Nostalgic look back at the buses and coaches of the ’70s
CARDIFF born and bred Mike Street first became interested in buses back in 1965 when a high school classmate showed him a copy of Ian Allan’s British Bus Fleets. It changed his life, and since then he has taken photographs of thousands of buses and coaches.
His new book, Buses and Coaches in South East Wales in the 1970s, came about after he had taken early retirement from his local government job as it gave him a chance to scan the thousands of photographs he had taken over the years.
Many of the vehicles and operators in the book no longer exist, so it is very much a nostalgic collection.
As he says in his introduction: “When I started photographing buses I tended to concentrate on the major operators and new vehicles of the smaller operators.
“One Sunday, when photographing at Porthcawl, I was accosted by a driver who wanted to know why I didn’t photograph his coach.
“I said that I was not interested in the older vehicles, just the newer ones.
“His reply was that the newer ones would be there next year, but the older ones could have been sold on or even gone for scrap and then I would have missed them.
“I took his words to heart and just wish I’d also started to photograph the minibuses that were around at the time!”
Most of the 180 illustrations in this book are colour ones and most of the vehicles and many of the operators depicted no longer exist, so it is very much a nostalgic collection.
So, as it says on the blurb, “Step back in time and experience the eclectic
variety of buses that formed the backbone of public transport on the roads of South East Wales.”
Buses and Coaches in South East Wales in the 1970s by Mike Street is published by Amberley Publishing, priced £14.99.