Wahl & Sons
| Wahl & Sons KG | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Limited partnership |
| founding | August 6, 1926 |
| resolution | 1986 |
| Seat | Heidenheim an der Brenz , Germany |
| management | Fritz Wahl |
| Branch | Bus transport |
The choice & Söhne KG (formerly William Wahl & Sons and W. Wahl & Söhne KG ) was a private bus company based in Heidenheim an der Brenz , the international coach tourism and the majority of the shipping services in the district of Heidenheim operation. With a fleet of around 400 buses, Wahl was at times the largest private bus company in Europe.
history
On August 6, 1926, the brothers Wilhelm (1903–1969) and Albert Wahl (1901–1976) set up a bus route between Heidenheim and Schnaitheim . A Ford omnibus with 18 seats was used. A second bus was procured just two months after operations began.
Further lines were put into operation to Voithsiedlung, to Oggenhausen and to Mergelstetten . Thanks to the rush-hour traffic that became more prevalent from 1930 onwards and clever timetable design, the company was able to further increase the number of passengers. Wahl arranged his journeys in such a way that he left shortly before the post buses and thus brought the passengers to his buses, while the post buses still had to wait for the mail to be sent by the train and left for their destinations only weakly manned.
In the 1930s Wahl not only tried to compete with the railway in the Brenz Valley, but also offered direct trips from Heidenheim via Weißenstein and Göppingen to Stuttgart at much cheaper prices than the Deutsche Reichsbahn at the time. The buses were accordingly well filled, but the company was forbidden to travel. To circumvent the ban, trips to suburbs such as Cannstatt or Untertürkheim were offered, from where travelers could then take the tram to their destination. But this bypassing of the ban was also forbidden, the buses were confiscated by the police between Göppingen and Stuttgart. Wahl gave up the rides. During the war, the company's vehicles and employees were called up for military service and some of them had to provide transport services for the post office.
After the war, the population in the city of Heidenheim and in the district increased sharply due to numerous refugees, and a local transport system became necessary. The Wahl company recognized the situation and built an inner-city line network and some overland lines. In 1947, the district and city of Heidenheim founded Kraftverkehr Heidenheim GmbH, their own transport company with lines between Heidenheim and Oberkochen and between Giengen and Staufen . As early as 1953, the municipal transport company was dissolved again and the liner concessions were transferred to Wahl and the Deutsche Bundespost.
In 1955 the Wahl fleet consisted of 37 buses. In the years that followed, the company continued to expand both in scheduled and travel services. With over 70 buses, Wahl was one of the largest private bus companies in Germany in the mid-1960s. In Heidenheim, a 30-minute regular city service was introduced and other residential areas such as Erbisberg and Mittelrain were opened up.
In 1970 a travel agency was opened on Königstrasse in Stuttgart. From 1971, Wahl was a contract partner of American Express and carried out bus trips for American tourists throughout Europe. With Wahl International GmbH , a branch was established in Frankfurt am Main . Fritz Wahl took over the management. The blue coach fleet (“The Blue Bus”) grew from year to year to up to 400 vehicles from the brands Büssing , Mercedes-Benz , Kässbohrer Setra , MAN and Magirus-Deutz .
After the marriage of Fritz Wahl's daughter Regine and Patrick Reynolds, US actor and grandson of tobacco manufacturer RJ Reynolds , the new son-in-law worked briefly at Wahl in 1983/84.
The collapse of the tourism business made the company difficult. In 1984 Wahl began upgrading used buses that were purchased from transport companies throughout Germany. The Chinese cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou together ordered 600 used vehicles.
Wahl ran into financial difficulties in the mid-1980s. In May 1986, the company applied for a settlement, which resulted in the administration being ordered. Fritz Wahl fled. As it turned out, he had resold unpaid buses or transferred them to banks as security. After more than three years, he was arrested in Mexico in August 1989, where he worked as a consultant for a bus manufacturer. In May 1991 Fritz Wahl was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for fraud and embezzlement.
The Heidenheimer Verkehrsgesellschaft (HVG) was founded on May 1, 1987 by the Württembergische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Heidenheim district from the company's bankruptcy assets . Before that, the liner transports had been put out to tender by the district in order to find a partner who would give him a far-reaching say. Today, HVG mainly operates regular services and only operates occasionally to a small extent.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karin Fuchs in Heidenheimer Zeitung, December 9th, 2014: "After 26 years: Wahl-Bus is rolling again", Südwest Presse Online -dienste GmbH, Ulm The blue-red omnibus fleet of the Heidenheimer bus empire Wahl und Söhne is 1986 with the Company collapse disappeared from the cityscape. 26 years later, an old touring coach of choice made its rounds here again. Former Wahl employees got on board.
- ↑ Stefan Scheytt and Oliver Schröm in Die Zeit, May 10, 1991: "Without fear, not without rebuke - Europe's former" bus king "is on trial for multiple fraud", Zeit On-line GmbH, Hamburg