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Post by wirewiper on Jan 4, 2020 10:56:46 GMT
On the 4th of January 1970 the Luton Corporation Transport undertaking was sold to the Government-owned National Bus Company and amalgamated with its United Counties subsidiary.
When London Transport was created, Luton Corporation was the only municipal operator that its services came into contact with. During negotiations the Corporation and United Counties secured an agreement whereby London Transport's country buses and Green Line coaches could not carry passengers locally within the Borough of Luton, in return for which London Transport was granted a monopoly on its Green Line coach routes between Luton and London.
For many years Luton Corporation had an area agreement with United Counties for joint working in the Luton-Dunstable conurbation; this area was extended considerably in the post-war era and saw Luton's red and cream municipal buses in quite unexpected rural locations, such as Whipsnade Zoo. However during this period the undertaking also suffered serious staff shortages. Luton was an industrial town, and factory work was plentiful and paid about the same as bus work, but working indoors and regular hours instead of working shifts in all weathers. At the same time the town's industry created a heavily-peaked operation which stretched the transport undertaking's resources. The Union resisted large-scale one-man-operation until well into the 1960s, and when it did come it was too little too late to save the undertaking's finances. The decision to sell out was seen by many as inevitable; and indeed the batches of Bristol REs that were bought towards the end of the decade were very similar to those entering service with state-owned Tilling Group companies (such as United Counties) during the same period.
The Luton Corporation colours were revived from August 1987, when as part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company the assets and operations of Luton, Hitchin and Aylesbury Depots were split from United Counties and sold to a management buyout. The new company was named "Luton & District" and wore a red-and-cream livery. Luton & District went on to acquire London Country North West and its Depots at Watford (Garston), Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe Amersham and Slough in 1988 - Amersham's operations transferred to a new Depot at Cressex, High Wycombe, in 1992 and Slough's operations were sold to Beeline in 1993. The Company was bought by British Bus in 1994 and then by Cowie in 1996, becoming part of Arriva The Shires in 1998.
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Post by busman on Jan 4, 2020 13:41:35 GMT
On the 4th of January 1970 the Luton Corporation Transport undertaking was sold to the Government-owned National Bus Company and amalgamated with its United Counties subsidiary. When London Transport was created, Luton Corporation was the only municipal operator that its services came into contact with, and there was a condition imposed that London Country and Green Line services could not carry passengers locally within the Luton Borough boundary. In return, London Transport was granted a monopoly on its Green Line coach routes between Luton and London. For many years Luton Corporation had an area agreement with United Counties for joint working in the Luton-Dunstable conurbation; this was extended considerably in the post-war era and saw Luton's red and cream municipal buses in quite unexpected rural locations, such as Whipsnade Zoo. However during this period the undertaking also suffered serious staff shortages. Luton was an industrial town, and factory work was plentiful and paid about the same as bus work, but working indoors and regular hours instead of working shifts in all weathers. At the same time the town's industry created a heavily-peaked operation which stretched the transport undertaking's resources. The Union resisted large-scale one-man-operation until well into the 1960s, and when it did come it was too little too late to save the undertaking's finances. The decision to sell out was seen by many as inevitable; and indeed the batches of Bristol REs that were bought towards the end of the decade were very similar to those entering service with state-owned Tilling Group companies (such as United Counties) during the same period. The Luton Corporation colours were revived from August 1987, when as part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company the assets and operations of Luton, Hitchin and Aylesbury Depots were split from United Counties and sold to a management buyout. The new company was named "Luton & District" and wore a red-and-cream livery. Luton & District went on to acquire London Country North West and its Depots at Watford (Garston), Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe and Slough in 1988. The Company was bought by British Bus in 1994 and then by Cowie in 1996, becoming part of Arriva The Shires in 1998. Very interesting history! I remember seeing Luton & District buses from Garston on the 340 and 348. The 348 ran from Uxbridge to Garston/Watford. |
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Post by wirewiper on Jan 4, 2020 17:56:18 GMT
Thank you.
I amended a couple of errors in my original post. It was Amersham Depot (strictly speaking an outstation) that was bought by Luton & District, London Country having closed its High Wycombe garage in 1977. Amersham's operations were transferred to a new Depot at Cressex Industrial Estate (High Wycombe) in 1992, from where Arriva The Shires still operates. The Slough operations were bought by Beeline in 1993.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Jan 4, 2020 19:52:56 GMT
It is easy to forget that the current Go-Ahead operation in High Wycombe, Carousel, is not the same as the former Bee-Line operation that Go-Ahead ran in 1994-2000 between buying out Oxford Bus and divesting this depot to Arriva.
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Post by wirewiper on Jan 5, 2020 11:30:01 GMT
On the 4th of January 1970 the Luton Corporation Transport undertaking was sold to the Government-owned National Bus Company and amalgamated with its United Counties subsidiary. When London Transport was created, Luton Corporation was the only municipal operator that its services came into contact with, and there was a condition imposed that London Country and Green Line services could not carry passengers locally within the Luton Borough boundary. In return, London Transport was granted a monopoly on its Green Line coach routes between Luton and London. For many years Luton Corporation had an area agreement with United Counties for joint working in the Luton-Dunstable conurbation; this was extended considerably in the post-war era and saw Luton's red and cream municipal buses in quite unexpected rural locations, such as Whipsnade Zoo. However during this period the undertaking also suffered serious staff shortages. Luton was an industrial town, and factory work was plentiful and paid about the same as bus work, but working indoors and regular hours instead of working shifts in all weathers. At the same time the town's industry created a heavily-peaked operation which stretched the transport undertaking's resources. The Union resisted large-scale one-man-operation until well into the 1960s, and when it did come it was too little too late to save the undertaking's finances. The decision to sell out was seen by many as inevitable; and indeed the batches of Bristol REs that were bought towards the end of the decade were very similar to those entering service with state-owned Tilling Group companies (such as United Counties) during the same period. The Luton Corporation colours were revived from August 1987, when as part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company the assets and operations of Luton, Hitchin and Aylesbury Depots were split from United Counties and sold to a management buyout. The new company was named "Luton & District" and wore a red-and-cream livery. Luton & District went on to acquire London Country North West and its Depots at Watford (Garston), Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe and Slough in 1988. The Company was bought by British Bus in 1994 and then by Cowie in 1996, becoming part of Arriva The Shires in 1998. Very interesting history! I remember seeing Luton & District buses from Garston on the 340 and 348. The 348 ran from Uxbridge to Garston/Watford. The 348 was a variant of the 347 (Hemel Hempstead - Uxbridge) and took a different route through the South Oxhey Estate. It was originally numbered 347A until the two routes were converted to driver-only in the late 1970s, some of the last London Country routes to be so treated. The reason for renumbering was that the replacement Leyland Atlanteans had three-track number blinds. Today the Hemel Hempstead - Watford section of the route is covered by the 320, whilst route 8 covers the Watford - Mount Vernon Hospital section. The only route that reaches Uxbridge from Watford these days is the 724. |
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Post by busman on Jan 6, 2020 9:28:04 GMT
Very interesting history! I remember seeing Luton & District buses from Garston on the 340 and 348. The 348 ran from Uxbridge to Garston/Watford. The 348 was a variant of the 347 (Hemel Hempstead - Uxbridge) and took a different route through the South Oxhey Estate. It was originally numbered 347A until the two routes were converted to driver-only in the late 1970s, some of the last London Country routes to be so treated. The reason for renumbering was that the replacement Leyland Atlanteans had three-track number blinds. Today the Hemel Hempstead - Watford section of the route is covered by the 320, whilst route 8 covers the Watford - Mount Vernon Hospital section. The only route that reaches Uxbridge from Watford these days is the 724. I recall the 347/348 had a joint timetable. From memory I think the 347 was far less frequent as I recall difficultly sighting one through Uxbridge and the Mount Vernon area. At least at the times I was able to get to those areas! |
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Post by busman on Jan 6, 2020 9:38:29 GMT
Thank you. I amended a couple of errors in my original post. It was Amersham Depot (strictly speaking an outstation) that was bought by Luton & District, London Country having closed its High Wycombe garage in 1977. Amersham's operations were transferred to a new Depot at Cressex Industrial Estate (High Wycombe) in 1992, from where Arriva The Shires still operates. The Slough operations were bought by Beeline in 1993. Beeline was a great little operator. I recall some operations overlap with my favourite historical operator, London Buslines, when they both became CentreWest companies, which was later swallowed up by First. |
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