BUSES from bygone days took passengers on trips across the city of Liverpool as part of a special day of celebration – for the 40th anniversary of Merseyside’s Passenger Transport Executive (PTE), Merseytravel.
The Merseyside’s Passenger Transport Trust joined Merseytravel on Sunday November 29 to celebrate the landmark anniversary of the PTE.
A collection of vintage buses were on display in Liverpool, on the plateau outside St George’s Hall. And members of the public were able to travel on some of the Trusts’ other heritage vehicles.
Bootle councillor Mark Dowd, chair of Merseytravel, will have spent 50 years in the transport industry next year.
He said: “If anyone would have said to me when I first joined Merseytravel that one day I’d be celebrating 40 years of PTEs. I’m not sure I would have believed it.
“There again, when I first started working in transport as a lad from Bootle aged just 17 – if anyone would have said I’d have 50 years in public transport – I don’t think I’d have believed that either.
“Merseyside PTE has achieved so much in the last 40 years and we want to continue to do that. I think some of these buses were as old as me. If we go back to the 1968 Transport Act, our chief executive, Neil Scales, always mentions that Barbara Castle wanted ‘men of integrity and vision’ for transport – but Merseytravel got stuck with me and him.”
Neil Scales, Merseytravel chief executive and director general, added: “We have one of the best rail services in the country in Merseyrail, an underground loop line as busy as any in the country, fantastic new rail stations and bus stations, two of Europe’s safest tunnels, and a ferry service that is going from strength to strength.
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