TWENTY years ago, in 1987, when people heard that Stagecoach was coming to Basingstoke, it was thought that folk were singing a song from a musical show or transport was returning to the horse-drawn vehicles!
But that was not the case - it was to be a change in the name of the local bus service.
Buses have been running in town ever since the Wood brothers started their service from Roman Road into the centre of Basingstoke in the early 1920s. Their converted vans with seats did not carry many people at first, but they were replaced with coaches which did.
Then, in 1926, the Venture Bus Service began with vehicles made by Thornycroft motor works in Worting Road. Within 10 years, they had 30 vehicles to carry passengers around the town.
In 1937, six new double-deckers were added and 27 routes were laid out.
In 1945, the company was taken over by the Red and White Bus Company, before being transferred to the Wilts and Dorset company in 1951.
The new bus service kept its vehicles on land at the bottom of Wote Street, which was once the site of the Basingstoke Canal wharf, and some of the original huts were used as rest rooms or canteens for the staff.
Unfortunately, they were far from being comfortable, and when a heavy rainstorm in July 1957 flooded the wooden structures, the staff, including bus drivers and conductors, went on strike. Their complaints led to the construction of a brand-new bus station, which was opened by the mayor at that time, Councillor John Peat, in June 1962. The six-and-a-half-acre bus depot contained administrative offices, maintenance workshops, staff canteen, waiting room, buffet and offices for enquiries and left luggage.
The Wilts and Dorset was later consolidated into the Hants and Dorset company, which was subsequently split into smaller units, one of which became Hampshire Bus.
Meanwhile, Venturebus began its network in Basingstoke (basing itself on the previous name of the pre-war days) in September 1979. Four years later, the Hampshire Buses took over the local routes, and by 1985 their fleet of vehicles consisted of 25 double-deckers, 13 single-deckers and four coaches.
In September 1988, the Hampshire Mini Bus service was introduced, which allowed people to wave them down to be picked up and then taken to their destination.
Another recent bus service established in the town is Countywide Travel, which goes from Basingstoke to Winchester and back, passing through various villages on its way. It is based in Oakley.
The arrival of the Stagecoach buses in 1987 has seen a constant stream of buses all around the town, and the company has only been in operation nationwide for 26 years, having started with a handful of buses in Perth, Scotland. Its founders, Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, have seen their business grow into one of the largest bus operators in the country.
In February 1996, Stagecoach was awarded the franchise for South West Trains to provide rail passenger services in Hampshire for five years.
As profits from the United Kingdom bus and train services have grown, so the company has spread its wings further afield.
In China, it has become wellknown for its bus service and bought a significant operation in Hong Kong as well as a toll-road business; while in the United States, similar businesses have been bought, including Coach, the largest provider of charter tour and sightseeing operations in North America, with 16,500 coaches and 3,000 taxi cabs, which it acquired in 1999.
Meanwhile, in Basingstoke, Stagecoach was informed that its bus station was to be demolished to make way for the extension of the new shopping centre into Festival Place. The rest of lower Wote Street was cleared and on June 11, 2000, the station was closed down for demolition. Buses used lay-bys off Churchill Way to allow passengers to embark and alight until the construction of a smaller bus station (on the same site as the old one) was completed and opened on January 21, 2002.
Under one name or another there have been more than 80 years of continuous passenger transport service in Basingstoke and its outlying area and, with the help of the county council, an improvement has been made to public transport and encouraging people away from car use, thus making the Hampshire roads less congested.
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