The Rhondda Tramways Company was established in 1906 as a subsidiary of the National Electric Construction Company. The NECC was acquired, with all its subsidiary businesses, by

British Electric Traction Company British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentok ...

(BET) in 1928. 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.Rhondda Cynon Taf - Library Service Heritage Trail - Treherbert
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 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 when the BET Group sold their bus interests to the Transport Holding Company ...

. Western Welsh was merged with Red & White to form National Welsh, a component company of the newly created and nationalised National Bus Company (NBC).WalesOnline - News - South Wales Valleys - Plenty of changes on Valley buses
/ref>

Subsequent developments

NBC was privatised under prime minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's privatisation campaigns in 1986. 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 in 1997, and the erstwhile RTC now operates as Stagecoach Wales.

References

{{Defunct British Bus Companies Former bus operators in Wales 1906 establishments in Wales Transport companies established in 1902 British companies established in 1906 Railway companies established in 1906