A historic occasion ? 28 June 1971 ? 1

Image: © Alan Murray-Rust Taken: 28 Jun 1971

Merseyside PTE bus 195 picks up passengers for the very first journey of the first regular daytime bus service through the Kingsway Tunnel between Wallasey and Liverpool, the day the tunnel opened to normal traffic. The formation of the Passenger Transport Executive, which absorbed the bus and ferry operations of Wallasey and Birkenhead Corporations, allowed a more integrated public transport network. Previously, the only bus service through the (Queensway) tunnel had been the night service operated when no ferries ran. Service 32 ran from the former Wallasey Corporation bus garage on Seaview Road through to Liverpool Exchange Station on Tithebarn Street https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7389262 . This is one of a series of views featuring buses in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=137652761 Bus 195 is a Leyland Atlantean with Northern Counties bodywork. It had been ordered by Birkenhead Corporation but was not delivered – in January 1971 – until after the formation of the PTE. It is in the PTE's Wirral division blue and cream livery, based on the colours used by the Birkenhead and Wallasey fleets. It also carries the route branding for the new cross-river services.

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