General Information About the Routes

The year 1962 has been chosen as the end of this study of Coventry bus routes.  A snapshot of the routes as they were in the Summer of 1962 has been used as the definitive view of the network.  The year 1962 is appropriate because:

• It marked the golden jubilee of Coventry Corporation Transport;
  
• It coincided with the retirement of Ronald Fearnley as the general manager, whose vision was instrumental in creating Coventry Corporation's post-war bus services;
  
• In that year, changes to the city centre routes began as a result of the introduction of one-way systems and the construction of the inner ring road;
  
• The following year marked the arrival of the first front entrance double-decker vehicles, which eventually led to the introduction of the MONOBUS system;
  
• Only minor extensions to a few of the 1950s routes occurred after 1962;
  
• By 1966, financial constraints led to the curtailment of many services. 

The year 1926 has been chosen as the start year because, whereas only three bus services were in operation prior to that year, two further services were introduced during the year, another the following year and, by 1928, there were nine services in operation.  Thus 1926 can be considered as the start of the expansion of the bus network.  Although Coventry Corporation Transport bought its first buses in 1914 when it began to operate the Stoke Heath Service at the end of March, the buses were requisitioned by the War Office in September of the same year and no further bus services were run until Service 1 was introduced in 1919.  The pre-1926 history has been included for the three routes that pre-date 1926, although the route of Service 2 then was quite different to the post-war route.

The original study was concerned purely with the public service routes numbered 1 to 23, together with 5A, 8A, 14A, 16A, 17A, 18A and 20A.  The works routes are now being added to this and it may be possible in the future to make a further study of the school routes.