The arrival of buses in Barcelona was not easy. At the beginning of the 20th century, the tram, its main competitor, did everything it could to prevent it. The first attempt to establish this new means of transport in the city was in 1906, when the company La Catalana launched a line connecting Plaça Catalunya with Gràcia, with vehicles from France. The problem, obviously, was that this route was already covered by the tram, and the first bus line closed in 1908, after the tram companies made its life impossible, according to the director of the Terminus CET study center, Joan Carles Salmerón.
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It would not be until 1922 when the paradigm shift became inevitable. Buses had been developing throughout Catalonia during the 1910s, but Barcelona had remained on the sidelines, with the exception of some interurban services to towns like Mollet del Vallès. Given the population growth being experienced in the Catalan capital, trams were unable to meet the demand being generated, and the Barcelona City Council made it clear that this new transport system had to be integrated into the city and called a tender.
Tilling Stevens buses were chosen to debut in Barcelona. The Compañía General de Autobuses (CGA), the parent company of the current Transports de Barcelona, acquired them in the United Kingdom, and the first ones arrived by road through France. That is why, for a few days, they circulated through the Catalan capital with British license plates, until the Spanish ones with the Barcelona code arrived, according to historian Albert González Massip. Following the British style, the buses had the steering wheel on the right, were double-decker, and painted red. They also had solid wheels and an exterior staircase at the rear, and were covered with advertising.
The first bus line began operating in Barcelona in October 1922, with a "very symbolic" route, as Salmerón points out. Its route passed through Via Laietana, which had just been built and where trams had not yet started to circulate. "It was the most modern place in Barcelona, and seeing these modern, red, double-decker buses circulating on Via Laietana was very striking," Salmerón explains. This line, the A1, also went through Provença, Aribau, Plaça Universitat, Ronda Universitat, Plaça Catalunya, Pla del Palau, Arc de Triomf... And the A2 varied this route to reach the Escuela Industrial. In a few months, lines followed one another, with the arrival of line B ---connecting Sants and Poblenou---, C ---Drassanes and San Andreu---, or D ---Gràcia with Barceloneta---.
Salmerón points out that the CGA did very well during the 1920s and continued to add new lines. In fact, the company ended up developing and building its own vehicles in the depots it had in Poblenou, for the International Exhibition of 1929. But, with the Civil War, the history of the Tilling Stevens in Barcelona came to an end.
According to González Massip, during the war, all existing urban routes were abandoned due to lack of spare parts, engine damage, and fuel scarcity. In addition, many buses were destroyed in 1938 when they were sent to battle zones. Of the few that remained in operation, the Republican army used some to escape Barcelona, but their double-decker structure made road circulation impossible, with trees and low bridges preventing their passage, González Massip emphasizes. When Franco's soldiers entered Barcelona in 1939, only eight buses remained out of a fleet of 125 in 1936, and many were without wheels or engines. With the dictatorship, Salmerón adds, the bus service was unified with the tram company, which bought other vehicles.
Recovery of a historical model for the centenary
Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), which integrates Transports de Barcelona, derived from the CGA, has decided to recover a model of the old Tilling Stevens to celebrate, next year, the centenary of its arrival in the city. The coordinator of the TMB Foundation, Antònia Cruz, indicates that a vehicle acquired in 2011 in the United Kingdom will be restored and rehabilitated, consisting of two parts: the chassis with a replica of the red driving cabin and a platform for the rear body, just as the vehicles were during the 1920s. With this car, TMB explains, the necessary components are available to replicate a Tilling Stevens like those that began to circulate in Barcelona in 1922.
Although this vehicle was built in 1924 and was originally a fire truck, the vehicle is one of the few Tilling Stevens that maintains the petrol-electric engine that the buses in the Catalan capital had in the early 1920s, a precursor to current hybrid propulsions. TMB will allocate approximately 300,000 euros for its recovery, with the aim of having it ready by June 2022 so it can circulate in the Classic Bus Rally to commemorate its ancestors, making the traditional route of this event, from Maria Cristina to Caldes de Montbui.