The first bus service in Manchester was a horse bus that started running in 1824. By 1969, 2,000 buses in the region were in the hands of eleven municipal bus operators, who combined into SELNEC, the Passenger Transport Executive (PTE) for Greater Manchester. The new executive inherited a fascinating mix of transport in all shapes and colours, while forging a new identity of its own. These were exciting times in which to watch the buses go by.

In this book, Paul Williams looks at Manchester’s buses from the 1960s to deregulation in 1986, using both his own photographs and material from the collection of the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester. This will be a trip down memory lane for all those who remember riding an orange SELNEC bus.