The tramway predecessors of the company that was to become Transdev Yellow Buses started trading in July 1902. By 1906 the tramway system had reached it’s full extent, although further vehicles were added up to a maximum fleet of 131. In 1913, following a referendum trams began to operate on Sundays afternoons and it wasn’t until 1926 that the first Sunday morning trams ran too. The first bus services started as ‘feeders’ to the tram in 1906 and was expanded only on this basis until 1930 when the bus fleet was doubled when the Borough expanded to take in Kinson and Holdenhurst.
In 1933 the first trolley bus was run experimentally and over the next few years the entire tramway system was moved across to trolley buses.
Following the war years, large-scale fleet replacement and expansion took place and in 1950, Bournemouth Transport carried a record of over 64 million journeys. At the end of May 1950, petrol was de-rationed and there was
a huge consequent increase in private motoring and a decline in the use of public transport.
To respond to this decline and the resultant increase in traffic congestion, one-person buses were introduced in 1958 and trolley buses were replaced with diesel buses between 1963 and 1969.
During the 70s and 80s marketing was used to help slow the decline of bus use and coach operations were promoted outside the borough for the first time.
Under the transport act of 1985 Bournemouth Transport was forced to become a private limited company, with the shares being wholly owned by the Borough. However the company took decisions independently through its board and profitability was now high on the agenda. In 1986 competition brought on by the above act started to appear, but the company successfully managed to fight off the various incomers and even took one over.
The original livery of primrose yellow and maroon was altered to primrose and azure blue in 1990.
The blue lives on in the new transdev yellow buses livery alongside a much brighter yellow and a strip of green. An increasing number of low-floor, easy access buses
were gradually introduced and the company’s centenary was celebrated.
In late 2005, Bournemouth Borough Council sold Yellow
Buses to Transdev, whilst retaining a 10% stake in the business. Then in early 2006, the company left its Mallard Road home of 53 years to move to a purpose-built £5m facility on Yeomans Way. Among Mallard Road’s claims to fame was the fact that the garage had the largest span of pre-stressed concrete in the country when it was built in 1951. It became a listed building seven years ago and the new development on this site will retain the listed part of the depot.
After a comprehensive review of services, July 2nd 2006 became another milestone in the history of this remarkable company. Yellow Buses now run 6 core routes across the conurbation, with a supporting network of lower-frequency routes.
TRANSDEV is a leading international public transport company, with extensive bus and coach networks operating in the UK, France, Italy, Portugal and
Australia. In the UK, the group is a major London bus operator with London United and London Sovereign, as well as being a shareholding partner with the council in Nottingham City Transport (NCT), the award winning bus company. Transdev is also part of the company that built Nottingham Express Transit, and in partnership with NCT has the contract to operate this new tram system.
For more information please visit the Transdev UK website at www.transdevplc.co.uk
The above short history has been compiled as a summary of the Yellow Buses centenary booklet, written by David L. Chalk, MILT.
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