Shropshire Routes to Roots

3. Uncontrolled growth: 1919 to 1930

New services

The end of the war in 1918 released many cheap vehicles onto the market that could easily be converted into buses or charabancs. At the same time many trained drivers and mechanics were suddenly available and looking for work. Despite continuing problems with rough roads and unreliable equipment, many people managed to start up new routes between 1919 and 1925. Often these were to convey rural dwellers to market or workpeople to factories or collieries, but others were to enable people to travel for pleasure. BMMO tentatively established itself in Shrewsbury in 1916 and expanded its network considerably from 1920. It opened up a second base in Wellington in 1926, too late to fend off determined competition in the East Shropshire coalfield from a group of small independent operators who formed themselves into an association. By 1926 a very comprehensive network of routes run by BMMO was established that reached every significant market town in the county. Other big companies also started running services into Shropshire after the war. The principal ones were the Potteries Electric traction Company of Stoke-on-Trent, the Great Western Railway, the Wrexham and District Transport Company and Crosville Motor Services of Chester. There were many small firms and individual operators who provided competition on the busier routes or who satisfied a small niche market that the bigger firms did not want to touch.

No regulation

From 1925 solid tyres began to be replaced with pneumatic ones, which made travelling much more pleasant. Larger roads acquired an asphalt surface, making journeys faster and safer. For the first time long distance coach travel became a viable proposition. By 1930 there were buses serving every settlement of any significance. However, the travelling public had no guarantee of service quality or frequency. Operators were free to run where and when they liked and to charge whatever they wanted to. Vehicles and drivers were not subject to competency tests. Sometimes there was wasteful and even aggressive competition. The industry was inherently unstable and in places potentially dangerous. So the government of the day decided to step in and to regulate affairs through the far-reaching 1930 Road Traffic act.

Continue

Return to top of page