YELLOW BUSES BUS DEPOT. MALLARD RD. STROUDEN PARK. BOURNEMOUTH. DORSET. MAY 2006

A [ very ] potted history........

 

In 1902 the first electric tram route opened in Bournemouth and ran between the Lansdowne and Pokesdown.

Owned and operated by Bournemouth Corporation further routes quickly followed and in a few short years Bournemouth trams were also running to Christchurch and Poole.

By 1906 the system had reached its full extent although Sunday trams didn't run until 1913, and that was an afternoon service only, initially.

 

On 1st May 1908 a tram crashed in Avenue Rd as it made its way down from The Triangle to The Square killing seven people and seriously injuring twenty six.

 

The trams ran on steel tracks and got their power supply via overhead cables although parts of the system near the town centre used a conduit system where the power cables were buried underground so that there were no unsightly overhead cables. The sections of the conduit system were replaced with overhead cables by 1910.

 

The main depot was built in Southcote Rd in 1902 and had its own power station to supply electricity to the tram system. The depot closed in 1965 and is now used as a Council depot.

In 1905 a smaller depot was built next to the Bell Inn [ now The Seabournes ] opposite Pokesdown station. It closed in 1969 and became a second hand furniture warehouse before being demolished and replaced by housing in the mid 1990s.

In 1911 another similar depot opened on Wimborne Rd in Moordown, it closed in 1953 and was used by the Post Office amongst others until it was demolished and replaced by a retail unit in the late 1980s.

 

In the first half of the 1930s the trams were replaced by electric trolleybuses that also got their power from overhead cables but offered slightly more maneuverability as they did not run on tracks.

 

In 1951 a new depot was opened in Mallard Rd at Strouden Park in the north of the town. The depot was constructed on the site of Strouden Farm where the Council used to keep their work horses.

As part of the new depot a garage with a distinctive humped roof line was constructed. The roof was made from what was at the time the longest span of pre-stressed concrete in the country, which meant that the 300ft x 150 ft structure didn't need any supporting pillars inside. This feature has led to the garage being grade 2 listed which meant that when the depot became the Mallard Rd retail park in 2007 the garage had to be retained and so it became a Homebase DIY superstore.

 

The trolleybuses were officially retired in April 1969 when a final procession took place through local streets, after which they were superceded by the diesel engined bus.

In the early 1980s the company became officially known as Yellow Buses, a name used by locals for many years.

 

Bournemouth Council continued to own and operate the company when, in the mid 1980s, a Transport Act was passed that meant that the Council could no longer run the company directly and had to do so as a 'private' company via a board of directors. Making a profit became paramount although this was made more difficult as the Act also opened up the system to competition from rival companies.

 

In 2005 the company was sold to Transdev, a French company, and in early March 2006 they moved from Mallard Rd to a new depot in Yeomans Way behind the Castlepoint shopping centre.

The Mallard Rd site became a retail park in 2007.

 

In 2011 Transdev Yellow Buses were sold to the RATP Group, another giant European public transport company.

 

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING......

 

Glory Days- Bournemouth Transport by Colin Morris [ ISBN 0-7110-2877-X ].

 

Bournemouth Trolleybuses by Malcolm N Pearce [ ISBN 1 901706 10 9 ].

 

Yellow Buses website www.bybus.co.uk/about-us/history

 

 

 

 

 

 

Done