... Isn't Like It Used To Be
Back in the day, your Cornwall bus service would, with very few exceptions, be run by Western National. The company was under the overall management of The Transport Holding Company Ltd, formerly Thomas Tilling.
THC and the British Electric Traction (BET) group both became, effectively, state owned and were later formally united as The National Bus Company.
The NBC adopted a policy of local branding which begat "Cornish Fairways" ...
... soon to be eclipsed by a variety of privatisation paint schemes, a mixture of red, blue and cream.
The nicest was the "flags" version ...
... downgraded to something more boring when First Group bought the company.
Then along came pre-barbie ...
... followed by Barbie ...
... then Barbie Mark 2!
First continued it's trend of adopting boring liveries in weak colours.
Competition hit when former First employees set up Truronian.
A highlight was the development of "The Helston Branch Line", route T34, building on nostalgia for a much loved but closed railway service.
Truronian's enthusiastic local management produced an effective and successful local brand which nibbled away at First's network.
Next came pink liveried Western Greyhound ...
... a bit insipid, but certainly "different".
Colours later became green and white ...
... then all over green with a tasteful orange line. The company was, by now, biting, not just at the heels of First, but devouring the whole business. There were also some powerful route developments and some very smart double deckers.
First Bus, long regarded as a 'basket case' by the industry, fought back by buying Truronian. The rumour in the pubs frequented by Britain's bus managers was that First had paid too much for Truronian "to keep Stagecoach out"!
Then the wheels began to fall off Western Greyhound. The end was sad and abrupt. The company was sold but the new owners gave up before they really started and First took over the bits.
First was back in almost total control of the county.
BUT ...
For reasons which are not clear, good things did not last. There was route branding ...
... and an explosive growth of open top buses.
The leisure services centred on The Eden Project ...
... we're complex but unsuccessful; and a similar lack of business eventually removed open toppers at Falmouth, Newquay and Exeter ...
... together with the closed top run over the moors from Exeter to Plymouth ...
Then came the decision to withdraw ALL open top services including the apparently successful ones!
It was the recent competitive attacks by GoAhead that seems to have thrust the knife into the ailing company and was the final straw that broke the First Camel's chassis.
Fortunately there has been little evidence of First's latest boring livery ...
... with only one such evident when the fbbs sojourned at Penzance in September last year. But what was palpably evident was that First had already given up. Buses were no longer in the correct branded livery whilst a selection of cast-offs from other group companies accompanied the mess.
So what will Go Ahead do with First's much depleted network?
Outline information is now available for the February changes.
Next Kernow blog : Weds 21st Jan
