West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive

WMPTE was created by the Transport Act 1968 and came into being on 1 October 1969 to operate and coordinate public transport in the large West Midlands conurbation.[7] At that time, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Area comprised the City of Birmingham, the County Boroughs of Dudley, Solihull, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich, and Wolverhampton, and nearby parts of northern Worcestershire, northern Warwickshire, and southern Staffordshire.

Buses in WMPTE livery, in 1975

On its formation in 1969 the WMPTE acquired the vehicles and other assets of the municipal bus fleets of Birmingham, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. The former Birmingham City Transport was by far the largest constituent part of the combined fleet, accounting for around two thirds of the new 2100-strong fleet and 8500 employees, and so a modified version of that operator's blue and cream livery was adopted by the WMPTE. The ex-Birmingham assets became 'South Division', with the others forming the Walsall-based 'North Division'. The buses subsequently became known as Wumpty buses by the public, in reference to the WMPTE initials.[8] When the creation of the West Midlands County Council expanded the WMPTE's operating area into Coventry, WMPTE absorbed the vehicles and assets of that city's municipal transport undertaking, Coventry Transport,[9] which became its 'East Division'.

Although it was tasked with planning and coordinating bus and rail transport in the Passenger Transport Area, the Executive's activities in its early years were largely confined to integrating the inherited municipal bus operations. Much of the Passenger Transport Area was not served by WMPTE buses, many bus services continued to be run by the Midland Red bus company. This was considered undesirable by WMPTE, so it entered into negotiations to partly buy them out. On 3 December 1973, there was a transfer of assets and services between the Midland Red and the Executive involving routes that operated wholly (or almost wholly) within the proposed West Midlands county.[10] By April 1974, the WMPTE's fleet numbered around 2,600 vehicles.[11]

The 1972 Local Government Act led to the creation, on 1 April 1974, of the West Midlands metropolitan county. As a result, WMPTE's operating area was adjusted to match that of the new county, most notably adding Meriden and Coventry. While it continued to operate a handful of out-of-county services to nearby towns, original plans to include adjoining areas such as Bromsgrove and Redditch within WMPTE's operating area were dropped.

Class 323 in the original Centro livery at Birmingham New Street in September 2007

Class 150 in the later Centro livery at Brmingham Moor Street in September 2007

In 1973 WMPTE entered into an agreement with British Rail to take on responsibility for managing and developing local rail services within its area, and to the 'natural terminus' of each line. They became responsible for setting fares and service frequencies, and providing grants for local services, but the operation of the services continued to be in the hands of British Rail, later passing to Central Trains and then London Midland following privatisation. Rail services supported by the PTE carried WMPTE (and later Centro) livery.[12]

From the mid-1970s onwards, WMPTE took on a more active role in the development of local railway services: Service frequencies were improved on many local lines: One of the first improvements made under WMPTE's auspices, was to the local services between Birmingham Moor Street, Dorridge and Shirley which were doubled in frequency to half-hourly in 1975. Efforts were also undertaken to create new services: The flagship Cross-City Line, implemented in 1978, which included new stations serving Birmingham University and Longbridge, plus the reopening of Five Ways station, was a joint BR/WMPTE project.[12]

In the 1980s, WMPTE decided to reopen and restore rail services through Birmingham Snow Hill station, which had closed in 1972. The restoration process took place in two stages: The first stage, completed in 1987, saw the opening of new Snow Hill station for services to the south. The second stage, completed in 1995, saw the restoration of the rail link between Snow Hill and the line to Kidderminster and Worcester. In 1999 the former Snow Hill to Wolverhampton line, was reopened as part of the Midland Metro tram line.[12]

Restoration of passenger services on the Chase Line between Walsall and Rugeley, between 1989 and 1998 was a joint project of WMPTE and Staffordshire County Council. Passenger services on the Walsall to Wolverhampton Line were also restored in 1998,[12] although these were not a success, and were withdrawn in 2008 due to low patronage.

As a result of the Transport Act 1985, bus services were deregulated. This resulted in the transfer of the bus services to a separate legal entity, West Midlands Travel Ltd (WMT),[13] which took over the bus assets and services of the WMPTE on 26 October 1986.[14] WMT remained in public ownership under the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority until 1991, when it was sold to its management and employees. WMT was subsequently purchased by National Express.[15]

Midland Metro AnsaldoBreda T-69 in June 2008

The WMPTE was also responsible for the reintroduction of tram services to the West Midlands, with the development of the Midland Metro. Plans for a multi-line light rail system for the West Midlands were first drawn up in the early 1980s. However the first (and so far only) line of the Midland Metro was opened in 1999 between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton.[16] In 2016 the line was extended into the streets of the Birmingham city centre, from its original terminus at Birmingham Snow Hill to Birmingham New Street.[17] In 2019, it was extended to Library with an extension to Edgbaston scheduled to open in 2021.[18]

Following the creation of the West Midlands Combined Authority and its transport arm, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the WMPTE and the WMITA were abolished on 16 June 2016, and their responsibilities, functions, assets, and staff were transferred to the Combined Authority.[19] The WMPTE's Network West Midlands brand was initially retained by TfWM as the public-facing brand for public transport information in the region. However this has since been relaunched as West Midlands Network with a new hexagonal W M logo. This has been applied to most bus stops (on an ongoing roll-out) and timetables. Certain bus routes have been branded Network Bus with buses painted an identical shade of red, irrespective of operator and with tickets valid on either operator on the route. Similarly the enquiry office at Wolverhampton Interchange has received new signage West Midlands Network.

Centro backed the Gateway Plus project to rejuvenate Birmingham New Street station.[20]

In August 2009 Centro backed construction of a new railway in the West Midlands region for use by High Speed 2 trains, which would allow existing lines to have "better and more frequent local services".[21]

Midland Metro Urbos 3 tram in Wolverhampton in June 2014

The Midland Metro was owned by the WMPTE and run under concession by National Express Midland Metro. It opened in May 1999. An extension through the city centre of Birmingham opened in May 2016.[22]

Towards the very end of its existence, WMPTE developed plans for a new network of 'Sprint' services to be implemented by the incoming transport authority, TfWM.[23]

The WMPTE, Centro, was committed to sustainable forms of transport which benefited the environment and helped to reduce global warming, citing road congestion on the West Midlands' busy roads costs regional businesses more than £2.3 billion a year. Centro had a comprehensive green charter and action plan for the environment and was a full signatory of the UITP Charter for Sustainable Development.

In addition, the award winning Letzgogreen (sic) website educated school pupils and teachers about the benefits of sustainable transport.

nBus tickets were valid on almost all operators' services in the county. Tickets could be purchased for travel within various local travel areas or across the whole of the county, and were valid for periods ranging from one day to a year.[24]

nTrain passes were valid on all local train services within the Network West Midlands zonal rail map, and to select out-of-county stations in the Birmingham travel-to-work metropolitan area.

Swift is the multi-modal, multi-operator smart travel card, similar to the Oyster card scheme in London, that was introduced by WMPTE. Rather than being a single card, it is a range of contactless passes and cards that share a common system and brand name. WMPTE began a phased rollout of the Swift card scheme in 2012, which was still ongoing in 2016 when responsibility for the scheme passed to TfWM.[25]