Bus garages, or depots if that is your preferred nomenclature, come in
all shapes and sizes and have their origins in the tram depots that were
established by the various tramway companies of the pre-electrification
era. Tram depots were originally built for horse-drawn and steam-hauled
tramcars and, in the case of the former, often had stables attached.
Hardly any two bus garages were the same as they varied in both size and
type of construction. Some, such as London Transport's Stockwell garage
(which is still in use) and Salford Corporation's Frederick Road
tram/bus depot, could be considered architectural gems. The capacity of
a garage could vary enormously; examples of this were Ribble Motor's
outstation at Bowness-on-Solway with space to garage just one bus and
Oldham Corporation's Wallshaw Street garage, which when built was
designed to hold 300 buses under one roof. There are still a significant
number of former tram depots functioning as bus garages, but they are on
the decline. The deregulation of bus services in 1986 changed the course
of the bus industry forever. As undertakings were privatised and sold
off during the 1990s, the new operators moved out of their inherited
garages and set up more low-cost establishments. These generally
consisted of a moderately sized maintenance building and a large
open-air parking area.
