A Volvo B8RLE MCV eVoRa in JMB Travel’s colourful green and grey livery, with a dash of purple. This bus is at the temporary Lanark terminus on route 41.
JMB Travel are a firm that operate local and inter-urban bus services across Lanarkshire. The company is based at Newmains, to the East of Wishaw. Having never used JMB Travel before, or toured South Lanarkshire, I decided to try the 41, which runs from Lanark to Hamilton, via Carluke, Wishaw, Motherwell and Hamilton. There were good reasons for doing this: one, the 41 bus is a combination of a semi-rural and inter-urban service; two, JMB Travel have relatively recently increased the frequency of the weekday service to one bus every 10 minutes during day time (previously one bus every 15 minutes); and three, the 41 also has connections at Motherwell or Hamilton to express services to Glasgow: X5, Motherwell; and X1 Hamilton. I wanted to try these too.
Between Motherwell and Lanark, besides JMB Travel, there are two other companies that serve this corridor. Firstbus operates service 243 on a 15 minute daytime frequency; and Stuarts Coaches of Carluke, runs express service 240X from Lanark to Glasgow on an hourly basis. Local customers therefore have the opportunity to compare the quality of service along this route from the competing providers, though in my case, I stuck to JMB Travel for the day.
The clean cut interior of the Volvo B8RLE MCV eVoRa on route 41, Lanark to Hamilton. Note the seat belts provided. Thanks to a sign above the seats, I now know that it is a legal requirement to wear them where fitted..
I boarded at Lanark, at the temporary terminus by the railway station, as the interchange is currently being rebuilt. First impressions are of a welcoming and well maintained bus, which proves to be the case for the four different Volvo buses that I use on this route. Internal CCTV also provides the reassurance of security for passengers. I bought my ticket from the driver: a £9.00 daysaver that includes the leg from either Motherwell (X5) or Hamilton (X1) to Glasgow. A daysaver excluding Glasgow is just £5.40, valid across the dozen or so substantive routes operated by JMB Travel. As the crow flies, Hamilton is 30 miles away from Lanark; and Glasgow 12 miles further north. A £9.00 day ticket is good value for that distance.
The scheduled journey time for the route from Lanark to Hamilton is 55-60 minutes. That was achieved on my first mid-morning trip, despite the road works along the route. The late afternoon journey was more problematic, with heavy traffic in Wishaw and Motherwell town centres slowing down our progress, in addition to the temporary traffic lights; and we arrived on 75 minutes. I had downloaded and printed off the timetable from the JMB Travel website. [LINK]
https://www.jmbtravel.co.uk/timetables/46a1b9d9-3253-4602-bdca-ee23e4780793
But I was able to obtain the printed pocket sized timetables (both for the 41 and X1) from the helpful drivers. The foldaway timetable for the 41 provides a route map on the reverse, as well as location of the bus stops in Motherwell and Lanark. It also includes timings for the hourly X5 to Glasgow from Motherwell Library, an interchange point for the 41 with the X5.
An interesting and thoughtful touch: information about a local festival unique to Lanark, on signage above the seats on the 41 bus.
I picked up the X1 service to Glasgow from Hamilton Bus Station. This runs every 30 minutes (hourly on Sundays), with a journey time of around 25-30 minutes. The X1 serves various districts within Hamilton, starting out from Hillhouse. The pocket timetable usefully includes a map of Hamilton and shows the route through the various estates. From Hamilton Bus Station, the bus runs along the M74 and M8 into Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station. On the day I travelled, extensive road works around Buchanan Street were causing delays for most bus operators, mainly owing to road closures and diversions.
A longer version of the Volvo MCV eVoRa at Hamilton Bus Station, on the Express Route X1 to Glasgow.
Once again, the interior of the X1 was clean and welcoming; and the fabric seats were comfortable. In both respects, this also proved to be the case with a similar Volvo MVC eVoRa that operated on the X5 to Motherwell, which uses almost an identical route along the M8 and M74, through to junction 6, where the bus turns left for Motherwell rather than right for Hamilton. Both buses were busy suggesting that such express bus services to Glasgow are popular.
The classy interior of the Volvo B8RLE MCV EVoRa on Route X1 to Glasgow. Again, the seating comes with seat belts. Quite appropriate given that this bus travels along the motorways (M74 and M8) to get to Buchanan Bus Station.
I should mention the JMB Travel website, which is more sophisticated than I was expecting from one of the smaller operators. The site has a page listing all of its bus routes. [LINK]
https://www.jmbtravel.co.uk/timetables
Click on any specific route and you are then taken to a split page which includes the geographical map of the route, complete with live tracking of buses currently on the route; and below this part of the screen, the timetables for the roue you have enquired about. The fleet list on the bottom of the page also allows you to track an individual bus on a geographical map. Fascinating!
Under the “Fares and Tickets” menu option, the website takes you to information on the variety of tickets available; and the ways in which you can pay for these. These options also include mobile ticketing, via the JMB Travel MyTrip app. Even the paper ticket that I bought (my daysaver) included reference to the MyTrip app, with the message “buy bus tickets on your phone and track your bus live”. The drivers also accept contactless payments on the bus with a debit or credit card. I did use this option for my £9.00 day saver, but cash is also accepted.
Victorian cast iron Water Fountain, Windmillhill Street in Motherwell, Category C designated. Looks to be recently restored. Now located on the green on Crosshill Steet, easy to spot from the 41 bus.
I made six journeys with JMB Travel on my £9.00 daysaver ticket, covering the route of the 41 bus three times (once with a stop-off), with two additional journeys on the X1 and X5. I was struck by the quality of the services, the time-keeping, the smart interiors and exteriors of the buses; and the friendliness of the drivers. An enjoyable day out. I certainly look forward to travelling with JMB Travel again.
The photographs are all my own.
Steven Ardron
1 June 2026
