User:Mhockey/history

History
Horse-bus services in Bristol were started in 1887 by the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company. The horse-buses were replaced by motor buses from 1906, when the company started a service from the Centre to Clifton.

From 1887 to 1986, Bristol Tramways (renamed Bristol Omnibus Company in 1957) had an almost complete monopoly of bus services in and from Bristol. The exceptions were in the 1920s, when Greyhound Motors provided competition until taken over by Bristol Tramways in 1928; a few small independent operators, the last of which, the Dundry Pioneer, was acquired in 1950; and Red & White Services, which started joint services with Bristol Omnibus Company to South Wales when the Severn Bridge opened in 1966.

Between 1937 and 1978 Bristol Omnibus Company was the operating partner in Bristol Joint Services, a joint undertaking with Bristol Corporation which controlled bus services within the city. The company owned and operated the buses, and shared revenues with the Corporation.

Bristol Omnibus Company was state-owned from 1948, but in 1980 the Thatcher government embarked on a programme of privatisation and deregulation of bus services. In preparation the company was split into two operating units in 1983: the city services, which in 1985 adopted the brand Bristol City Line, and the country services, which in 1986 became a separate company, Badgerline Ltd. Badgerline was sold to its management in 1986, and the original company was sold in 1987 to Midland Red West, who kept the City Line brand.

Deregulation meant that Badgerline was able to begin bus services within the city, in competition with City Line. However, in 1988 Midland Red West was itself acquired by Badgerline, so that Bristol's bus services were again controlled by a single company.

In 1995 Badgerline merged with Grampian Regional Transport to become First Bus, later renamed FirstGroup. First adopted a policy of common branding, and the City Line and Badgerline brands were dropped. Bristol Omnibus Company was renamed First Bristol Buses in 1999.

A few small independent operators have competed with Badgerline, City Line and First since deregulation. Buglers ran a few tendered local services from 1988. Abus began with a competing service to Keynsham in 1991. South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach built up a small network of local services from 1997 until it was taken over in 2007 by Rotala, who rebranded the services Wessex Connect. However, the independents have been unable to shake the dominance of First.

Routes
Until 1958 the route network grew, but was relatively stable. The first bus route, from the Centre to Clifton, was unchanged from 1887 to 1958. Routes were first numbered in 1913.

Most services started from the Centre, Prince Street or Old Market, although the tram replacement services started between 1938 and 1941 were mostly cross-city routes. In 1958 routes were linked, so that almost all routes ran across the city. This was to reduce congestion caused by standing buses in the central area, and also to provide better access to the new Broadmead shopping area.

In 1966 and 1967, many routes were renumbered to fit into a new numbering scheme:

In the mid 1970s, growing congestion was creating delays and unreliable timing on the long cross-city routes, and many services were again split.
 * 1-99:   Bristol city routes
 * 100-199: Weston-super-Mare and Wells areas
 * 200-299: Bath area
 * 300-399: Bristol country area
 * 400-499: Swindon and Stroud areas
 * 500-599: Gloucester and Cheltenham areas

In 1978 the end of Bristol Joint Services enabled city services to be linked with routes in the eastern suburbs which were outside the city boundaries. Then in 1981 the NBC's Market Analysis Project triggered more changes, with the abandonment of some long-established routes. Privatisation and deregulation resulted in more changes.

In recent decades, bus services have been extended to serve new suburbs to the north and east of the city and to serve the new out of town shopping centre at Cribbs Causeway.

In the 1980s, limited stop express services were started to the outer suburbs, initially under the Clipper brand. These routes have now mostly been abandoned.

In the 1990s the policy was adopted of using distinctive route numbers for services subsidised by local authorities. Subsidised city routes were numbered in the 5xx series, and subsidised country services in the 6xx series.

Early bus services
The tram services were given the numbers 1 to 17, so the first bus routes were allocated numbers 18 to 33 in 1913:

In 1921, three more routes were started:

The next route numbers were allocated to other parts of the Bristol Tramways network:
 * 40 to 44: Weston-super-Mare area
 * 45 to 64: Cheltenham and Gloucester area
 * 65 to 79: Swindon area

New routes started or acquired in the Bristol area were then allocated numbers on an ad hoc basis. In the 1920s and 1930s new routes included

Between 1938 and 1941, the city's tram services were withdrawn. The replacement bus services were numbered 1 to 9:

Variants to pre-war routes included

Post war bus services
After the war, several routes were extended to serve new housing estates: Lawrence Weston (2), Henbury (1), Lockleaze (2 and 21), Withywood (138) and Hartcliffe (8, 22 and 238). Other new routes included