[1] McGill's is the largest independent bus operator in the United Kingdom, as well as being named a Scottish Insider top 500 company in January 2016, coming in at 350th place.

The fleet initially consisted of 33 Mercedes-Benz minibuses hired from Arriva; services were operated from a large depot on the Easdale Industrial Estate.

[3] In October 2004, Kean sold his shares in the company to the Easdale family, who quickly replaced the hired minibuses with new low-floor vehicles, leading to increases in passenger numbers.

Between 2005 and 2008, McGill's introduced a number of new longer-distance routes connecting Inverclyde and Glasgow to Largs, and in May 2005, began operating a series of day excursions branded as Smoothiecruisers.

[4] In the same month, the firm established a second depot in Barrhead on the site of the garage used by the original McGill's Bus Services, which had been vacated by Arriva in 2002.

[6] In July 2010, the company was fined £60,000 by the Traffic Commissioner for failing to operate some services as timetabled, although it was permitted to expand its fleet from 110 to 150 vehicles.

[8] In February 2011, two small operators based in the Paisley area, Fairway Coaches and Travel Direct, were purchased by McGill's, although no vehicles were acquired.

[12][13] On 15 October 2012, it was announced that McGill's acquired the local bus services of Alexandria-based McColls Coaches for £3 million, with 30 buses joining the fleet.

[18] In October 2014 McGill's Coaches bought Henderson Travel after it suddenly ceased business, resulting in the company expanding in North Lanarkshire and becoming the dominant operator in the Monklands area by early 2016.

[citation needed] On 20 January 2016, McGill's announced its first acquisition in the Monklands area of Lanarkshire, when a deal was reached to purchase the bus routes of McNairn Coaches and JJ Travel for an undisclosed sum.

[25][26] The network was expanded in 2022 with the addition of a service from Glasgow to Manchester and an internal service between Glasgow and Aberdeen,[27][28] the latter becoming subject to a legal dispute in April 2023 between FlixBus and the Stagecoach Group, with Flixbus submitting a complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority accusing Stagecoach of a conflict of interest after their slot at Aberdeen's bus station was withdrawn.

[11] Former Arriva Scotland West managing director Ralph Roberts joined McGill's in March 2010,[38] later becoming the company's chief executive.

[citation needed] General manager Bert Hendry and finance director Graeme Davidson retained their positions, while James Easdale became the firm's chairman.

Colin Napier, who had previously worked for Coakley Bus & Coach and McKindless, became the company's area manager for its eastern operations in August 2010.

[39] Napier has since been appointed to Head of Operations & Commercial,[needs update] and in July 2024, Robbie Drummond was named Finance Director and Company Secretary.