​The Background to Caisleys Bus Service and
Beam Transport RATTLER 428/2009 (Part [1]).
By Graeme Gugeri .

The first motor buses on the road in Perth appeared in 1903. Seven were imported complete from the UK by Copley's Ltd at an estimated cost of £10,000, a large sum for that time. Among them were several double deckers capable of seating 40 passengers. All ran on solid rubber tyres. 
Copley's route, sanctioned by the old Victoria Park Municipal Council, ran direct from Victoria Park to the General Post Office (then located in the Treasury Buildings in St Georges Terrace. The high capital cost, high fuel consumption and heavy wear and tear running over bad roads made it impossible for the service to pay. After a reasonable trial, the buses were withdrawn and subsequently tried on a city route running from St Georges Terrace to the Tower Hotel (then Chipper's) via William St., Aberdeen St., and Charles St. Again, the run did not prove to be a financial success.
The Company reached the conclusion that the motor bus venture was before its time. The buses were laid aside in the old Paddy's Market in James St and regrettably lost in a fire around the time of World War 1.
It was not until 1912 that another determined foray into the field of regular motor bus services was attempted in Perth. Again, the service was over the Causeway but this time to Belmont and Redcliffe rather than Victoria Park. It came about in this way. Mr R C Field, who had been with the coaching firm of Cobb & Co in the Goldfields, ran a service with an 8hp single cylinder car from Peak Hill to Nannine and Leonora to Lawlers. In Perth he put a charabanc on the road between Cottesloe Railway Station and Cottesloe Beach. He named his bus "Pioneer", reputedly after the make of the vehicle. It had a 2 ton chassis, solid tyres, developed 30hp and was chain driven.. The body was built by Cockburns who were coach builders of the period. It had cross bench seats, a canopy top, side curtains and folding steps along the side. The floor sloped down from the back to the front to give passengers in the rear seats as good a view as those at the front.
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During Easter and the holiday periods trains were met at the railway station and hundreds of passengers were transported to the Beach. But after the holidays, Cottesloe patronage died away and Mr Field looked for an alternative. He responded to an advertisement placed by the Belmont Roads Board who were prepared to subsidise a regular bus service from the General Post Office to Belmont. But when Field undertook to provide the service, the Board made excuses and said the subsidy could not be provided before up-coming local elections. He was, however, supplied with a set of number plates and a licence free of charge.
On his first run to the G.P.O. Mr Field was descended upon by Inspectors from the Perth City Council who demanded fees for a licence to use the City rank. This was but one of several challenges he faced. There was hullabaloo and commotion on the first Race Day Saturday when he competed with the cabbies for a share of the race going trade. But gradually he overcame all obstacles and, after 12 years running without any subsidy forthcoming from the Belmont Roads Board, sold out to Caisleys. The year was thought to be 1924.
This was the era in which Mr and Mrs Caisley, working as a team, began a notable contribution to public transport in Perth’s Eastern Suburbs running from the Causeway to Guildford and eventually on to the Hills and the Swan Valley. They began with a small but diverse fleet of taxis, charabancs and early buses with unglazed windows. Larger models followed that included a Federal charabanc and Dennis normal control buses. In the third stage of their expansion Caisleys bought half cab Dennis Lancet 1’s. They established their depot and garage on the Perth - Guildford Road (now the Great Eastern Highway), Redcliffe, adjacent to their home. The premises remained for more than forty years and was progressively owned by Beam Transport Limited from 1937 and the MTT from 1958.
When Caisleys took over the Belmont Service there were three return trips per day to the City but by 1935 this had grown to 65. Initially taxis were used to Guildford until patronage justified larger vehicles. In 1929, Caisleys extended their operations again by purchasing a private service to Darlington. In addition,catering for excursions, picnics and country trips became an important segment of their business.
The roads in the district were anything but good; on one weekend from Saturday mid-day to early Monday morning, it is recorded that their vehicles had five springs and two axles broken. Maintenance was in the hands of Mr Caisley although drivers were expected to be capable of carrying out running repairs and changing tyres.
Driving could be hazardous. On the 7th June 1927 “The West Australian” newspaper reported a “Motor –‘Bus Capsizes. One killed; eight injured”. “A motor bus containing ten persons overturned off Hardy Road, near the Guildford Road, Belmont, shortly after six-o-clock last night. One person was killed, eight other passengers were slightly injured and Alec Jeffery, two years of age, escaped unhurt. The bus, which was travelling from South Belmont along the narrow Hardy Rd, bound for Perth, had passed a horse-drawn vehicle which had pulled to one side, when the front wheels left the road, and descended a slight gradient alongside. The bus travelled for about 70 yards over sand and grass, turned sharply to the left, and capsized at right angles to the road. The driver and passengers – except for the deceased who was thrown clear – were pinned beneath the vehicle. Some managed to crawl out unaided, and others were released after the bus had been levered up with a pole by several men who hastened to the scene. The deceased man, who was seated in the back of the vehicle, died before admission to hospital. The driver of the bus, which belonged to H.R.Caisley, of Redcliffe, and plied regularly on the route, attributed the accident to a defect in the steering gear.”
In July 1936 Mrs Caisley approached Metro to sell Caisleys Bus Service for £33,000 but the offer was not taken up by the Metro Directors. They were acquiring Thorpe’s Bus Service (Armadale), the South Suburban Bus Service (East Fremantle) and Tourist Omnibus Services as well as being approached by other Metropolitan private operators to buy out their services. Early in 1937 Mrs Caisley concluded a deal with Mr J J Poynton for £32,000 who took over Caisleys fleet, operating as Beam Services Pty Ltd. and, subsequently, Beam Transport Limited. Mr Poynton had already bought into the Alpine Parlour Car Service running between Perth and Fremantle and Beam Transport Limited expanded into the Western suburbs.#