Friday 9th April 1909

Widnes Town Corporation introduced the first closed top double decker buses in Great Britain. They had to be covered top due to the corrosive atmosphere and acid rain in Widnes associated with the chemical factories. They operated a service from the Transporter Bridge through the town centre to Peel House Lane. Services to Farnworth, Appleton, Halton View and Rainhill soon followed.The four Commer buses purchased from Commercial Cars Ltd based in took 4 days to be delivered from Luton to Widnes in 1909. There was no motorways, roads were in general very poor and at a height of 16ft 6ins, quite a few tree branches had to be cut down to get to Widnes. The wheelbase was 7ft 6ins wide “a wider wheelbase was requested but declined due to the Heavy Motor Vehicle Act” and the bus ran on solid rubber tyres, they carried 34 seated passengers. Cost of each bus was £844 and they were numbered 1,2,3 &4. In the first six months of service an average of over 15,000 passengers were carried each week, with just over £80 in bus fares per week collected.