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Liverpool Corporation Transport Committee 1945 |
Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport (known at first as
"Liverpool Corporation Tramways") first came into being back in 1897,
but did not run buses until 1910. In 1945, following the Second World War, the process of
replacing the tramways with buses began.
As part of the post war planning policy, slum clearance became a
priority, creating new towns outside the main metropolitan areas that in turn
needed appropriate transport links. Bus routes were, therefore, extensively
developed to reach out to these new urban areas and their new commuters. By 1957 the entire tram network had been replaced by a new
system of bus routes and in 1962, the Liverpool Junior Chamber of Commerce carried out a
study on of transport governance. The result of that study was to
recommend that a Transport Executive, separated from politics, should be
set up to present the best forms of transport for the City.
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A Liverpool Tram and one of the new Liverpool buses
together in front of the Liver Building at the
Pier Head Terminus
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Paradise Street Bus Station 1968 |
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Spellow Lane Walton Bus Depot |
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Walton Bus Depot |
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Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport (LCPT) Bus outside
the Royal Liver Building at the Pier Head
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Early Photograph of Buses on Lime Street |
Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority and Merseyside
Passenger Transport Executive were set up after the Transport Act of 1968. MPTE
was formed in November 1969 and from 1 December assumed responsibility for the
bus and ferry fleets of the former Liverpool, Birkenhead and Wallasey municipal
undertakings. The MPTA was at first made up of representatives from each of the
18 councils on Merseyside; after 1974 the MPTA was Merseyside County Council,
through its 23-member Passenger Transport Committee. The MPTA (the
"shareholders") was responsible for overall policy decisions on
public transport - fares, frequency of services, etc - and the MPTE (the
"board of directors") was to handle the day-to-day running of the
transport, i.e. putting those policies into action.
To control its operations the PTE was split into three
traffic divisions: Wirral (formed from the Birkenhead and Wallasey undertakings
and including the Mersey Ferries) and North and South Divisions (based on those
adopted latterly by Liverpool City Transport, extended to the PTE boundary).
Following local government reorganisation in 1974 Southport and St Helens were
added to the the PTE's sphere of operations, as Districts within the existing
North and South Divisions respectively. In 1981 these Districts became
Divisions in their own right. Following further local government changes in
1986 MPTE became Merseyside Transport Ltd.
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Pier Head Bus Terminus |
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Pier Head Bus Terminus c 1980s |
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Rows of Buses on their respective stands at the Pier Head |
As well as the MPTE there was also the Ribble Bus Company
and Crosville operating some of the services in Liverpool.
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Skelhorne Street Bus Station |
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Ribble Buses in front
of the Post Office sorting office at the top of Skelhorne Street
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Liverpool Buses by Terry Marin, a collectable reference of Liverpools Buses
Robert F Edwards