West Yorkshire Road Car Company
Encyclopedia
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
operator covering North
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
and West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. The company was generally referred to as West Yorkshire. It originated in 1906, providing bus and coach services until the privatisation
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of the National Bus Company in the late 1980s resulted in the company being split into smaller companies and the West Yorkshire name disappearing. It had main depots at Harrogate
Harrogate
Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...
(also the Head Office), Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, together with a number of sub-depots. The company ran longer distance bus services throughout West Yorkshire, based at Leeds, with routes extending to Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
and Scarborough on the coast. In co-operation with York City Council it ran local bus services in the City of York itself.
West Yorkshire
The Harrogate Road Car Company formed in 1906 running firstly steam busSteam bus
A steam bus is a bus powered by a steam engine. Early steam-powered vehicles designed for carrying passengers were more usually known as steam carriages, although this term was sometimes used to describe other early experimental vehicles too.-History:...
es in Harrogate, then petrol buses which were introduced in 1911. In 1924 the company was absorbed into the jointly-owned Tilling and British Automobile Traction
Thomas Tilling
Thomas Tilling Ltd, later known with its subsidiary companies as the Tilling Group, was one of the two huge groups which controlled almost all the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between the wars and until nationalisation in 1948....
(TBAT) group, and its name changed to Harrogate and District Road Car Company. With the company's expansion during the following years, its name was changed to West Yorkshire Road Car Company in 1927, to reflect its wider geographical spread.
In the 1930s joint arrangements with Keighley Corporation and York City Council resulted in the formation of Keighley-West Yorkshire and York-West Yorkshire (see below).
In 1948, along with other companies that were then part of the Tilling group, West Yorkshire Road Car Co was nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
.
In 1967 it acquired the Samuel Ledgard
Samuel Ledgard
Samuel Ledgard was a Leeds entrepreneur who became a major West Yorkshire Independent bus operator. Following his death in 1952, his executors continued to operate the Samuel Ledgard bus company up until 1967, when it was acquired by the West Yorkshire Road Car Company.-1874 - 1952:Samuel Ledgard...
bus company - a significant local independent operator.
In 1968 West Yorkshire Road Car Co became part of the National Bus Company, until privatisation in 1987.
On 3 May 1970, services that had been operated by Hebble Motor Services out of their Park Lane depot, were taken over by the West Yorkshire. The Hebble personnel from this takeover were also offered positions with the West Yorkshire in Bradford.
When West Yorkshire Road Car Co returned to private ownership in 1987 it was split into smaller companies: Harrogate & District
Harrogate & District
Transdev Harrogate & District is a local bus operator based in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Blazefield Group which is itself owned by the international transport company Transdev....
, Keighley & District
Keighley & District
Keighley & District is a bus company based in Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Blazefield Group which is itself owned by the international transport company Transdev....
and Yorkshire Coastliner
Yorkshire Coastliner
Yorkshire Coastliner is a bus operator based in Malton in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by the Blazefield Group who also own, amongst others, Harrogate & District and Keighley & District in Yorkshire....
. These companies continued under common ownership until 1991 when they were acquired by the Blazefield Group
Blazefield Group
Transdev Blazefield is one of the main bus groups in England. Owner of several bus companies around the Yorkshire and Lancashire regions, since 2006 it has been part of the international transport company Transdev.-History:...
(now part of Transdev
Transdev
Transdev was a major international public transport group based in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France and operating in several countries. Originally created as Société centrale pour l'équipement du territoire in 1955 and developing transportation activities since 1973, Transdev was a subsidiary...
UK plc).
Keighley-West Yorkshire
In 1930 negotiations between Keighley Corporation and West Yorkshire Road Car Co led to a joint company being formed called Keighley-West Yorkshire Services Ltd. This new company absorbed all the local services in and around Keighley, but West Yorkshire Road Car Co kept its longer distance routes.The 1974 Local Government reorganisation
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
led to Keighley Corporation's interest in the joint company passing to West Yorkshire Road Car Co, with 'Keighley' disappearing as part of the fleet name on local buses for the first time.
York-West Yorkshire
In 1932 a joint venture with York City Council was formed, called York-West Yorkshire Joint Committee. When the National Bus Company was formed in 1968 it was operating three services in York: National Bus, West Yorkshire Road Car Co (rural areas, Leeds and the East coast), and the York-West Yorkshire joint service.In 1980, 1981 and 1985 Transport Acts
Transport Act 1985
The Transport Act 1985 was a Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced deregulation of bus services throughout Great Britain, although a different system of franchised routes was applied in Greater London. It was introduced by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.Bus...
were introduced to gradually deregulate the bus companies. The joint service with York and the City Council could no longer operate and York City Council's interest was sold to West Yorkshire.
Fleet numbering
Up to 1954, fleet identification was purely numerical. In April 1954 the fleet was renumbered using type identification letters in addition to sequence numbering.The first letter denoted the body type: D (double decker
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
), S (single decker
Single-decker bus
A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essentially a single decked bus with an extra deck and...
), E (express, or dual purpose), C (coach
Coach (vehicle)
A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...
)
The second letter generally denoted engine type: B (Bristol
Bristol Commercial Vehicles
Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer of in Bristol, England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built....
), G (Gardner), A, (AEC or Albion
Albion Motors
Albion Automotive of Scotstoun, Glasgow is a former Scottish automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer, currently involved in the manufacture and supply of Automotive component systems....
), F (Ford
Ford of Britain
Ford of Britain is a British wholly owned subsidiary of Ford of Europe, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. Its business started in 1909 and has its registered office in Brentwood, Essex...
), P (Petrol)
The third letter (if present) was L (30 ft (9.1 m) long) or W (8 ft (2.4 m) wide)
So, for example, Bristol KSW6B reg no. KWU 361 was given a fleet number of DBW5.
In addition to the rules above, Keighley- and York-West Yorkshire bus fleet numbers were prefixed with K or Y as appropriate so, for example, Keighley-West Yorkshire Bristol K6B reg no. GWX 125 was given a fleet number of KDB30.
Over the years, several exceptions to these rules evolved, including DX (Double deck eXperimental), used to denote Bristol Lodekka
Bristol Lodekka
The Bristol Lodekka was a low-height double-decker bus built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles in England.Bristol manufactured over 5,200 Lodekkas from 1949 to 1968, as a standard double-deck vehicle for the UK state-owned bus sector. With all examples bodied by Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft, they...
buses, SUG/EUG/CUG (Single-decker/Express/Coach Underfloor-engined Gardner), SMA/SMG (Single-decker Mid-engined Albion/Gardner), SRG (Single-decker Rear-engined Gardner), VR (Vertical Rear-engined - Bristol VR type)
In October 1971 the fleet was again renumbered and the class identification letters disappeared as the fleet identifiers once again reverted to purely numerical system.
Depots
WYRCC has had a number of operating depots during its existence. In April 1958 vehicles were fitted with small coloured discs next to their fleet number to identify their main depot. Sub-depots inherited the colour of their parent depot, however Keighley- and York-West Yorkshire vehicles were not fitted with the discs as they were already identifiable by the K- or Y prefix. The depots and colour codes were as follows:- Bradford (blue)
- Harrogate (green)
- OtleyOtley-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...
(green) - Pateley BridgePateley BridgePateley Bridge is a small market town in Nidderdale in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, on the River Nidd.It has the oldest sweet shop in England and is the home of the Nidderdale Museum....
(green)
- Otley
- Keighley (grey)
- GrassingtonGrassingtonGrassington is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England.The town is situated in Wharfedale around from Bolton Abbey and is surrounded by limestone scenery...
(grey) - IlkleyIlkleyIlkley is a spa town and civil parish in West Yorkshire, in the north of England. Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the metropolitan borough of Bradford. Approximately north of Bradford, the town lies mainly on the south bank of the River Wharfe...
(grey) - SkiptonSkiptonSkipton is a market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the course of both the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire, on the south side of the Yorkshire Dales, northwest of Bradford and west of York...
(grey)
- Grassington
- Leeds (maroon)
- WetherbyWetherbyWetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...
(maroon)
- Wetherby
- York (yellow)
- MaltonMalton, North YorkshireMalton is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is the location of the offices of Ryedale District Council and has a population of around 4,000 people....
(yellow) - Scarborough (yellow)
- Malton