PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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MOTOR BUS ROUTE "96" PLYMOUTH to WEMBURY (BEACH) Messrs W T Coath & Son, trading as 'Eddystone Motors', started their motor bus services between Plymouth and Wembury Beach in 1927, indirect competition with the Great Western Railway road motor services. One ran via Plymstock and the other through Elburton. These services were acquired by HB Buses Ltd in June 1929. Their successors, the Southern General Omnibus Company, were then taken over by the National Omnibus & Transport Company but the services had barely been allocated National route numbers when it was absorbed in to the new Western National Omnibus Company. The services became Western National route 96. Ancillary services 96A ran from Plymouth to Elburton Post Office; 96B from Elburton Hotel to Devonport Royal Dockyard; and the 96C from Dean Cross to Devonport Royal Dockyard. The service ran from Notte Street in Plymouth through Athenaeum Place, Princess Square, Westwell Street, Basket Street, Old Town Street, Drake Circus, Ebrington Street, Beaumont Road, Tothill Road, Embankment Road, Laira Bridge Road, past the Blue Bird Inn at Pomphlett, the Inn at Plymstock, Trevaylor at Goosewell, Elburton House, Elburton Post Office and on to Wembury Beach. Service 96 did not run in the winter season but the timetable provided for a bus every two hours in the morning starting at 7.15am. An additional service at 2.15pm ran on Wednesdays and Saturdays. From 3.15pm there was an hourly service until 5.15pm, when it reverted to two-hourly. The last bus was at 9.15pm except on Saturdays when it was at 10.15pm. Many of the journeys only ran as far as Knighton. The basic service during the winter of 1935-36 was provided by the 96A, which ran as far as Elburton Post Office although many journeys terminated at Elburton House. The first bus from Plymouth was at 6.55am to Elburton House, from which it returned at 7.15am. The next journey, at 7.30am, went to Elburton Post Office, from where it returned at 7.53am. There was then a roughly 20-minute frequency for the remainder of the day. The last bus to Elburton Post Office left Notte Street at 10.35pm, with an additional one at 10.55pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There were only one journey on the 96B. It left the Laira Bridge Road Garage at 5.55am, the Elburton Hotel at 6.10am, and then ran via Plymstock Church and Billacombe direct to Devonport Royal Dockyard. Service 96C left Laira Bridge Road Garage at 6am and Dean Cross at 6.15am and ran via Oreston and Plymstock Station to Devonport Royal Dockyard. Adult single fares from Plymouth during 1935-36 were: to the Morley Arms, 2½d; to Pomphlett (Blue Bird Inn), 3d; to Plymstock Church, 4d; and to Elburton Post Office, 5d. The return fare to Elburton Post Office was 9d. The fare from the Elburton Hotel to the Dockyard was 7d single. There was a weekly 7-day ticket with unlimited travel for 4s 6d or a 6-day ticket, limited, for 3s 6d. The fares on the 96C were 6d single from Dean Cross and 5d from Oreston. Workers tickets were available at 4 shillings or 3s 9d for 7-days unlimited travel. An advert in the Western Evening Herald on October 4th 1941 announced the intention of introducing a registration scheme for passengers who made the journey in to Plymouth before 9am. They were to be issued with a permit. As from Thursday October 1st 1942 Western National services 96, 96A, 96B and 96C became Plymouth Joint Services routes 96, 96A, 96B and 96C.
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