'Alexander Dennis Buses - A Brief History', Andrew Gray, Key Account Manager
Wed, Mar 18th 2015 at 12:00 am - 12:00 am
The Club meeting will be extended to host a round of the District Quiz against members of Loanhead & Roslin Rotary Club who we welcome for the evening.
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Our speaker Andrew Gray delivered an enlightening and absorbing talk on the origins and history of the bus manufacturing company Alexander Dennis Ltd.
Andrew took us back to the early 1900's when Walter Alexander started a business in Falkirk manufacturing bicycles. In 1913 with his son in the business Walter Alexander & Son launched a public transport enterprise - 'Charabang' trips for one penny fares!
The company started to build buses in 1924 but along with other bus companies was bought over by the then expanding railway companies in 1928. In 1929 it was sold to Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) with the trading name Alexanders retained. Bus services were nationalised in 1948, however Alexanders continued to manufacture and maintain bus fleets from their base in Falkirk. In 1970 Alexanders sold its first busses to the Far East.
Various mergers and corporate changes followed. In 2001 Transbus International was created merging Walter Alexander, Hestair Dennis and Plaxton, companies with manufacturing bases in Falkirk, Guildford and Scarborough.
In 2004 with the future of the group in doubt three Scottish businessmen, Messers Grosset, Souter and Murray raised funding to buy the company and secure future trading.
Alexander Dennis Ltd now manufactures and sells busses and maintenance contracts world wide - United States (including the Las Vegas strip buses), Canada, Middle East, China and New Zealand, employs a total of 2,200 and has a turnover of £1billion of which 50% is attributed to exports.
Andrew shared his thoughts with us on the future design of the public bus. Hybrid (Diesel/Electric) are now established and widely used, All Electric not quite 'there' yet but he surprised us with news that a trial in Bristol of buses run on human waste (bio-methane - sounds better) is proving successful and he was enthusiastic about the future of this propulsion system. Andrew did not forsee driverless busses on our streets in the near future - someone has to collect the fares.
Brian Buchanan on behalf of the Club gave Andrew our thanks.
Report by Jim Douglas
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