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British Bus Systems No 8 Dodds/AA Motor Services by Bill McCregor Hard Cover
British Bus Systems No 8 Dodds/AA Motor Services by Bill McCregor
Hard Cover
96 pages
Copyright 1985
Introduction 4
A family business6
1 Dodds' early days7
2 The 'fifties - a new era14
3 The 'sixties and 'seventies - changing patterns21
4 The 'eighties - the age of deregulation26
5 `The Service' - Dodds and AA Motor Services Ltd30
6 Coach business of other AA members39
7 Vehicle policy42
Dodds coaches in pictures45
AA Motor Service vehicles in pictures
1: The Dodds fleet 64
2: The Law fleet 81
3: The Tumilty fleet83
4: The Watson fleet85
5: The Young's fleet86
Fleet lists90
Service vehicles and cars 95
AA liveries and fleet numbers96
Acknowledgements96
INTRODUCTION
The story of Dodds of Troon and AA Motor Services is one of continuing yet varied enterprise through contrasting circumstances. Motor buses were still far from being a common sight when James Dodds began running an Argyll wagonette in 1912. By the mid2twenties, they had become so numerous that competition was becoming a serious problem. Operator associations were a natural form of defence for smaller concerns against the increasingly powerful large companies, but Ayrshire was one of the few areas where the associations became directly involved in the organisation and management of services.
The already-growing Dodds business did not fit happily in the Ayrshire Al Association designed for operators with no more than two vehicles which it joined with some misgivings in 1926 and in 1930 a new association with seven members, of which Dodds was the largest, was formed, concentrating on the Ayr-Ardrossan route. The following year it became AA Motor Services Ltd and the now-familiar pattern of operation was established, with members' buses painted in AA livery, though Dodds and some others also ran coaches under their own names. The number of members gradually fell and since 1971 there have been only two, Dodds and Young's, the latter also having quite a complex history, as summarised on page 86.
In the 'twenties and 'thirties, both the bus and coach sides of the business depended quite heavily on holiday visitors to the Ayrshire coast resorts, the majority of whom arrived by public transport. They used the local buses to travel to or between Ayr, Prestwick, Troon, Irvine and Ardrossan, all linked by the main 26-mile-long AA route, or coaches for day, half-day or evening excursions. Dodds' coaches were thus seen in many parts of Scotland, though rarely in those days south of the English border.
The 1939-45 war altered the whole picture. Coach tours soon came to an end, some of the vehicles also being lost by compulsory requisition. Yet transport for war workers meant both expansion of the bus services, including the introduction of double-deckers, and contract work, the latter including movement of troops. New vehicles were scarce and some serviceable additions to the Dodds fleet were made by purchasing surplus requisitioned coaches, some of them non-runners, and finding and reconditioning suitable engines and other units for them, often not of original type.
Expansion of all the AA members' and associated coach fleets followed in the early postwar period when the pent-up demand for travel was released. A variety of new vehicles came into the Dodds fleet but in the 'fifties the experience of rebuilding was developed into an art as wartime Guy Arab chassis were modernised and altered to form the basis of what amounted to new buses and coaches of various styles. In later years, such reconstruction was no longer generally needed, though two AEC Reliance coach chassis completed nearly 20 years' service apiece as a result of being rebodied.
The development of Prestwick as an international airport and the growth of Irvine as a `new town' meanwhile provided plenty of traffic for the existing bus services and justified some new ones, while higher standards of living brought more interest in foreign travel. Dodds' coaches began to operate Continental tours on a private hire basis in 1958 and this side of the business has grown ever since.
In more recent times, unemployment, particularly severe in the Irvine area, has reduced the demand for local bus services. Even so, AA Motor Services is exceptional in continuing to operate without seeking or receiving any subsidy on its routes from the local authority. The only financial support received relates to concessionary fares for pensioners, etc - which is a subsidy to the passenger rather than the operator - and the refund of fuel duty available to all operators of local bus services, which reduces overall operating costs by only a small proportion of the total.
The more modern AA Motor Services vehicles are worked intensively, covering up to 82,000 miles or so in a year. The drop in numbers of passengers has reduced the need for double-deckers - Young's have standardised on Leyland National single-deckers for all fleet additions since 1978. While Dodds' requirements justified the regular purchase of new double-deckers until 1982, further additions of this type are likely to be less frequent, the low-floor single-decker now being favoured for most duties.
On the coach side, the considerable growth of extended tour business has led to more purchases of high-specification coaches. The `deregulation' era from 1980 removed some illogical restrictions on pick-up points but the demand for the traditional day or shorter tour has fallen in recent years, even though imaginative choice of destination has compensated for some of the drop in old-style tours.
Bus deregulation is an unknown quantity, but the flexibility and immense experience of the AA Motor Services organisation make it a formidable competitor. Over the years the old adversarial relationship with competing operators, and in particular the Scottish Bus Group, has turned to a more friendly rivalry, though the sense of competition has always kept each concern on its toes and deregulation will inevitably sharpen the competitive element. The ability to win through in hard times as well as good has been demonstrated in many different ways since the early days, making Dodds of Troon and AA Motor Services well-known and respected names far beyond their home territory.
This book is a salute to a remarkable enterprise.
Alan Townsin Series Editor
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