17 Operators Serve Merseyside
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Seven Municipalities -and 10 Companies Provide Bus Services in the Liverpool-Widnes Area by D. Randall
NO fewer than seven municipalities and 10 bus companies are concerned in providing regular pkssenger transport services on Merseyside, a term which is used to distinguish the district lying on the north side of the River Mersey and bounded roughly by Liverpool in the west and Widnes in
the east. . The municipal undertakings are those of Liverpool, Widnes, Warrington, Leigh, Salford, St. Helens and Wigan. Crosville Motor Services, Ltd., Ribbre Motor Services, Ltd., Lancashire United Transport, Ltd., Northern General Omnibus Co., Ltd., North Western Road Car Co„ Ltd:, Yorkshire Woollen District Transport Co., Ltd., West Yorkshire Road Car Co., Ltd., United Automobile Services, Ltd., Western S.M.T. Co., Ltd., and Scottish Omnibuses. Ltd., are the companies concerned.
Widnes Corporation introduced the first regular motorbus service on Merseyside in 1907, after deciding against using trams. Some four years later, Liverpool Corporation, who were then running 70 miles of electric tramways, including those leased from Bootle and Litherland, ventured into bus operation by taking over the Woolton and District Motor Omnibus Co., which then connected the outer tram terminus at Calderstones Park with the c14 village of Woolton. Several additional routes followed, but further growth was stilted during the 1914-18 war.
In 1919, a revised plan of development was put into operation, and-motorbus services were introduced as feeders, trams still being preferred for the city routes. The extension of the city boundaries, and the growth of housing estates, caused more reliance to be placed on buses, and gradually the fleet was increased until. in 1934, 126 vehicles were operating, approximately 40 per .cent, of which were doubledeckers.
Private enterprise, which was not looked upon too favourably in the past, did 'not obtain a footing in the city for several years, although it had been serving the district for some time. One of the companies concerned was Crosville Motor Services, Ltd., who began a service between Warrington and Present in 1921, and in the following year connected Warrington with Garston via Widnes, a route which was the first to be extended into the city when a licence was eventually obtained in 1925.
At present, there are three services between Liverpool (Pier Head) and Prescot by three different routes; three services also operate through to Warrington, with additional services to Halewood and Widnes. All are operated with double-deckers.
A joint service which cuts across the fringe of Liverpool's outer suburbs is provided between Speke and St. Helens by Ribble and St. Helens Corporation. Agreements over the working of these routes have been negotiated with Liverpool, Widnes and Warrington. The first agreement with Warrington dates baCk to 1921, and has since been revised, and the one with Widnes has operated since 1927: Arrangements were first made with Liverpool in 1931—before this a 6d. minimum fare Was charged within the city—and new terms were agreed in 1936.
During this period, Crosville operated one of the city routes, between Pier .Head and Garston, for Liverpool Transport Department by special arrangement. No joint services now exist between Crosville and Liverpool. Crosville " territory " is approximately the area between the main Liverpool-Prescot road and Warrington. Depots are situated at Edge Lane (Liverpool) and Warrington.
Express routes are workei to Caernarvon, Bangor, Amlwch and Pwllheli, and there are day and night services to London.
Close on Crosville's heels, Ribble entered Liverpool from Ormskirk and Preston, and later from the Southport and Crosby areas.
These routes approached Liverpool through districts where housing pro grammes were being pushed forward rapidly, and, consequently, initial hourly headway services soon became inadequate to deal with the traffic.
The city boundaries on that side of Liverpool have not extended as much as in other parts, and the job of cater ing for this traffic fell to Ribble, although certain services from the city to the Ford, Orrell and Aintree districts, which travel via Bootle, are operated jointly with the corporation transport department.
Merged with these is a group of services started under the auspices of
the Merseyside Touring Company, Ltd., who were taken over by Ribble many years ago.
Consolidation by Ribble
• The erstwhile tramway leased to the Liverpool Overhead Railway Co. by the urban district councils of Waterloo and Crosby was closed down in 1925, a local company, Waterloo and Crosby Motor Services, Ltd., then taking on
the task of providing transport for this route by motorbuses. Waterloo and
Crosby Motor Services were also purchased by Ribble, enabling the whole area to be consolidated.
At. present, seven services arc operated. These include services to Aintree, Ford and Orrell, and two joint services between Walton and Sefton, and Aintree and Netherton. Another group extends from Liverpool through Bootk and Seaforth to Waterloo, Crosby, Hall Road and Thornton.
There are 12 of these services, numbered one to nine, and 15, 20 and 30, and all are prefixed by the letter. L. Headw.ays vary from seven to 30 min. A bus station has been established at Crosby to deal with the traffic.
Limited-stop services are run to Preston, via Southport, and long-distance express runs have been developed to Cheltenham and Bristol. Blackpool, Morecambe, Glasgow and Edinburgh, via Carlisle, the Scottish services being the joint responsibilities of Ribble, Western S.M.T., and Scottish Omnibuses.
The route between Liverpool and Manchester, via St. Helens and Atherton, is shared between Ribble and L.U.T., and the transport departments of Leigh, Salford and St. Helens. Ribble also share the .Liverpool to Wigan, via Billinge, route with St. Helens, and Liverpool to Wigan, via Haydock, with L.U.T., St. Helens and Wigan
The Ribble fleet in the Liverpool area is garaged at depots at Liverpool, Bootle (Hawthorne Road), Seaforth Sands and Aintree. The premises at Aintree were only recently opened, and are provided with all types of up-todate equipment,
During the past 20 years, the spread of population within the extended city area, the adjacent borough of Bootle and the bordering urban districts, has made it necessary for Liverpool Transport Department to open out many new routes in addition to the trait routes that are being converted.
The number of buses in the corporation's fleet is now approaching 950, and these serve some 70 routes, apart from workpeople's and peak-period services. A total route mileage of nearly 400 is covered: catering for approximately lm. people.
Nine depots situated at strategic points, most of them in what could now be termed the middle suburban belt. house the fleet) and a fully equipped overhaul and bodybuilding works, where many, of the bus bodies have been built, is sited at Edge Lane; A.E.C., Leyland. Daimler, Crossley, Bristol, Guy and Bedford chassis are employed.
A number of .routes now extends out
of the city. Bootle, and Litherland have been served for many years. Kirkby Trading Estate, a Royal Ordnance establishment during the late war, is situated, off the East Lancashire Road' more than eight miles from the city 'centre,. and to meet its transport requirements direct services from such outer suburbs as Ciarston,. Dingle and. Woolton have been Instituted. An internal service is alsO operated.
&peke, and the dock areas around Bootle and Seaforth, are now provided with services' to surrounding new housing estates.
One important long-distance. service operated from Liverpool in which neither Ribble nor Crosviile participate is the Liverpool-Manchester-Huddersfield-Leeds-Newcastle • upon Tyne or Middlesbrough 'run.
First commenced about 27 years ago as a once-a-day journey by Northern General, it has been' built up to an hourly service between Liverpool and Leeds, from where there are connections every two'•hours to both New castle and Middlesbrough'. •
The companies sharing this route, generally referred to as "The Northern Pool Services," are L.U.T., North Western. Yorkshire W.D., West Yorkshire, U.A.S., and Northern General.