The Public Transport Commission (PTC) was an

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

of the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

responsible for the provision of

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

bus 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 ...

and

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

services in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

from October 1972 until June 1980. Upon dissolution, responsibility for rail services transferred to the

State Rail Authority The State Rail Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of New South Wales from July 1980 until December 2003. History The ''Transport Authorities Ac ...

and responsibility for bus and ferry services to the

Urban Transit Authority The Urban Transit Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, was responsible for the operation and maintenance of buses and ferries in Sydney and Newcastle from July 1980 until January 1989. History The Urban ...

. The PTC, composed of five Commissioners appointed by the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

, was accountable to the

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

Structure

The PTC was established pursuant to the and led to the abolition of the offices of Commissioner for Railways and Commissioner for Public Transport. The Act facilitated the merger of the Department of Railways and the Department of Government Transport, the latter being the agency that operated government bus services in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. In December 1974, the dissolved the Sydney Harbour Transport Board and ferries were added to PTC's responsibility. This coincided with government also taking over the

Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company The Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company (PJ&MSC) was a publicly listed company that operated the Manly ferries in Sydney, Australia. After being taken over by Brambles Industries, the ferry service was eventually taken over by the State G ...

ferries. In June 1980, the PTC was dissolved with the

assuming responsibility for rail services and the

responsibility for bus and ferry services through the enactment of the .

Management

The Public Transport Commission consisted of five commissioners appointed by the

, two of whom were nominated by the

. Two of the Commissioners were full-time one of these was appointed by the Governor as Chief Commissioner. The Commission acquired the assets and liabilities of the former commissioners, were bound by current agreements or contracts, and were responsible for the completion of business commenced by them. The Commission inherited the functions of the previous Commissioners as prescribed in the and the . The first Chief Commissioner of the PTC was

Philip Shirley Philip Shirley (1913–1998) was a businessman, who held senior positions with the British Transport Commission, British Rail Board and Cunard in the United Kingdom and the Public Transport Commission in Australia. Life and career Philip Shirley ...

, a former chairman of

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

, who came out of retirement to take up the position. Shirley had been involved with the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

being vice chairman of the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in his native United Kingdom in the 1960s. His cost-cutting approach was criticised by sections of the public, trade unions and the parliamentary opposition. Shirley retired in 1975, two years before his commission was due to conclude. His successor, until the PTC was disbanded in 1980, was Alan Reiher. Upon the dissolution of the PTC, Reiher became chairman of VicRail.

Chief Commissioners

Deputy Chief Commissioners

Commissioners

Activities

A mandarin blue and riviera white livery was introduced on buses, suburban electric trains and ferries while freight wagons were painted in a teal blue livery. From November 1976, trains reverted to Tuscan red while ferries would revert to their Tuscan and green liveries in the 1980s. In November 1979, a modified livery for locomotives was introduced with the colours on the Tuscan and yellow painted ends reverted. 4491 in reverse livery broadmeadow loco 1990

4491 in reverse livery broadmeadow loco 1990

The original logo had the letters NSW with arrows pointing east and west. It was replaced in 1975 by the ''L7'' logo. It would continue to be used, albeit with different colours, on buses and ferries until 1989 and on trains until 2010. In June 1974, the PTC took over the operation of

Bowden's Bus Service Bowden's Bus Service was an Australian bus company operating route bus services in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. History Route 79 commenced operating on 22 March 1948 from Tamarama Beach via Bronte Beach, Oxford Street, ...

route 79 from the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Tamarama Tamarama is a beachside suburb, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tamarama is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. Tamarama has a small ...

. In September 1975, the PTC began operating Denning coaches out of

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

when the ''

Far West Express The Far West Express was an Australian passenger train operated by the New South Wales Government Railways from December 1957 until September 1975 from Dubbo to Bourke, Cobar and Coonamble. It connected at Dubbo in the morning with the overnig ...

'' was replaced. While best remembered as an era of cutbacks, investment was made during the tenure of the Public Transport Commission with the following ordered: * 312

Leyland Leopard The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-decker bus and single-decker coach chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. History The Leyland Leopard was introduced in 1959. It was developed from the Leyland Tiger Cub, one of ...

buses * 750

Mercedes-Benz O305 The Mercedes-Benz O305 was a single deck, double deck and articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim, West Germany from 1968 until 1988. It was built as either a complete bus or a bus chassis and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptatio ...

buses * 359 Comeng built S set double deck suburban carriagesEMU Review ''Railway Digest'' March 1985 * 150 A Goninan & Co built S set double deck suburban carriages * 30 V set double deck interurban carriages * 10 FAM sleeper carriages * 30 80 class diesel locomotives * 10 85 class electric locomotives * various modern bulk freight wagons * More than 1,000

RACE Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

containers suitable for the

Australia standard pallets Australian standard pallets are square softwood or hardwood pallets that are standard in Australia and non-standard anywhere else in the world. They are 1165 × 1165 mm in size and fit exactly in the RACE container of the Australian rail ...

* 2 Lady class ferries (

Street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

& Herron)

Publication

The PTC published an in-house journal, ''Transport News'', with the first edition published in November 1972.Transport News
State Archives

References

{{Authority control Bus companies of New South Wales Defunct government entities of New South Wales Ferry companies of New South Wales Railway companies of New South Wales Transport in New South Wales Transport companies established in 1972 Transport companies disestablished in 1980 1972 establishments in Australia 1980 disestablishments in Australia