Rhondda Transport Company
Encyclopedia
The Rhondda Tramways Company was established in 1906 as a subsidiary of the British Electric Traction Company
British Electric Traction Company
The British Electric Traction Company was a company in Mumbai which used to generate electricity in Mumbai since 1882. It had a 1,100 hp generator and serviced 107 consumers by 1905. The company was bought over by the Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Company Limited the same year.See also...

 (BET). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the BET was a major operator of tramways in the UK, and later became one of the biggest operators of motor buses in the UK.

History

The Rhondda Tramways Company was given the franchise under act of parliament to run trams within the boundaries of the Rhondda Urban District Council. The council itself was prohibited from running its own bus service. In the early 1930s the trams were replaced by diesel buses.

By 1956 Rhondda Transport operated over 200 buses, and shortly afterwards it became the largest bus operator in Wales. In 1971 the company was taken over by Western Welsh
Western Welsh
Western Welsh was a Welsh bus operating company, based in Cardiff covering South Wales and the northern parts of the West Country. Formed in 1920, it was nationalised and became part of the National Welsh Omnibus Services in 1969....

. Western Welsh was merged with Red & White to form National Welsh, a component company of the newly created and nationalised National Bus Company
National Bus Company UK
The National Bus Company was, from 1969 to 1988, a nationalised bus company in England and Wales. NBC did not run buses itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies.-History:-Background:...

 (NBC).

Subsequent developments

NBC was privatised under prime minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

's privatisation campaigns in l986. National Welsh was sold to its management and began a vigorous expansionist drive, taking over smaller local and municipal bus companies in the South Wales valleys. It collapsed in 1992, and the former Rhondda Transport operations were taken over by Rhondda Buses. This company was taken over by the Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...

 in 1997, and the erstwhile RTC now operates as Stagecoach Wales
Stagecoach Wales
Stagecoach in South Wales is the trading name for Stagecoach in the south east Wales region. The operations centre around the South Wales Valleys, Cardiff and Newport.The head office is in Cwmbran...

.
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