Plymouth, Horse Bus Services

PLYMOUTH
DATA

The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

HORSE BUS SERVICES

FEEDER SERVICES TO THE TRAMWAY

Plymouth and Stonehouse Tramways Bill

The draft of the Plymouth and Stonehouse Tramways Bill was published January 11th 1870 and reviewed by the Western Daily Mercury the following morning. In order to impress upon its readers the excellence of the proposed tramway, the newspaper article also mentioned that the outside measurements of the present omnibuses was 7ft while the trams would be only 6ft 6ins. This is saw as giving a gain of 6 inches to other road users. Furthermore, the inside width of a bus was 4ft 9ins while that of a tram would be 5ft 9ins, giving a gain of 3 inches to the passengers.

As a direct result of the the Tramways Act receiving the Royal Assent on August 9th 1870, a local Act passed in the same year authorised the construction of a tramway from Plymouth through Stonehouse to Devonport, 1 mile 74 chains in length.

Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Tramways Company

At the luncheon held to celebrate the opening of the Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Tramway on Monday March 18th 1872, Mr I Watts rose to speak and created considerable amusement by taking exception to the allusions to the nursing system used by the omnibuses, of which he was an operator. He pointed out that the horse bus proprietors had even agreed to horse the new tramway and went on to say that 'stringent orders had been given by all omnibus proprietors to avoid in every way nursing or annoying the tramway cars and drivers.' He announced that the horse buses would continue to be run 'out of compassion for old people who could not walk from Tavistock Road to Union Street or from Ker Street up to Fore Street, Devonport.' His suggestion that the horse buses were run for the convenience of the public brought much laughter.

It will be noted that the Tramway Company promised to continue to run the horse buses. This did not happen from the day on which the tramcar service started. It would seem that the horse bus proprietors made their profit, not by running the bus service, but by providing the horses for the tramway, which was done under contract. This allegedly tied the hands of the Company, preventing them from running as early, as late or even as fast as they may have wanted. This state of affairs was unsatisfactory to everybody so towards the end of June the Company acquired the 70 horses and all the omnibuses (numbers unstated, unfortunately) belonging to Messrs Moreton, Temple and Watts, and proceeded to horse the tramcars themselves. Because the Company intended to apply to extend its system it proposed to run the acquired horse buses on services at either end of the tramway to act as a feeder. This it felt would receive favour from the public and help to smooth the passage of its application.

During May and early June various proposals were put forward for the new services. At the Plymouth end, there were at first going to be two routes, both starting at Bank of England Place and ending at the top of Torrington Place, North Road. One would go via George Street, Bedford Street, Old Town Street and Tavistock Road, the other through Courtenay Street, Frankfort Street, York Street and North Road. In Devonport there would be just one route from the Ker Street terminus of the tramway, through Chapel Street and Fore Street to the Royal Albert Hospital at the top of New Passage Hill.

This plan was amended during June to four routes, two of which were new proposals. The one at the Devonport end remained almost the same, except that the horse bus would return to the tramway terminus via St Aubyn Street, thereby creating an early one-way system. The original two routes in Plymouth were combined into one, running on a circular basis, from Bank of England Place through George Street, Bedford Street, Old Town Street to the Cattle Market which was then just off Pound Street, where the Technical College was later built. It then continued along Cobourg Street before running up James Street into North Road East. It was said that this evaded 'a trying hill' which I assume must have been the combination of Frankfort and York Streets. The service would then return to the tramway via Portland Square, Tavistock Road and Old Town Street. The two additional proposals were for services to Friary and the Barbican but they were to be introduced at a later date. The main reason for this delay seems to have been that the vehicles were too big for these ‘bye-routes’ and it was suggested that some lighter vehicles be acquired first, similar to ones in use in Bristol. These were apparently operated by a driver only, with him having control of the entrance door by means of 'an ingenious piece of mechanism' that opened and closed the door.

It was anticipated that a through fare of either 3d or 4d would be offered but the Company were at pains to point out that it everybody travelled the whole distance from New Passage Hill to North Road, they would make a loss. The short distance passengers 'would compensate for those who make the grand tour complete' they said.

Tramway Terminus, Plymouth, to Bellevue Place, North Road

And so it was that on Monday June 24th, 1872 the new services started. The final routes were from the Plymouth end of the tramway in Union Street through George, Bedford, Old Town, Tavistock and Cobourg Streets to Bellevue Place at the junction with North Road. The service then returned via Portland Square and Old Town, Bedford and George Streets to meet the tramcars.

Tramway Terminus, Devonport, to Newpassage Hill, Morice Town

Likewise, horse buses were added to the Devonport end of the tramline to run from Ker Street through Chapel and King Streets and Morice Square to Newpassage Hill. It is not clear if this was the top or bottom of the Hill, for easy connection with the Torpoint Ferry. I suspect it was only to the top, although as will be seen later, some journeys may have been extended even as far as the Torpoint Ferry. They then returned through Marlborough and St Aubyn Streets to the end of the tramway system.

Initially the buses ran on Mondays to Saturdays only. They started at 9am from Union Street until 9pm; from North Road at 8.55am until 9.15pm, and from Ker Street at 9.12am until 9.03pm. There was a 10-minute service on both routes.

The original fare for traversing the entire tramway line on its own was 3d so the Company introduced a real bargain. Passengers starting at North Road on the horse bus and wishing to go to Newpassage Hill at Devonport could get a Through Ticket for 3d. The individual fares for the horse bus routes were one penny on each one so the through ticket represented a saving of two pence on the whole journey.

A Sunday service must have been introduced at some time, probably on a trial basis, because it was later advertised that: 'On and after Sunday August 4th, 1872, the OMNIBUSES plying between Bank of England-place and North-road, Plymouth, will be DISCONTINUED on SUNDAYS'.

Tramway Terminus, Devonport, to the top of Ford Hill, Stoke

On Monday November 4th 1872 a new service was introduced. This ran from the tramway terminus at Ker Street through St Aubyn Street and Tavistock Street to the top of Ford Hill. It returned via Stoke Terrace and Havelock Terrace. The service was every half-hour from 9am to 8.45pm, the last bus leaving Ker Street at 8.30 and Stoke at 8.45pm. The fares were 2d inside or 1d outside.

The original route from Bank of England Place in Plymouth through Cobourg Street to Caer Badden Terrace, North Road, continued and ran at 15-minute intervals from 8.45am until the last bus left North Road at 8.45pm. The fare for this journey was 1d inside or outside.

The Tramway Company buys-out Messrs Andrews & Sons

In its edition dated Tuesday May 8th 1888 the Western Morning News reported:

'The negotiations in progress since last July for the purchase of Messrs Andrews’s ‘buses by the company owning tramways at Portsmouth, Cardiff, and in the Three Towns have just been concluded, the Tramway Company securing the whole of Messrs Andrews and Sons’ stock-in-trade and premises, for a sum stated to be not far short of £65,000. The transfer of the Three Towns portion of the property was effected yesterday morning, from and after which the ‘buses will be the property of and worked by the Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Tramway Company, of which Mr Moreton is the manager. The Stonehouse stables, nine ‘buses and 26 horses have been taken over by Mr Moreton. There were twice this number of horses, but on examination fifty percent were considered unfit for further work, and consequently were not taken over. No alteration is at present contemplated by Mr Moreton in the present arrangements either in the working of the tramcars or ‘buses. The service of ‘buses will still run between Plymouth and Mannamead, and cars and ‘buses between Plymouth and Devonport in sufficient numbers, and as frequently as public requirements demand. An opinion has prevailed that it was the intention of the Tramway Company to raise the tram fares directly they secured the monopoly of traffic. This is not their intention. No alteration will for the present be made in the ‘bus fares, though it is possible that eventually they may be assimilated to those of the tramcars.'

This was followed soon afterwards by the announcement:

'PLYMOUTH, STONEHOUSE & DEVONPORT TRAMWAY -- NOTICE -- The Public are respectfully informed that on and after SATURDAY, 19^th May, the OMNIBUS FARES between Bedford-street, Plymouth, and Fore-street, Devonport, will be similar to those now in force on the Tramway Cars. G H Moreton, Manager, Dated Tramway Office, 6 Edgcumbe-street, Stonehouse, May 17^th 1888.'

The Tramways Company then commenced a service between the Royal Hotel and Compton Lane End, starting at 2pm from Plymouth and 2.30pm from Compton Lane. It then ran every half-hour until 8.30pm from Plymouth and 9pm from Compton. The fare was 2d for any distance. This new service started on Sunday May 27th 1888.

A previously unrecorded service was then introduced from Millbay Station to the Barbican. This started on Saturday June 16th 1888 and ran half-hourly from 9.45am until 9.10pm. The fare was one penny.

Following the collapse of the Plymouth General Omnibus and Carrying Company, the service to Mannamead was from September 1888 provided by the Tramways Company and Mr Robert Baskerville. Details of that will be found on the webpage of the Compton and Roborough service.

Monday December 10th 1888 saw the introduction of yet another new horse bus service to be run in conjunction with the Plymouth, Stonehouse & Devonport Tramway. This started at the Octagon and ran via Bedford Street, Old Town Street, Saltash Street and Cobourg Street to Belle Vue Place, at the top of North Road. The first bus left the Octagon at 10am and Belle Vue Place at 10.15am. A fifteen minute service was provided all day until 9.45pm from the Octagon and 10pm from Belle Vue Place. The fare was one penny. As a result of the introduction of this service, the one operating between Devonport and the Plymouth Market was to be discontinued.

The following February, 1889, there was competition on this route when Mr H R Wills of Octagon Mews started running buses over the same route for the same fare.

When these services ceased has so far been impossible to track down and it is suspected that they just faded away as more and more people used the growing tramway network.