Associated Motorways was a
consortium of motor
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
operators in the south and
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Mercia, Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in ...
of England, which was active from 1934 to 1974.
History
Associated Motorways was formed as a result of the
Road Traffic Act 1930
The Road Traffic Act 1930 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced by the Minister of Transport Herbert Morrison.
Context
The last major legislation on road traffic was the Motor Car Act 1903. Amendments had been discusse ...
, which encouraged competing coach operators to co-ordinate their services. In 1934, six coach operators came together to form Associated Motorways, to pool their services between the Midlands and the south and west of England and between
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
South Wales
South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
. The founder members were: Black & White Motorways of
Cheltenham,
Red & White of
Chepstow
Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...
,
Royal Blue
Royal blue is a deep and vivid shade of blue. It is said to have been created by clothiers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of whom won a competition to make a dress for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III.
Brightness
The ''Oxford ...
,
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgen ...
(by then owned by
Bristol Tramways
Bristol Tramways operated in the city of Bristol, England from 1875, when the Bristol Tramways Company was formed by Sir George White, until 1941 when a Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the main power supply cables.
History
The first trams in Brist ...
),
and
United Counties
The Province of Ontario has 51 first-level administrative divisions, which collectively cover the whole province. With two exceptions, their areas match the 49 census divisions Statistics Canada has for Ontario.
The Province has four types of ...
of
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
.
Associated Motorways did not own or operate any coaches. Each member company committed itself to providing an agreed mileage of coach journeys for Associated Motorways and took an agreed share of the profits. The pool mainly operated the
hub and spoke model, the hub being Cheltenham where Black & White had opened a new coach station in 1931.
The consortium had to suspend operations during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
from 1942 to 1946, but prospered after the war. New members joined:
Lincolnshire Road Car
Stagecoach Lincolnshire is a bus company, formerly known as Lincolnshire RoadCar, which runs services throughout Lincolnshire.
Stagecoach in Lincolnshire is the trading name of the Lincolnshire Road Car Company Limited, which is a subsidiary of ...
and
Eastern Counties in 1956,
Crosville
Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales.
History
On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Geo ...
in 1965 and finally
Southdown in 1972. All of the members except Black & White also operated their own coach services outside the consortium.
At a peak summer weekend the consortium could have over 800 coaches on the road. Every day, coaches from all over England and Wales converged on Cheltenham, where most passengers changed coaches to continue their journey. At 14:00 sharp an inspector blew his whistle, and the coaches departed en masse.
Two things killed Associated Motorways. One was the spread of the
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
network. Although motorways were good for coach services generally, they made Associated Motorways' hub and spoke model uncompetitive and obsolete. The other was the government's desire to rebrand and rationalise the coach services under its control.
Although most of the consortium members had been state-owned since 1947, nationalisation did not greatly affect Associated Motorways until the government acquired the remaining members though its acquisition of
British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rento ...
in 1968. All of the members became subsidiaries of the state-owned
National Bus Company in 1969. In 1973 the National Bus Company formed National Travel (later
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
) to run coach services, and all Associated Motorways' services were transferred to National Express in 1974.
Like Associated Motorways before it, National Express was a marketing operation which relied mostly on coaches supplied by other companies. But unlike Associated Motorways, National Express imposed its own National brand on the operating companies' coaches. The Cheltenham coach station finally closed in 1984.
External links
References
*Healey, K (2002) ''Associated Motorways'' Venture Publications
{{Defunct British Bus Companies
Former coach operators in England
1934 establishments in England
1974 disestablishments in England
British companies disestablished in 1974
British companies established in 1934