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One of the best ways to get around Coventry before World War One was by tram. But in 1914 the citizens of Coventry were excited to have a new mode of transport – the bus.

One hundred years on and many buses still takes the same route past the Old Fire Station on Hales Street.

Tour guide and author of Coventry Transport 1884 -1940, Roger Bailey, told us about transport in Coventry before 1914.

Main transportation was by steam car, bicycles and trams. The trams were very popular and the tram lines are still embedded under many of the city’s road surfaces, they can be seen when major roadworks have taken place.

Midland Daily Telegraph, 19 February 1914: ‘Delivery of six motor buses to the Coventry Corporation is expected within the next fortnight. The chassis have been made by the Maudslay Company at Coventry. About a dozen of the Corporation Tramway employees have been training as motor bus drivers since December.’

The buses were made by The Maudslay Company; one of their factory sites was just off the Allesley Old Road, which explains the name of The Maudslay Pub. Before the war they were making cars and buses but the war saw a change to more industrial vehicles.

The six buses were introduced to the city in March 1914. They had no roofs, 34 seats, were double-deckers with an external staircase. They had hard tyres and the road surfaces weren’t great, so it would have been a very bumpy ride.

When war was declared, the War Office commandeered the six buses. The chassis formed part of a large order of Maudslay chassis, which would have been used for transportation of goods, formed ambulances and most likely ended up on the front line. The tops of the buses were given to Sheffield.

So, for the duration of the war, Coventry had no bus services running. They continued to use trams and bicycles. Afetr so many men went to serve on the front line, there was a huge deficit in the local workforce. This was filled by women.

Midland Daily Telegraph, 22 May 1915: ‘The Tramways Committee of the Coventry City Council officially announce that in view of the great and increasing shortage of labour, have decided, as an experiment, to employ women tram conductors on certain routes where traffic is lightest.’

The bus didn’t return to Coventry until 1919.

Location: Pool Meadow Bus Station (the old fire station), Coventry CV1 1JA
Photograph of a double-decker Maudsley bus in Walsgrave Road in 1914, courtesy of Coventry City Council
Presented by Siobhan Harrison

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