bus at the
Manchester Museum of Transport in October 2008 Until 1969, the
conurbation surrounding Manchester was divided between the two administrative counties of
Lancashire and
Cheshire and a number of
county boroughs, such as Manchester, Salford, Stockport or Bolton. To comply with the
Transport Act 1968, on 1 April 1969, the
SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was formed.
SELNEC stood for
South East Lancashire North East Cheshire, a joint authority of the various local councils. From 1 November 1969, the PTE took over the bus fleets of 11 municipalities, and operationally, the organisation was split into three divisional areas, Northern, Central, and Southern:
Northern •
Bolton Corporation (249 vehicles) •
Bury Corporation (96 vehicles) •
Leigh Corporation (57 vehicles) •
Ramsbottom Urban District Council (12 vehicles) •
Rochdale Corporation (130 vehicles)
Central •
Manchester Corporation (1,250 vehicles) •
Salford Corporation (271 vehicles)
Southern •
Ashton-under-Lyne Corporation (60 vehicles) •
Oldham Corporation (180 vehicles) •
Stockport Corporation (145 vehicles) •
Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley & Dukinfield Transport & Electricity Board (91 vehicles) The project was eventually cancelled on grounds of cost. On 1 January 1972, SELNEC PTE acquired most of
National Bus Company's
North Western Road Car subsidiary with buses, services and depots in
Altrincham,
Glossop,
Oldham,
Stockport and
Urmston. 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). ==1974: Replacement by Greater Manchester PTE==