 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Western Welsh" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Western Welsh was a Welshbus operating company, based inCardiff coveringSouth Wales and the northern parts of theWest Country. Formed in 1920, it was nationalised when the BET Group sold their bus interests to the Transport Holding Company in 1967. From 1969 W.W. became a part of theNational Bus Company and several years later was a component of the newly formed, but ill-fated,National Welsh operation.
Established in 1920 in Cardiff by a brewing family,South Wales Commercial Motors grew by acquisition,[1] eventually operating bus services in South Wales as far west asSt David's andTenby inPembrokeshire, and as far north asBrecon via theSouth Wales Valleys. In 1927, the company came to an agreement with theGreat Western Railway to take over theirbus services in bothSouth Wales, and areas of southernGloucestershire and northernSomerset surroundingBristol andBath. In return, the GWR took a minority share holding in the renamedWestern Welsh.[2]
In 1931, the GWR sold their bus company shareholdings toBritish Electric Traction, who continued expansion of the company by acquisition. As with other BET companies, Western Welsh's fleet included a significant number ofAEC andLeyland types, includingAEC Bridgemasters andAlbion Nimbuses, all of which appeared in the company's familiar all-red livery.
Although entire UK railway network was nationalised in 1948 when they passed to theBritish Transport Commission, many bus services remained in private hands.
After BET sold its operations to the government, Western Welsh became part of the National Bus Company. In 1970, NBC transferred Western Welsh's operations west ofBridgend to its subsidiariesSouth Wales Transport andCrosville Motor Services. The company continued to operate further east until 1978, when it was merged withRed & White Services to formNational Welsh Omnibus Services. National Welsh was privatised in 1987, and collapsed in 1992.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
