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| BLUE SALOON |
Another local bus operator in the Surrey town of Guildford
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note - this is a site of historical record and does not contain current
service information |
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Originating
from the ABC Taxis business founded by Mr J Lambley in 1945 their first
full sized PSV vehicle is believed to have been acquired in 1961. With
Guildford lying on the boundary line between London Country
Buses and Aldershot & District there was always scope for
independent operators (over the years this had included Safeguard, Yellow Bus Service of
Stoughton and
Tillingbourne).
Under the Blue Saloon name
bus services were started on 1st March 1973. The
first
route commenced after a licensing dispute with both London Country and
Tillingbourne as to who should run it. This was from Guildford to
Boxgrove Park, later extended westwards from the town centre to the
previously unserved area of Woodbridge Meadows in 1976, but only after
overcoming opposition from two other operators (Safeguard and Alder Valley).
By the time of the 1980 timetable shown below there two routes, with route 1
starting at Woodbridge Meadows industrial estate, then alongside the River Wey, passing through the town centre and on
to London Road Station and St Lukes Hospital, then out along Warren Road before terminating
at Collingwood Crescent on a loop through Boxgrove Park to the east of
the town. Route 2 also started from Woodbridge Meadows, following route
1 into the town centre and London Road Station, then running in a south easterly direction to a
terminal loop along Pewley Way and Addison Road in Charlotteville.
Operations commenced using three RF buses with comprehensive destination
displays, and Bristol LH were to become favourites for this operator
too. In 1981 the fleet comprised fourteen PSV vehicles, of which five were buses and nine were coaches.
Both
the Blue Saloon routes were run hourly. In some ways the services along
Warren Road
(former 451) and Pewley Way (former 448A) were 'orphan routes' that had
originally been short
workings for London Country and then passed to Tillingbourne with
little success and later Safeguard tried too. Little surprise perhaps
that route 2, although only an off peak operation, was not
profitable. In 1980 Blue Saloon had
ambitions to extend the operations of their blue and white buses
further
eastwards to Merrow Park although this seems not to have happened.
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The Blue
Saloon name had previously been present in this area in pre-war years
under the ownership of Mr Locke, with routes from Guildford to Ripley,
Send and
Woking. Mr Locke, who started in 1924, sold out to Aldershot
& District in January 1938
with his routes and vehicles shared between them and London Country
Buses. Mr Lambley of ABC Taxis had driven for Mr Locke and acquired the
right
to use the name of the defunct operation when he started his taxi
business in 1945. A small fleet of coaches started running in
1960, reviving the Blue Saloon name.
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A
major reorganisation of bus services in Guildford took
place in 1979 as an outcome of the MAP (Market Analysis Project)
conducted by the National bus companies around the country. The
vehicles of all local operators in Guildford were then operated
under the Weyfarer brand name with an interavailable ticket. A proposal was put forward in 1983 jointly by Safeguard,
Tillingbourne and Blue Saloon to
take over all of the town services in Guildford themselves. After some
initial favourable
consideration by the local authority it was impractical to
proceed, and doubtless the idea was not supported by London Country or
Alder Valley. Blue Saloon adopted the 'Hoppa-Shoppa' name for
their own local services.
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Change
did come in April 1985 with further reorganisation of local services.
With both of their routes remaining hourly Blue Saloon route 1 became
the G1 and operated from Boxgrove Park into Guildford then a new
section west to OnslowVillage (replacing Alder Valley 229) and no
longer serving Woodbridge Meadows. Route 2 became the G2 and ran from
Charlotteville through Guildford to Woodbridge Meadows, then extended
north to Grange Park. The section from Guildford to Grange Park was
also worked hourly by Alder Valley. In 1987 the
G2 was altered into a circular service returning from Grange
Park via the Park Barn estate and Guildford Park areas, which were already well served by the
buses of long established Safeguard.
There was also route
3 from Guildford to Send, Ripley, Ockham and Woking, similar to the pre-war operation of Mr Locke. The 1985 fleet
was 23 vehicles (7 were buses). Photos online
show Blue Saloon involved in other routes in the post-deregulation
years including route 6 to Elstead (1987) and route 532 to Merrow,
Burpham, Chandon, Horsley and Bookham (1988). |
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The
Blue Saloon depot was on the Slyfield Industrial Estate and besides their
bus services there was an extensive coaching operation. In
1983 they had acquired Warner's of Milford, a coach firm based near
Godalming, with four coaches retained and running
in Warner's livery for some years afterwards. Some of their coaches
also ran with 'GB Tours' names, a joint venture with Gastonia of
Cranleigh. In 1990 the school services of Antennae Coaches of
Guildford were taken over. The Blue Saloon services together with six
of their coaches and the lease on the Slyfield garage passed to
erstwhile competitor Guildford & West Surrey
in March 1996 through the medium of their subsidiary company Horsham
Buses Ltd. G&WS
were part of the British Bus group who later evolved into Arriva who remained active in the Guidlford area until December 2021).
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Timetable current in 1980 - note the generous layover time allowed for route 2 at Woodbridge Meadows terminus.
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A timetable produced independently and dated June 1983
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Cover
and list of routes from the Weyfarer Guildford Area Bus Timetable dated 31st August 1980,
including both the London Country and independent operators bus services
in the Guildford area.
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Cover
of the 1929 timetable booklet. The Blue
Saloon name
had previously been present in the Guildford area in the
pre-war years with five
routes including to Ripley, Send
and
Woking. The owner, Mr Locke, started in 1924 and
sold out to Aldershot
& District in January 1938, with his
routes and vehicles shared
between them and the country
bus section of London Transport.
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For many pictures of Blue Saloon vehicles go here
With thanks to Laurie James - further information welcomed about this operator
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