From the arts and crafts estates – council-built – to the huge garden suburbs of the interwar period, we’ve followed a dream. And that dream came to fruition in Stevenage.
I was a young planner working in Nathaniel Lichfield's office in 1970s. We were approached to do a cost benefit analysis of a proposed new bus service, designed to relieve one of Stevenage's new problems: traffic congestion, especially on the few (2?) bridges connecting the residential east with the industrial west, over the East Coast Main Line. Citizens by then mostly had cars and were using them to go to work in great tides. The idea was modelled on one in Peoria, Illinois and was to start a luxurious subscription bus service which would collect people from home, then wizz them to work, & back in the evening. Perhaps for lunch too, I'm not sure. The CBA was very positive and the scheme started, I believe. But what became of it? Does anyone remember?
Sounds like the 'Blue Arrow' bus service - although that started in 1969. It didn't last for long, and some of the bus services in Stevenage were re-branded 'super bus' in 1971, with flat fare 'one man' buses replacing double deck buses with conductors.
I was a young planner working in Nathaniel Lichfield's office in 1970s. We were approached to do a cost benefit analysis of a proposed new bus service, designed to relieve one of Stevenage's new problems: traffic congestion, especially on the few (2?) bridges connecting the residential east with the industrial west, over the East Coast Main Line. Citizens by then mostly had cars and were using them to go to work in great tides. The idea was modelled on one in Peoria, Illinois and was to start a luxurious subscription bus service which would collect people from home, then wizz them to work, & back in the evening. Perhaps for lunch too, I'm not sure. The CBA was very positive and the scheme started, I believe. But what became of it? Does anyone remember?
Sounds like the 'Blue Arrow' bus service - although that started in 1969. It didn't last for long, and some of the bus services in Stevenage were re-branded 'super bus' in 1971, with flat fare 'one man' buses replacing double deck buses with conductors.
Bit more at https://www.thecomet.net/news/22332547.exploring-history-stevenage-superbus-system/
and http://www.ampyx.org.uk/lcountry/superbus.html
Many of the bus routes in Stevenage still have route numbers SB... but don't think there's anything else out of the ordinary with them.
A modern bus was painted in to the 1971 livery in 2021 to mark its 50th anniversary - https://www.keybuses.com/article/half-century-arriva-marks-superbus-anniversary-0