A BRIEF HISTORY
Local transport in and around the Bournemouth and
Poole area started with the 'invasion' of the railways to the town.
At the time, the only form of public transport were horse-drawn
omnibuses.
These horse-drawn buses
started operation in 1870 between the new Bournemouth East railway
station in Holdenhurst Road and the Square. In May of 1874 another
service started operating between Bournemouth and Southbourne.
In 1889 the 'Bournemouth, Boscombe & Westbourne Omnibus Company' was
formed. This operated from a small stables in Pokesdown.
Other companies were also formed around this time, 'The Southbourne,
Boscombe & Bournemouth Omnibus Company', operating a service between
Parkwood Road Boscombe to Seamoor Road Westbourne, and 'The
Bournemouth General Penny Omnibus Company'.
Other companies were started in various other areas, with services
operating between Christchurch and Poole, and Winton and Moordown.
Poole around 1901
The first real application for a tramway was made in
1881 by the 'Bournemouth, Poole and District Light Railways
(Electric) Company', a subsidiary of the 'Provincial Tramways
Company'. A route linking the East Station and Poole was proposed,
but this was turned down. Another company, the 'British Electric
Traction Company' (BET) also had proposals for numerous tramways in
Bournemouth, these were also opposed by the local Council, who at
the time, thought that if anybody was going to run services, the
Corporation should do it themselves.
The 'British Electric Traction Company' (BET) in
1899 finally obtained the powers to operate a single line between
Poole, Upper Parkstone and County Gates, they were not allowed to
run the line across the county boundary into Westbourne and
Bournemouth. 'The Poole and District Electric Traction Company' was
founded and under the Light Railways act of 1896, the obtained the
Poole & District Light Railway Order 1889.
The construction of the tramway started on the 4th of May 1900, and
the three and three quarter mile line finally opened just some 11
months later, on the 6th of April 1901. The fare for the journey was
3d.
Following the granting of the Poole & District Light
Railway Order in 1889, BET again applied for powers to construct and
run services in the Bournemouth area. Bournemouth by this time had
started to realise that there was to be a need for this form of
transport in the town, and proposed it's own tramway system.
On the 4th of May 1900 (the same day work started on the Poole to
County Gates line), when both proposals were submitted to the
Council, they passed both bills, 'The Christchurch and Bournemouth
Tramways Act, 1900', but the Bournemouth Corporation had precedence
over BET, who would only get to exercise powers if the Corporation
failed to construct the tramway themselves within two years.
Work eventually started on the Landsdowne to Pokesdown route (This
was eventually opened on the 23rd of July 1902), but there were
numerous objections and legal hearings to follow, with even
preparations being made to take the case to the House of Lords.
Eventually plans were drawn up to dispose of the Poole system to the
Corporation. Poole Council proposed that if BET sold the system,
they should be allowed to purchase it themselves and lease it back
to the Corporation. In 1903 this matter went to arbitration, and by
the end of 1904 Bournemouth Corporation gained control of the whole
system (both built or planned) for about £112,000. Poole were
allowed to purchase their section of lines and lease them back to
Bournemouth for 30 years, this also helped Bournemouth financially.
Bournemouth officially took over the Poole system on the 22nd of
June 1905.
