PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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MOTOR BUS SERVICE "G" Plymouth's motor bus service "G" was started in 1926 or 1927 and ran from the Theatre Royal, through George Street, Russell Street, York Street, Cobourg Street, Alma Road, Milehouse, Wolseley Road, Ford House and Beacon Park Road to the junction with Pennycross Park Road, where it turned and waited outside the "Hole in the Wall" shop. During 1927 the route was extended from Beacon Park to run along Langstone Road, Ham Lane, Chestnut Road, Tor Lane, Higher Compton Road, Eggbuckland Road, Tavistock Road, and back through Mutley Plain to the Theatre Royal. The G1 ran the anti-clockwise service. There was also a G2 to serve the Royal Dockyard: it ran from Beacon Park through Dingle Road, Royal Navy Avenue, North and South Keyham and terminated at Fore Street, Devonport. This service was withdrawn in April 1929 and replaced by service "K". Under the new route licensing regulations that came into force on Wednesday July 8th 1931, route G was officially known as H.1301 and was licensed to run its original route from the Theatre Royal, through York Street, Alma Road, Wolseley Road and Beacon Park Road to Beacon Park only. There was no G1 service. This service was used for an interesting experiment in November 1932. One of the vehicles used was equipped with a megaphone on the upper deck to enable the conductor to announce the stops. On Monday August 3rd 1936 the service became the G2 and was routed from Beacon Park via Chestnut Road, Tavistock Road, Mutley Plain and back into the centre to become a circular service, with the G1 running the anti-clockwise direction. This returned to Athenaeum Place at the rear of the Theatre Royal from Russell Street via Bedford Street, Westwell Street, Princess square and Lockyer Street. Each service ran every ten minutes meaning that Beacon Park was served in one direction or the other every five minutes. There was a twenty minute service on Sunday mornings turning to a ten minute schedule around 2pm. One curious diversion to the route, shown on a map of the time, was that buses ran up and down Camilla Terrace, just off Ham Lane, and not the Lane itself. When the whole network was renumbered on Monday April 5th 1937, the G1 became route 25 and the G2 became route 26.
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