WCT No1, Chubb Street, Wolverhampton, 1969
WCT No1 (SUK 1) standing at the 9 terminus in Chubb Street Wolverhampton in May 1969.
These were to be the last months of Wolverhampton Corporation as a bus operator, before relinquishing control of the Transport Department and its staff over to the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in the October of 1969. It was Barbara Castle the then Transport Minister in Harold Wilson's Government who brought about the creation of the PTE's. The 1968 Act created five PTEs/PTAs:
West Midlands on 1st October 1969.
SELNEC (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire) on 1st November 1969.
Merseyside on 1 December 1969.
Tyneside on 1 January 1970.
Greater Glasgow on 1 June 1973.
Appointed in 1965, Castle inherited a transport system that was in chaos, but she responded with an impressive combination determination, clarity of analysis, a flair for public relations, along with clever and pragmatic application of principles. The end result was the 1968 Transport Act. The Act was a mammoth piece of legislation that among other things, created urban transport authorities for the conurbations (Passenger Transport Executives and Authorities), stabalised the railways, saved the canals, and pushed on with road safety improvements.
Under the Act, Wolverhampton became part of the first newly created Passenger Transport Executive, along with Walsall, West Bromwich and Birmingham, the rest as they say is history.
WCT No1, Chubb Street, Wolverhampton, 1969
WCT No1 (SUK 1) standing at the 9 terminus in Chubb Street Wolverhampton in May 1969.
These were to be the last months of Wolverhampton Corporation as a bus operator, before relinquishing control of the Transport Department and its staff over to the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in the October of 1969. It was Barbara Castle the then Transport Minister in Harold Wilson's Government who brought about the creation of the PTE's. The 1968 Act created five PTEs/PTAs:
West Midlands on 1st October 1969.
SELNEC (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire) on 1st November 1969.
Merseyside on 1 December 1969.
Tyneside on 1 January 1970.
Greater Glasgow on 1 June 1973.
Appointed in 1965, Castle inherited a transport system that was in chaos, but she responded with an impressive combination determination, clarity of analysis, a flair for public relations, along with clever and pragmatic application of principles. The end result was the 1968 Transport Act. The Act was a mammoth piece of legislation that among other things, created urban transport authorities for the conurbations (Passenger Transport Executives and Authorities), stabalised the railways, saved the canals, and pushed on with road safety improvements.
Under the Act, Wolverhampton became part of the first newly created Passenger Transport Executive, along with Walsall, West Bromwich and Birmingham, the rest as they say is history.