Three-way split for SELNEC
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• As part of a progressive plan for the efficient running of its fleet of 2500 buses, SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive has decided to create three limited liability companies to hold responsibility. Each of these will have a three-man board of management responsible on an agency basis for bus operations in the present three divisional areas.
Mr J. Thompson, former general manager of the Manchester Transport Authority, is to be made director and general manager of the Manchester-based Central Bus (SELNEC) Ltd company while the one based at Bolton, Northern Bus (SELNEC) Ltd, will have former Bolton transport chief. Mr J. B. Batty, as its chief officer. Heading the third company to be set up, Southern Bus (SELNEC) Ltd, with its headquarters at Stockport, Cheshire, will be Mr H. N. Kay, former boss of Bury Transport.
All the three managers were previously designated as associate directors and general managers in the three SELNEC bus divisions.
Mr G. A. Harrison, director-general of SELNEC, told CM that only top management was affected.
For some time it has been felt that to split the vast conurbation covered by SELNEC, the largest of the PTAs set up under the 1968 Transport Act, would bring the greatest benefits to passengers and would make the handling of concessionary fare token schemes easier and less remote.
Mr Harrison said that the setting up of the three limited companies was a natural consequence of the recommendations contained in the Regional White Paper on PTA structures published in 1966. The aim of SELNEC PTE was to create a disciplined management structure and involve senior staff fully. The new structure would ensure that SELNEC was close to local opinion and was also carrying out its basic duty of providing an integrated passenger transport system, taking into account other bus passenger operators within the area and British Railways. Mr Harrison said that the three-man boards would meet regularly to exchange views and that these deliberations would be examined carefully at frequent intervals. The new set-up would also enable a wealth of information to be gathered on local transport requirements and how best they could be served in the future.
Ald Harry Sharp, chairman of the SELNEC PTA, told CM that his personal view was that this move would be a fine thing for passenger transport within the area on a long-term policy. The setting up of the proposed three limited companies within the PTA, he felt, was merely a method of establishing local bus management and gaining information about the requirements of local services.