South Wales Transport • Part 1

The late ‘fifties were difficult times for Britain’s bus companies. Rising wages, increasing car ownership and declining passenger numbers made for a difficult trading environment; reflecting the downward trend nationally, in 1957 SWT reported a loss of 500,000 passengers compared with the previous year. 1956 had been the year of the Suez crisis bringing with it steeply rising oil prices and fuel rationing. The company had found it necessary to curtail some services. Cutting costs became the order of the day and a number of bus companies, including SWT, experimented with unpainted vehicles; Swansea’s famous ‘silver buses’ were born. The first six were part of the 1958 intake of twenty six Weymann bodied AEC Regent Vs. Coincidentally, these were the first front entrance double deckers in the SWT fleet. They certainly looked impressive when brand new, with their polished aluminium exteriors reflecting the sunlight! Painted and upainted examples of the 1958 AEC Regent V/Weymann H39/32F when new. Ventilators were later added to the front upper deck and lower saloon windows.