a snapshot of the buses of yesteryear

Traditionally the Isle of Mull was served by the daily Macbraynes mail steamer Lochearn from Oban, which called at Craignure, Salen and Tobermory.  It sailed from the island's capital Tobermory to Oban in the morning and returned in the afternoon.  Bus services on the island were largely geared to the steamer timetable and in the early 1960's comprised:

Craignure - Fionnphort for the ferry to Iona, operated once daily by Bowman of Craignure

        (believed to have been started by Cameron of Duntulm in the early 1920's, passing to Bowman in 1956)

Craignure - Lochbuie, operated by McFadyen of Croggan

        (previous operators included McComisky, Reid, Munro and Gibson)

Salen - Ulva Ferry, operated by McColl of Salen

        (originally MacRae of Torloisk then Black of Ulva Ferry)

Tobermory - Calgary, operated by Carmichael of Tobermory

        (thought to have been started in the 1920's by McDonald,

                      then Farquharson and McGillivray)

Tobermory - Salen - Gruline, operated by Cowe of Tobermory, including school and shopping journeys.

        (the Cowes owned the MacDonald Arms hotel in Tobermory - their coach tours started in 1928 and the bus route in about 1946)

The introduction of a car ferry between Oban and Craignure in 1964 to meet the changing needs of both tourist and resident brought Macbraynes buses to Mull for the first time, with a new route from Craignure and Salen to Tobermory, covering the villages at which the now discontinued mail steamer had called.  The Macbraynes bus operated four times a day to connect with the car ferry at Craignure, and there were additional local journeys between Tobemory, Salen and Gruline at school and shopping times to replace the service previously run by R & A Cowe.  Five of Cowes vehicles passed into the Macbraynes fleet.  Other routes remained much as before at this time, but with increased frequency to Fionnphort for the Iona Ferry on Bowman's service.

Changes came with the passing of the years, with all of Macbraynes bus services passing to other operators.  In the case of Mull the routes transferred to Highland in 1972.  This was short-lived and by 1980 Bowman had taken over the Tobermory - Craignure route as well as continuing their Craignure - Fionnphort route.  The Lochbuie route was a postbus by 1980.  The mid-1990s and the era of bus deregulation saw a couple of years of somewhat unlikely competition on Mull in 1994/95, with Essbee Coaches of  Coatbridge near Glasgow competing head-to-head with Bowman on the Tobermory and Fionnphort routes.  Although sparsely populated, the island receives many summer visitors, especially those heading for Iona, no doubt an influencing factor in the competitive scenario of the time.  Now there is also the Isle of Mull narrow gauge railway from Craignure to Torosay Castle.