McGill's quit all its West Lothian bus routes a year after promising improvements

In late September 2023 McGill's Eastern Scottish, the area's major bus supplier, announced it was quitting all of its West Lothian routes by December, leaving towns and villages facing little or no service. The X22 and X24 Livingston–Edinburgh services would be axed from 15 October. Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop noted the exit was 'not in line with the improvement plans they laid out to me following their takeover of services from First Bus' just over a year earlier.

Chief executive Ralph Roberts said the owners had invested around £4.5m and were pumping in over £80,000 a week to keep the business going. 'We've owned the business just over a year now and it was an ailing business when we took it over,' he said. 'We haven't just cut and run, we gave it our best shot.' He blamed competition from rival Lothian Buses, rail service coverage and post-Covid changes, and argued only government funding could keep the routes alive.

The exit triggered a political crisis: First Minister Humza Yousaf agreed to a crisis meeting between the transport minister, Transport Scotland and West Lothian Council, whose leader said thousands relied on buses to reach work and hospital. Earlier in 2023 Save Our Buses protested after the Scottish government ended emergency Covid funding; the worst-hit villages got buses back only on a council subsidy, less often than before. Commuters like hospital worker Dianne Hamilton, who depended on the number 23 bus to St John's hospital, faced losing the only way to get to work.

About £4.5m invested and over £80,000 a week burned; towns and villages left facing little or no bus service

The takeover of First Bus's routes came with improvement plans presented to the transport secretary that the company could not fund

Weekly losses of £80,000 on top of £4.5m of owner investment made the network commercially unsustainable without subsidy

Competition from Lothian Buses and parallel rail coverage left the routes without a viable fare base after Covid-era support ended

Taking over an ailing network on improvement promises fails when the funding model collapses underneath the promise

As of 2023-09-29 the first minister had agreed to facilitate a crisis meeting and McGill's withdrawal was set to proceed: X22 and X24 gone from 15 October, the remaining West Lothian routes by December, with communities and the council searching for a funded replacement.