The Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs) were established by Barbara Castle's 1968 Transport Act. They were set up as powerful and locally accountable strategic public transport authorities for Britain's largest urban areas.
Find out more about the history and achievements of the PTEs - including the story behind the 1968 Act that created them and some fascinating archive footage on our YouTube channel. Our 'Treasures of the UTG YouTube archive' blog post brings you some of our favourites from the collection.
There is a retrospective on the PTEs key history in this Passenger Transport Magazine supplement.
You can also read about the first ten years of the pteg Support Unit (which became the Urban Transport Group in 2016) in this series of blog posts (part one, part two and part three).
Barbara Castle, Secretary of State for Transport (1965-68). Her 1968 Transport Act established the PTEs and ITAs
History of the individual PTEs
We have compiled a small virtual archive of materials from - and about - the creation and history of the PTEs. If you have any materials you would like to submit for the archive please contact us.
Merseytravel
- Read about the story of Merseytravel in 'Merseytravel - Early beginnings of the Corporation'.
- Visit the Merseyside Transport Trust website to find out more about Merseyside's bus heritage. You can also follow @TheMTTrust on Twitter.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority (formerly Metro)
- Read Ten Years of Achievement - A personal history by Colin Speakman - published in 1985 to celebrate the first ten years of the PTE.
- Read Metro's Annual Review for 1998/99 commemorating 25 years of Metro - this review document includes a look back at achievements and developments over the period and includes archive pictures of transport in West Yorkshire.
- Visit the Dewsbury Museum to find out more about West Yorkshire's bus heritage.
SYMCA
- Read our blog post looking back on 'When buses were (nearly) free: Revisiting South Yorkshire's 'grand design for transport' - the post focuses on the 1974-1986 period.
- Visit the South Yorkshire Transport Trust website. You can also follow @SYTTrust on Twitter.
Nexus
- Visit 'The Story of Metro' website which tells the story of the world's oldest suburban railway using a unique collection of film, photographs and drawings. The website was developed in 2014 to celebrate the network's 175th anniversary.
- Read 'Meet your Metro' published in 1977 by Tyne and Wear Transport to explain what Metro is and how Metro would improve public transport in Tyne and Wear.
Transport for Greater Manchester
- Read a brochure published in around 1989 outlining plans for Metrolink, Greater Manchester's light rail system. Metrolink began operation in 1992.
- Owned by Transport for Greater Manchester, the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester charts the history of the area's transport. You can also follow @MoTGM on Twitter.
Transport for West Midlands (formerly Centro)
- We currently have no archive material relating to Centro. Please contact us if you have any materials you would like to submit for the Centro archive.
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