West Yorkshire Buses in Transition

Previously unpublished images of West Yorkshire Buses before and after the introduction of the WYPTE.

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On 1 April 1974, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive was created by merging the municipal bus fleets of Bradford City Transport, Halifax Corporation with Calderdale Joint Omnibus Committee, Huddersfield Joint Omnibus Committee and Leeds City Transport.

The new WYPTE was divided into four districts: Bradford, Calderdale (previously Halifax and Todmorden), Kirklees (previously Huddersfield) and Leeds. A new livery of cream and light green slowly but surely began to replace the blue and cream of Bradford, the orange, green and cream of Halifax, the red and cream of Huddersfield, and the two shades of green of Leeds. With over 1,500 vehicles and more than 6,000 staff along with the numerous garage and depot facilities, this was a huge operation. By 1976 changes were being made to the livery – while retaining the colour scheme much of the lining details were replaced and the district name under the Metro logo gave way to Metrobus.

The photographs in the book illustrate this process of absorption of the bus fleets of Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield and Leeds from before 1974 up to the end of the decade.