Title: Western National in the 1990s
Author & Publisher: Keith Shayshutt
ISBN: 978-1-5272-4301-9
Specification: 297mm x 210mm, 96pp, softback
Price: £19.50
Keith Shayshutt’s focus in this book is on Western National’s services and how they operated, especially its many rural outstations.
He reminds us that the 1990s brought innovation and growth in patronage in many areas after decades of decline. A key facilitator in this was the influx of vanderived minibuses that reduced operating costs, thus allowing frequency increases and faster, more direct services, especially in the St Just area where it made some spectacular improvements.
Aided by Rural Bus Grant funding, new or reinstated facilities brought further growth. Among these, a service in St Ives grew to become a key part of The Tinner, today a high profile, half-hourly branded double-deck route. However, rights of way issues thwarted a plan for a depot beneath the town’s Malakoff bus station.
Most photographs are the author’s own work, with the number of minibuses depicted reflecting the fact that in 1996 twice as many were required in the peaks than Bristol VR double-deckers. Scenes of buses in yards illustrate the role of the outstations, while …
