| Transport for Greater Manchester | |
|---|---|
Map showing Greater Manchester, the authority's area of responsibility |
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| Abbreviation | TfGM |
| Formation | 1 April 2011 (1969 as SELNEC PTE) |
| Type | Public body |
| Purpose/focus | Transport authority |
| Headquarters | Transport for Greater Manchester headquarters 2 Piccadilly Place Manchester M1 3BG |
| Location | Manchester city centre |
| Region served | Greater Manchester |
| Chief Executive | David Leather[1] |
| Parent organization | Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) |
| Website | www.tfgm.com |
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to co-ordinate public transport in and around Manchester. Between 1974 and 2011 this body was known as the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (abbreviated GMPTE), until a reformation of local government arrangements in Greater Manchester granted the body more powers and prompted a corporate rebranding.[2] The strategies and policies of Transport for Greater Manchester are set by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and its Transport for Greater Manchester Committee.
Operating with powers comparible to Transport for London, Transport for Greater Manchester is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities, and supporting the largest regional economy outside London. It is the executive arm of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee (the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority between 1974–2011) which funds and makes policies for TfGM. The authority is made up of 33 councillors appointed from the ten Greater Manchester districts (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan).
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TfGM does not run passenger services, but is responsible for:
TfGM owns the Manchester Metrolink light rail system, operated under a concession by Serco until taken over by Stagecoach on Sunday 15 July 2007 on a fixed contract, with the concession reverting to TfGM.
The organisation which later became TfGM was originally created in 1969 by the Transport Act 1968. At the time the conurbation surrounding Manchester was divided between the two administrative counties of Lancashire and Cheshire and a number of county boroughs (e.g. Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Bolton). Because of this, the executive was originally known as the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive, SELNEC standing for 'South East Lancashire North East Cheshire', a joint authority of the various local councils.
The South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire Passenger Transport Area was defined as:
From 1 November 1969 the PTE took over the bus fleets of 11 municipalities, and operationally, the organisation was split into 3 divisional areas, Northern, Central, and Southern
SELNEC branded its fleet with its corporate orange and white livery and the 'S' logo. The 'S' logo was coloured differently in each division, blue for Central, magenta for Northern, and green for Southern. For corporate operations, the parcel operations (inherited from Manchester), and the coaching fleet, the 'S' logo was in orange
In the early 1970s, SELNEC began to promote a project to construct an underground railway beneath central Manchester, the Picc-Vic tunnel. The scheme aimed to link the two main railway stations, Piccadilly and Victoria with a tunnel.[5] The project was eventually cancelled on grounds of cost.
On 1 January 1972, SELNEC PTE acquired from the National Bus Company subsidiary North Western Road Car buses, services and depots in Altrincham, Glossop, Oldham, Stockport and Urmston.[6] The corporate orange and white livery was applied, with the 'S' logo in brown and the name "Cheshire". (Most of the NWRCC operations bought by Selnec were in the old county of Cheshire).
When the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 the executive was renamed to GMPTE, with the county council replacing the joint transport authority. The public branding applied to buses and signage used the shorter name Greater Manchester Transport, displayed in upper and lower case helvetica letters next to a distinctive orange double 'M' logo. The logo, first seen around 1974, is still in use today on bus stops and transport information literature.
The PTE also acquired the bus operations of Wigan Corporation with 130 vehicles. Further expansion saw the acquisition of Warburton's Coaches in November 1975 and Lancashire United Transport and Godfrey Abbot in January 1976.
Following the abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council in 1986, a new Passenger Transport Authority was created to administer the GMPTE, made up of councillors from the Greater Manchester district councils.
In February 2011, the Daily Telegraph reported that David Leather, chief executive of the Passenger Transport Executive, was being paid £45,000 a month, and Bob Morris, interim chief operating officer, was getting a six-figure salary. Because they were seconded staff, rather than being employees, they were supposedly not covered by the government demand that the pay of any public-sector employee earning more than the Prime Minister should be disclosed.[7]
To add to printed material and logos etched in glass on the side of bus shelters, GMPTE began a programme of adding their 'double M' logo to 101 railway station nameboards, train rolling stock livery, bus sides and some 'totem' pole signs outside rail stations in the area during the 1990s. This idea was later extended to a full re-design of the bus stop flag in 2000, (used first on primary bus routes, now extended to the entire GMPTE area) resulting in a unified corporate appearance containing the 'double M' logo on bus, train and tram stops. With more bus stops, railway stations, bus stations and tram stops than any other PTE in the UK outside the capital, the 'double-M' logo is arguably the third most used UK transport logo after the London Transport 'roundel' and the British Railways double arrow.
In order to prepare for bus deregulation, the PTE's bus operations passed to Greater Manchester Buses Limited (trading as GM Buses) in October 1986. The company was owned at "arm's length" by the PTE, and had to compete in the deregulated market. In preparation for privatisation, the company was split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South on 31 December 1993. Both companies were sold to their managements on 31 March 1994, and sold on to major groups in 1996: GM Buses South to Stagecoach in February, GM Buses North to First Group in March.
On 1 April 2011 the GMPTE became Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM),[8] a new regional transport body for Greater Manchester[9][10][11] that forms part of the new Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). As a result GMITA was abolished,[8] replaced by the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee (TfGMC) which ultimately reports to the Combined Authority. TfGMC and its subcommittees are made up of a nominated pool of 33 councillors from the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester who manage TfGM and create transport policy in Greater Manchester.
Although it differs in certain structural forms,[12] on the day of its inauguration TfGM became the second most powerful and influential transport organisation in England after Transport for London because it unites previously splintered governance over transport policy in the boroughs under one body.[13][14] It elects its own Chair and Vice-Chair and assumes the functions previously performed by GMITA as well as the newly devolved transport powers and responsibilities from Government and the 10 Metropolitan Councils which make up the area. The 33 councillors have voting rights on most transport issues despite not being members of the GMCA: though major decisions still require approval by the GMCA, the functions which are referred (but not delegated) to the TfGMC include making recommendations in relation to:
In addition, two functions are delegated solely to the TfGMC without requiring GMCA approval, namely road safety under Section 39, Road Traffic Act 1988 and traffic management under Sections 16-17, Traffic Management Act 2004.
GMPTE and the GMPTA worked with the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities to produce a bid for monies from the Transport Innovation Fund. Within the bid were proposals to introduce Congestion charging in Greater Manchester. They claimed the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund would have significantly improve public transport in the area funded by charging motorists entering the city at peak times. A consultation document was sent out to residents during July 2008. In December 2008, a local referendum voted no to the proposals.
TfGM is developing a ITSO compliant smartcard known as Readycard.
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