Britain's Last Municipal Operators - Hardcover

Booth, Gavin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0711035474 ISBN 13: 9780711035478

Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing, 2012

Synopsis

At the start of the 1960s there were approaching 100 municipal operators in the UK; these ranged from Belfast in Northern Ireland to Aberdeen in the north of Scotland and from Exeter and Plymouth in the southwest to Maidstone in the southeast. By the mid-1970s, as a result of the creation of the PTEs (which saw the demise of municipal operators in the country's major conurbations) and the demise of a small number that were taken over by local NBC operators - most notably Luton and Exeter - the number of municipally owned operators had declined to just over 40. Following privatisation and deregulation, the number of council-owned operators has declined to less than a dozen - ranging from the 600-strong Lothian Buses to barely 60 operated in Widnes by Halton Transport. Although the rate of decline has diminished in recent years, the municipally-owned companies in Plymouth, Bournemouth, Chester, Blackburn and Eastbourne have all been sold in recent years. This is a narrative history of the 40+ municipal operators that survived the creation of the final PTEs in 1974/75.

About this title

About the Author

Gavin Booth has worked in and around the bus industry for nearly 50 years and is currently Chairman of Bus Users UK, the body that gives bus users a voice. He was Group Marketing Manager for the Scottish Bus Group until the group was privatised in 1988 and has subsequently concentrated on transport consultancy and journalism. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. He was President of The Omnibus Society in 2008.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0711035474
• ISBN 13: 9780711035478
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112