The Wonder of Woolco

This is Dorset Bus’ 100th post

“Enjoy one-stop shopping at Woolco” screams the centrefold advert within the Summer 1977 timetable. At the time of its construction, Woolco Bournemouth was the largest store in Britain and this F W Woolworth pioneer out-of-town location had been open for nine years by this time, having started trading 45 years ago this year. Woolco was the only advert within the timetable, other than for the Transport Department’s buses & coaches and for council facilities.

Woolco’s location was ideal for buses along Castle Lane West. As such, Bournemouth Transport’s 14, 32, 33, 34 and 40 “pass right outside the door” or near enough.

But there were no route or frequency enhancements because of the Hampshire Centre, the major constituent of which was Woolco itself. The centre featured in timetable’s index of places served (helpfully labelled as “How to Get There”) but could you find it in the individual route timetable matrices or on the route map? No no no.

By 1978, Bournemouth Transport & Hants & Dorset had reached an agreement that modestly reduced the PVR and offered a modicum of co-operation between the two operators. H&D renumbered its Bournemouth routes 1nn and its timetables of the period features Bournemouth Transport’s 1-41 at the front of its books. To empathise tall this, both operators’ buses appeared on the timetables’ front covers. Note the bus-side advert for Woolco>/p>

It wasn’t particularly easy to get to from Bournemouth town centre, with just four buses an hour, departing past each hour at somewhat inconvenient times from The Square at ..03 (ser 32); ..33 (ser 32); ..50 (ser 33); and ..50 (ser 34). Compare that to Bournemouth to Castlepoint today.

The way the 33/4 circulars operated plus the 14 (Boscombe-Throop) and irregular 40 (Bear Cross-Somerford) afforded some suburban travel opportunities but it wasn’t till Charlie’s Cars started in 1987 that the Hampshire Centre got the sort of bus service it really deserved. Even then, demand was shaky and Charlie’s couldn’t sustain a service.

The 14 (Boscombe-Throop) operated every hour. The 32 (Bournemouth-Charminster-Jumpers Corner) was twice an hour; the 33/4 Bournemouth circulars every hour each; and the 40 Somerford-Bear Cross was irregular.

The July 1980 timetable cover shows that Hants & Dorset’s half-cab operation was still four months away from the end. Note the Woolco on the Bournemouth Transport bus and also those for the Bournemouth-based former Portman Building Society and the Busabout ticket on those operated by H &D

Upon Woolco’s closure, it became an Asda. The centre was ripped down ten years ago to make way for Castlepoint, which still sports an Asda but never held a Woolworth.

Woolco was therefore the out-of-town brand of Woolworth. Woolworth had some of a planning battle to win before Woolco could be built. It seems strange that, back then, it was hard for 1960s England and its planning system to understand the American mall concept.

1933-2013

80 years ago today, Bournemouth launched its first trolleybus. 111 years ago, it began tram operation, a system that the “trackless trolleys” would see off. Not the same fuss in Bournemouth as Sheffield, though.

These are a few of the snippets within the “special” Summer 1977 edition of the Bournemouth Transport timetable. Still known as Bournemouth Transport, its cover recognised the reality that everyone but everyone referred to them by the colour of the fleet. This was to distinguish them from the red buses, Hants & Dorset by then having completed its transform from Tilling green to poppy red. It would only be five years till Bournemouth Transport changed its trading name to recognise Yellow Buses more officially.

The timetable’s not a particularly exotic number. It was back in the day when Bournemouth Transport produced cheap-looking A5 timetables filled with low quality paper. Each edition did its job, though, even if, unlike H&D, BT preferred the 12- to 24-hour clock. Over 30 years later, previous editions might have yellowed (excuse the pun), whereas this one actually has slightly heavier paper that’s lasted better. Remember, these were designed to be chucked after a couple of seasons, at most.

Back to trolleybuses. These were spawned as much by perceived rivalry with neighbour Poole than the need to replace worn-out, inflexible tramway. Trolleybuses started at 12 noon on May 13th, 1933. It was by way of an experiment and the transport department strengthened the existing tram overheads between The Square and Westbourne for the purpose, then at the western extremity of pre-1974 Hampshire. The Corporation used four trolleys supplied by three manufacturers and Sunbeam was the winner. The trial proved successful and there followed a lasting relationship with Sunbeam as the trolley network developed rapidly over the next few years.

Our famed summer 1977 timetable reminds us that the trams finally closed on April 8th, 1936. I recall that this was because Christchurch Borough, in whose area the eastward line terminated, insisted that the trams remain till the trolley network was completed.

i Trolleybuses from the Alwyn Ladell collection, used under Creative Commons

Assets

I doubt anyone will miss Lymington bus station. It’s pretty deserted at the best of times. And it’s the latest of the More from Wilts & Dorset bus stations to be marketed (the others being Amesbury & Salisbury). Yes, there will be those who accuse MfW&D of asset stripping but, really! I mean! Isn’t it 25 years too late to say that? Where’s MfW&D been all this time, anyway? At least it’ll be worth more in 2013 than at privatisation.

 

Accessed from a tight entrance off the High Street, Lymington bus station is too crammed to include a decent photo...

Said one of its directors, “We do not expect there to be any problem with the greater use of [roadside] bus stops” and, to be honest, he’s right. It’ll cause neither operator nor the passenger any issues at all. And few for private motorists, either. It’s therefore interesting nonetheless to note MfW&D’s reasoning:

“As bus services have been forced to be reduced in recent years due to government and local authority subsidy cuts, combined with the increase in fuel duty, a dedicated bus station is no longer viable… With so many cuts to services due to government austerity measures we cannot justify the cost of running from the bus station”

For all the good news talk at MfW&D of increasing passenger journeys, in recent times, there’ve certainly been considerable changes at Lymington. The MfW&D Lymington garage-operated Bluestar 6 (omitted from the MfW&D website, by the way) operates hourly to Southampton, whereas the 56/56A predecessor was half-hourly, for quite some time. The X1/X2 continues half-hourly, though it lost its evening service moons ago. The host of irregular services—peripheral to core MfW&D operations—112, 113, 117, 118, 119, 120, 191, 192, 194, 195—have all dwindled to very little.

The MfW&D statement implies it isn’t their fault. It’s convenient to blame the government, of course and, on that subject, methinks that MfW&D protesteth just a little too much. We all know that there’s More behind this than bus service cuts.

Once upon a time, there was even a weekly service from Lymington to Ringwood (114, Wednesdays only). Now, there’s no direct thread that links the two towns each with a MfW&D garage. There’s no MfW&D bus station to close in Ringwood but instead there’s a garage that’s reported as on the market or sold (depending upon to whom you speak). It’s shoehorned into the town and in an ideal site to terminate as a small residential development. Whether buses will remain outstationed elsewhere in the town or whether the likes of the half-hourly X3 Bournemouth-Ringwood-Salisbury will be split between its two extremities remains unclear. What we do know is that the likelihood of Ringwood’s sale’s been on the cards for some time.

“More” Benefit

As of today, Yellow Buses gets “more” benefit for its £30,000 contribution towards Poole bus station. For that’s the cumulative sum it pays More from Wilts & Dorset in departure charges in any one year for the 1B/1C. And that advantage? These killer routes between Poole-Bournemouth-Christchurch-Somerford have moved. On Saturday, they went from stand M; today they’re on C.

A 1B nearing Stand M. The bus reversing in the foreground is from Stand B at the shopping centre entrance. Meanwhile, congestion reigns

There are three pedestrian ways in to Poole bus station but only one of any real significance and that’s via the Arndale (Dolphin) Centre. Poole is the town centre shopping destination of choice along the south east Dorset coastal conurbation and access to it is via the Arndale. There’s a concentration of passengers and, on entering the bus station, they see stands A, B and C first. MfW&D has always used A & B for its More M1 & M2 and, given their combined overall frequency of a bus every 3½ minutes, there’s invariably a Parkstone & Bournemouth bus on stand. Casual passengers and those with free travel passes—and remember the south-east Dorset coast is a honeypot for them—may not actually realise that there is an alternative, one with upper deck views.

Indeed, Go South Coast has always confined Yellow Buses almost to the furthest end, ever since the former Transdev Yellow Buses began its July 2006 fight back after it was privatised in December 2005. Fine if you struggle through the seemingly constant crowds of the concourse to find the public lavatories. It’s difficult to put a finger on the impact of this but moving the 1B/1C to stand C, alongside M1 & M2, will raise Yellow Buses’ profile considerably.

And Yellow Buses knows it. “Now the company’s presence will be much ‘more’ visible and will give passengers an even better service”, says its press release (inverted commas added). Non-bus users would wonder what all the fuss was about because it certainly isn’t far to walk from the Arndale to stand M—about 30 yards—but it’s enough to make a significant impact.

MfW&D considers such a move something of a threat. Its own “Changes to Poole Bus Station from 27 Jan” news item, unusual in capitalising the words “Bus Station”, devotes 53 of a total of 117 words—nearly half—in emphasising the benefits of the M1 & M2. “Our popular M1/M2 buses… will still drop off and depart from right outside the Dolphin Shopping centre (sic) on Stands A & B for your convenience”, also making mention of comfort, frequency and wi-fi.

Even in following new Competition Commission guidance on equitable use of bus stations, any minority operator will always feel that they’ve been done over by the operator in charge. It was ever thus. Yellow Buses has been putting pressure on GSC for such a change. That said, the move is also sound in terms of operations, as it moves a frequent service from where they can be potentially disruptive to a ‘more’ logical point in terms of operations.

Anniversaries in 2013

• It was 100 years ago this year that Bournemouth’s two Elliott Brothers (there father lately dead) who traded as Royal Blue bought their first motor charabancs. They were believed to be Dennises. Till then and from 1880, Elliot senior relied on horses. You can imagine the family conversations surrounding the potential for stepping up to the new technology. Royal Blue specialised in tours, excursions and express services, with a network in the south developing in the late 1920s.

• Indeed, it was 85 years ago this year that Royal Blue’s express network began to take off. It was then licensed to pick up intermediate passengers betwixt Bournemouth & London. Prior to that, its local licences permitted only end-to-end traffic. There followed expansion along the south coast as the Elliotts, in part motivated by the likelihood of the pending Road Traffic Act, secured new services by expansion. Again, you can envisage family discussions about the momentous changes afoot and the opportunities this presented immediately beforehand, if quick. Expresses later operated jointly with others under the Associated Motorways pool. The Elliotts sold to Tilling in 1935, express services passing to Southern & Western National and tours & excursions to Hants & Dorset.

• It was 50 years ago this year that still independent Shamrock & Rambler acquired Charlie’s Cars.

• It was 50 years ago this year that the innovative & iconic Mallard Road depot was opened. Parts of the original building remain, rather soullessly, as a Homebase.

• It was 45 years ago this year that the Transport Act 1968 laid the foundations for the transfer of Transport Holding Company (itself formed 50 years ago this year) Hants & Dorset to the National Bus Company that would soon see the loss of the Wilts & Dorset name, albeit temporarily.

• It was 40 years ago this year that Shamrock & Rambler and its Holdenhurst Road coach station passed from Hants & Dorset control to that of National Travel (South West). Effective local control returned to H&D in 1981.

• It was also 40 years ago this year that Hants & Dorset acquired a mélange or miscellany after the forced closure owing to maintenance issues of King Alfred, Winchester.

• It was 40 50 years ago this year that Bournemouth Corporation took the decision to run down and not long after close its trolleybus operations.

• It was 35 years ago this year that Hants & Dorset and Bournemouth Transport embarked on reorganisations amd a modicum of co-ordination, issuing joint publicity and H&D Bournemouth services being renumbered in the 1nn series, away from Bournemouth Transport’s.

• It was 35 years ago this year that Midland Red embarked upon the first Viable Network Projects that would translate into Market Analysis Projects…

• … and it was subsequently 30 years ago this year that the National Bus Company split its Hants & Dorset subsidiary into three, thereby recreating, among others, Wilts & Dorset, a name that has now proved just as temporary, at least in marketing terms. This was a natural conclusion to the MAP exercises.

• It was also 30 years ago this year that the same NBC restructure saw a separated local coach unit formed from Hants & Dorset, known as Shamrock & Rambler.

• It was 25 years ago this year that Shamrock & Rambler’s Charlie’s Cars’ minibus & conventional bus service competition ended, having started in 1986.

• It was also 25 years ago this year that competition between Badger Vectis initially against W&D ended, after commencing in 1987.

• It was 10 years ago this year that the privatisation management of Wilts & Dorset sold to the Go Ahead Group.

• It was 10 years ago this year that the Omnibuses Blog’s first posts were dated.

Image of solid tyre Royal Blue chara at Bournemouth from Alwyn Ladell's photostream used under creative common

Photo Archive 2—Putting your Back into It

We continue our look at the best of the images available online from Yellow Buses’ recently resurfaced collection.

What a shot. Here we have a Sunbeam MS2/Park Royal six-legger trolleybus at the Christchurch tram and later trolley terminus, being turned around on the turntable by its crew. All part of a day’s work, back then. Wouldn’t be allowed these days, not under current health & safety regulations, whose risk assessments and safe systems of work would’ve killed this particular arrangement. It’s as well that the trolleys finished five years before the 1974 Health & Safety Act. Not that the industry was quite so H&S conscious, in 1974. That took two more decades.

Actually, it wasn’t quite as hard work hard work on the turntable as you might think but the possibility of slipping or back issues would be possible.

There was no means of turning trolleys at the Christchurch terminus other than by the turntable. There simply wasn’t enough space for a wired turnaround. The driver would position the trolley on the turntable and the crew would disengage from the wires. Then, when correctly repositioned, the crew would reapply a brake on the turntable and reconnect the trolley to the wires. All this as prospective passengers looked on—and summer tourists would show amusement. Where else might you see such a spectacle?

Unless I am mistaken, this Sunbeam dates from the 1930s. The youngest in the fleet at the time of withdrawal (1969) was a small batch from 1962. The next youngest were from 1959. This was one reason why Bournemouth abandoned trolleys: as the sixties wore on, no one was building them. It was often necessary to manufacture bespoke parts at the depot. Another reason was the maintenance costs & inflexibility associated with the overhead catenary. If you ever doubted how many wires there actually were, a visit to Bournemouth’s centre during the trolleys’ heyday would’ve been enough to convince you.

Few buses now terminate at Christchurch itself, these days. Expansion to its east would’ve been something of a challenge for anything other than the flexibility of diesel buses. But let’s not forget that diesels would also use the turntable, when substituting for or duplicating the 20/21.

i Yellow Bus photos

i Christchurch turntable today—Omnibuses

80 Years Ago...

From the Countrybus Blog used with permission

Accompanying today’s main blog post on 1952-2012, this morning here’s is a contribution looking further back, to 1932...

As the torrential rains came down all around and our planned trip out today was postponed, I sat and reminisced about what was happening in the world 80 years ago in 1932. Those thoughts were largely triggered by a radio programme about walking and the mass trespass at Kinder Scout in that same year, and without which perhaps the freedom to ramble as we know it today would not have happened.

What has that got to do with Dorset and buses you may well ask? The year is the connection. One of the treasures from a lifetime of collecting transport memorabilia and ephemera is a copy of the 1932 poster issued by the Dorchester and District Carriers Association, complete with a list of their routes and times..

Sixty three villages are listed as being linked to Dorchester by bus, not quite from A to Z but ranging from Affpuddle and Ansty through Chebbard and Littlemayne to Waddock and Wrackleford. Many of the services shown were run only two days per week for the market on Wednesday and Saturday whilst a smaller number of villages could lay claim to a daily service, including the roads to Frampton, Bloxworth, Cerne Abbas and Puddletown. Many of the routes terminated in the Council Yard in Trinity Street, opened in 1922. Others continued to 'put up' in the time-honoured way at inns such as the White Hart, the Phoenix, the Plume and the Ship.

Some of the operators names are now long forgotten, whilst many others were taken over by the ever expanding Bere Regis & District Motor Services during the war or shortly after. The name of Davis – one of the partners in the Bere Regis business - appears on the poster with his service from Bloxworth. One of the other partners – Toop – appears with a route from Winfrith. Other names that lasted into comparatively recent times include House of Hilton and Pearce of Cattistock.

It was in Pearce's garage that this little piece of history from 1932 hung above the office desk for many long years. Coincidentally it was in 1932 that Pearce obtained their first school contract to Maiden Newton from Cattistock. Many years have passed now, operators have come and gone, routes and vehicles have changed. How many of those village journeys are still possible today, are there still buses in Southover or Hillfield?

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i Countrybus blog