Moving quickly to support McGill’s growth

The McGill’s Bus Group have taken over the First Scotland East operation in a further expansion by the Greenock-based bus company.

A key partner to McGill’s, technology provider Passenger, has launched the newly acquired operation on its industry-leading Passenger Cloud customer experience platform, as it unveils the new digital offer to customers under the new McGill’s Scotland East branding.

McGill’s has taken over First’s depots in Livingston, Larbert, Bannockburn and Balfron, renamed as McGill’s Midland Bluebird and McGill’s Eastern Scottish, but collectively operating as McGill’s Scotland East.

All active mobile tickets have been migrated from First’s digital platform to Passenger, providing a continuation of service to customers as the business transfers. McGill’s East Scotland also utilises the platform’s journey planning, bus timetables and live vehicle tracking capabilities.

Colin Napier, Group Service Delivery Director at McGill’s commented: “Our strong supplier relationships are key to McGill’s strategy. The team at Passenger delivered everything we asked of them and more in a very challenging timeframe. They are set up to provide critical support to their customers quickly when opportunities arise, allowing us to focus on the task of welcoming the new business into the McGill’s stable and delivering on our promise to our customers.“

The new McGill’s Scotland East app and website underpins the growth of McGill’s Group, building on its successful purchase of Xplore Dundee in early 2021 – also a Passenger customer.

Helen Connolly, Director of Customer Success at Passenger commented: “We’ve worked quickly to support McGill’s with the acquisition, delivering 3 months of activity in an intense 3-week rollout. It has been a real team effort to get this mobilised in time.

“It shows us what can be achieved when teams are aligned and you trust your partners. We’ve completed everything that was mission critical for transfer day, including a complex migration of tickets from First’s mobile ticket supplier, and will continue to support over the coming weeks. We’ll be working closely with transferred staff to ensure they have all the training and support they need to deliver a great initial experience for customers under the new ownership.”

The new McGill’s Scotland East app is available to download on iOS and Android, with the website available at https://www.mcgillsscotlandeast.co.uk/.

Passenger was recently highlighted by Passenger Transport magazine as the driving force in a massive improvement in public transport apps over the last three years.