleet of 94 buses and coaches.^{[citation needed]}

From 1997 to 1999, shortly after National Express took over, Travel Dundee received 30 Wright Liberator-bodied Volvo B10Ls and 25 Wright Renown-bodied Volvo B10BLEs.^[16] In 2004, the fleet was upgraded with 18 new Wright Eclipse Gemini double-deckers. The company later purchased 29 new Wright Eclipse Urban 2-bodied Volvo B7RLEs in 2011 and 2012, which were used to replace older vehicles,^{[citation needed]} and in 2013, the company received its first nine Alexander Dennis Enviro400H hybrid electric buses, partly funded by the Scottish Government Green Bus Fund.^[17]

Following the rebrand to Xplore Dundee in 2015, the company took delivery of 14 brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC buses, branded as 'Emerald' buses and with USB charging and free WiFi, for service mainly on route 22 in December 2018.^[18][19] These were supplemented with a further nine Emerald-specification Enviro400 MMCs in early 2020,^[20] after which the company pledged not to buy another diesel-powered vehicle.^[21]

In December 2021, following the takeover of the company by McGill's, twelve new Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV battery electric buses entered service with Xplore Dundee on service 28 between Myrekirk and Douglas via Lochee Road, claimed to be one of Scotland's most polluted roads.^[22][23]

During 2023, as part of the operator's 'Project Boost' initiative, Xplore Dundee received multiple refurbished Alexander Dennis Enviro400s for use on routes 1, 32 and 33 to replace some of the older vehicles in the fleet. These buses featured a new livery for the company and meet Euro VI emissions standards, producing 96% less polluting emissions compared to the older vehicles these buses replaced. Three different models of double-decker electric buses were also trialled on various local services between October and December 2023.^{[24][better source needed]} The buses trialled were the Volvo BZL, Wright StreetDeck Electroliner and Yutong U11DD.

As of April 2024, Xplore Dundee operate 21 routes in the city, including 7 school routes.^[25]

FLY edit

FLY is an express coach service operated by Xplore Dundee, operating 24 hours to a 90-minute frequency between Dundee City Centre and Edinburgh Airport.^[26] The service, originally known as the X90, was launched on June 9, 2019;^[27] the service was relaunched following the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2021 with green and turquoise coaches.^[28]

Discover Dundee edit

Xplore Dundee launched an open top bus tour named 'Discover Dundee' across Dundee in April 2022, which travels across the city from Discovery Point to the Dundee Law, with an extension route across the Tay Road Bridge and connections to other conventional bus routes via the city centre.^[29][30]

• Official website