At the time, Clydeside's operating area was much larger, covering Inverclyde (including the towns of Gourock and Greenock), the Isle of Bute and much of the south side of Glasgow.

A more vibrant red, white and yellow livery was introduced, and new "Flagship" routes were created to raise quality levels.

[2] Clydeside Buses was included in the 1 August 1996 sale of British Bus to the Cowie Group,[4][5] which in November 1997 was rebranded as Arriva.

It was also interested in purchasing Midland Bluebird and a Strathclyde Buses depot if they were sold following the OFT's requirements for First to sell them but Stagecoach's increased attempts at competing for the Greater Glasgow bus market put paid to that.

So then it invited other operators the opportunity to participate instead and was pleasantly surprised to see bids from Arriva using new low floor buses, for a substantially cheaper price than Lothian!

In a move that some might consider to be of a dubious nature, Lothian also stated later that day that they could run the contracts for free when previously it couldn't.

Confusingly, the new operation was branded as McGill's Bus Services - the company name and operating licence having been purchased with McGill's of Barrhead - based in Port Glasgow, and employing a livery of blue, white and gold in the same styles as both Arriva and the GMS division, depending on what type of vehicle it was applied to.