Horse-drawn buses were running in various parts of Britain before the first one started in London, in 1829. Although the railways carried a lot of traffic, there was still a need for transport away from them. A few large towns and cities had networks of horse buses, but they reduced as trams were developed - although some surplus vehicles were used to start up new services into the early 20th century.

Just as trains could not meet every need, neither could trams reach everywhere, and the motorbus came along at the end of the 19th century. The first motor bus service started in Edinburgh in 1898, and the first rural motor service - between Newport Pagnell and Olney - began in 1899.

As with most new inventions, the motor bus had a difficult start in life. Early vehicles were expensive to run and unreliable in service: few operators made a success of them in the first few years. But there were some very ambitious ventures, the most notable being a regular London - Brighton service run by double deckers. This ceased in 1906 after one bus on a private hire crashed going down Handcross Hill, causing several fatalities. Further similar accidents were to occur - a brake failure on a charabanc descending a steep hill at Consett in 1911 resulted in ten deaths.

But the bus rapidly became a more dependable machine, and ambitious plans were made again. One, using seventy 16-seat Commers on a Margate - Bournemouth service, did not get off the ground, but other services over distances of up to 30 miles did start, and were successful. By 1913 the bus industry was really taking off, and expansion now was very rapid indeed. Some of this was down to bus manufacturers: Daimler encouraged several firms and corporations to start running buses, and Commer actually ran some itself - leading to the formation of Trent Motor Traction.

The urge to expand was so strong that even the coming of World War 1 did no more than slow it down at first. There was, however, great concern among local authorities that roads were being damaged by buses, which were charged very little in the way of taxation. This was a significant factor behind a provision in the Local Government (Emergency Provisions) Act 1916 making the start of new bus routes dependent on the agreement of local authorities, who, if they consented, could impose any conditions they wished. In practice, of course, most councils wanted to impose charges on bus operators to meet the cost of road maintenance. Operators were against this, and the development of the bus industry came to virtual halt until after the war. It was restarted partly by the many ex-servicemen who used their gratuities to start bus services in 1919, and more substantially by a new method of motor vehicle taxation in 1921, which replaced the 1916 provisions.

Now the brakes were well and truly off, and expansion was rapid - not only by major operators but also small firms and individuals who had a wide choice of vehicles to choose from. Most large towns and cities licensed buses and bus services - some wisely, some not - but much of the United Kingdom was open to all, and there was much competition. Market forces ruled, and it was very much a case of survival of the fittest. Some small businesses improved their chances by merging, trading as co-operatives (such as A1 Service and AA Buses in south Scotland) or by forming owners’ associations and playing the “local man” card.

Most bus operations were in the hands of the municipal sector (many councils, of course, having already run trams) and “combine” concerns, the two dominant holding companies being Tilling and British Electric Traction. A few Independent firms did become major operators in their own right and survived for many years: Lancashire United Transport until 1976 and Barton until 1989.

The larger operators generally made agreements with each other, in order to protect themselves and reduce the possibility of competition. Their existence may well have been a factor in the railways’ decision to invest in the bus industry after 1928, rather than set up in competition. Buses and coaches themselves improved during the 1920s, and with the arrival of the pneumatic tyre (far superior to the bone-shaking solid tyre) long-distance express coach services became a realistic proposition from 1925 onwards

The Road Traffic Act 1930 brought in a strict but consistent system of bus and coach service licensing, designed to eliminate “wasteful” competition and much more regulation over the vehicles themselves. The need for area agreements diminished as a result, but the effect of the Act was to actually reinforce them and existing territories. One other aspect of the 1930 Act was that it did not include a requirement to provide fare tables with Road Service Licence applications. However, it seems likely that Traffic Commissioners required them in practice in order to ensure co-ordination of fares between competing operators. The full impact of the control of fares came after the fuel tax increases of 1950 and 1951, when standard mileage-related fares were imposed over whole areas.

The bus industry had to cope with reducing demand from the 1950s onwards, but plenty of interest happened. During the 1960s several new bus services were started to replace railways closed following the Beeching Report. They were rarely successful, although there were some notable exceptions, but the general perception that most disappeared without trace is not accurate - they were frequently merged with older parallel services so that many communities continued to be served.

During this period politics played an increased role. Following post-war Labour’s pro-nationalisation agenda, the State had purchased the Tilling Group in 1948 and the Scottish Motor Traction Group in 1949, and in 1968 it also bought BET’s British bus interests. The Transport Act 1968 set up the National Bus Company to control State-owned bus companies in England and Wales, the Scottish Bus Group for the same purpose in Scotland, and also brought about Passenger Transport Authorities and Executives to plan and manage transport in major conurbations. As a result the vast majority of bus services were under Government or Local Government control - and the NBC, SBG and the PTEs were to dominate the bus industry for over 15 years.

However, the Thatcher Government of 1979 changed the rules completely. The Transport Act 1980 deregulated coach services, and the Transport Act 1985 ended bus service licensing altogether in favour of deregulation where operators register services and competition is welcomed. The 1985 Act also saw the NBC and SBG companies, and many municipal undertakings, sold off to the private sector over the following few years. A huge number of major changes have taken place since “Deregulation Day” - 26 October 1986 - and these will undoubtedly be studied and analysed in the years to come.

• Primrose of Leominster: the story of a Herefordshire country bus business
  by John Dunabin- 64 pages (illustrated). Price £7.70 (inc p&p).

• Trams & Buses of the Great Cities in the 1880s - 64 pages (illustrated). Price £10.70 (inc p&p).

• Tocia - Buses of the Lleyn Peninsula by the late John Dunabin. 58 pages, with illustration. Price £9.95 including p&p.

• A History of the Birkenhead Municipal Bus Undertaking by T B Maund.180pp, 100 photos, 8 maps price £19:95 (post inclusive)

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