Birkenhead Transport was a bus operator in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

. It commenced operating on 12 July 1919 with a service from

Rock Ferry Rock Ferry is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the county of Cheshire. At the 2 ...

Birkenhead Park station Birkenhead Park railway station is a station serving the town of Birkenhead, in Merseyside, England. It lies on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. History The name of the station comes from nearby Birkenhead Park, one of the UK's fir ...

, this service was extended to

Moreton Moreton may refer to: People Given name * Moreton John Wheatley (1837–1916), British Army officer and Bailiff of the Royal Parks Surname * Alice Bertha Moreton (1901–1977), English sculptor, draughtsman and artist * Andrew Moreton, a ps ...

in the August of that year. The buses supplemented an earlier tram service. In 1860,

on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

, had become the first town in Europe to operate a street tramway. It was started by

George Francis Train George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 18, 1904) was an American entrepreneur who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in th ...

, an American, when he laid track from Woodside Ferry to Birkenhead Park Main Entrance and ran a horse drawn car service. On 4 February 1901, the Corporation of Birkenhead owned

Birkenhead Corporation Tramways Birkenhead Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Birkenhead between 1901 and 1937. History In 1860, Birkenhead started the first street tramway in Britain, shortly before London. The Birkenhead Corporation Tramway company was fo ...

commenced operating, first to

New Ferry New Ferry is an urban area on the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located on the Wirral Peninsula, with the River Mersey to the east and the town of Bebington to the west. Within the boundaries of the historic count ...

and later around the town. It closed on 17 July 1937.

Livery

Woodside_Ferry_terminal,_1966_-_geograph

Birkenhead's first livery on trams and buses was maroon and cream with a white roof, but in 1934 Birkenhead's famous blue and cream livery was applied to a new

AEC Q-type The AEC Q-type is an AEC-built, side-mounted-engine, single- and double-decker bus that was launched in 1932. It was designed by G. J. Rackham, an employee of the American firm Yellow Coach from 1922 to 1926, leading him into contact with ...

double-deck bus. It was the only one of its type operated by the Corporation but the blue and cream livery was applied to all future delivered buses with ''Birkenhead Corporation Motors'' applied in gold on the lower cream band. In 1951, the Transport Department was reorganised, with the bus and ferry departments merging. A slight livery change gave more cream coverage around the lower deck windows and the legend was changed to read ''Birkenhead Transport''. White roofs had been overpainted blue during the war and with this revised livery the white roof was never re-applied. Livery name of blue was 'Cerulean' by the paint makers "Docker Bros of 1935", and the cream was the same as applied to the trams, named Birkenhead Corporation Cream.

Fleet

During the 1950s and 1960s the average size of the Birkenhead fleet was 225 buses, the last traditional British half cab buses delivered to Birkenhead in 1967 were 15 Leyland Titan PD2/37 models with Massey 66 seat bodywork. Massey Brothers bodywork had been frequently selected by the Transport Department since 1931.

Merger

On 1 December 1969, the municipal fleets of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Birkenhead and

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

came together as a result of the

Transport Act 1968 The Transport Act 1968 (1968 c.73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The main provisions made changes to the structure of nationally owned bus companies, created passenger transport authorities and executives to take over pub ...

, to form the

Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transport ...

.Merseyside PTE order made
''Commercial Motor'' 3 October 1969 page 46

Revival

In 1994, the brand and livery were revived by

GM Buses GM Buses was the main bus company serving the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester in North West England. The company was formed in 1986 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. In December 1993, it was split into GM ...

when it was engaged in

bus war A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

with MTL. It ceased in June 1995.

References

*''Local Transport in Birkenhead and District'' by T.B. Maund A.M Inst.Transport. An Omnibus Society Publication. *''Birkenhead Buses'' by Tom Turner. Published by Wallasey Tramcar Preservation Society *''The Birkenhead Bus'' by T.B. Maund. Published by Ian & Marilyn Boumphrey

External links