VOSA Bus Registration Search

[Barney]

RE: VOSA Bus Registration Search
B10B6514, what year were you born? Prior to Deregulation in 1986 all bus services in Merseyside (and throughout the country as far as I recall) were operated by the local PTE or local authority. In fact bus services then ran 365 days a year, including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, albeit on a Sunday service with an early (10pm) finish. What you might recall, or not, was that in the those days if Boxing Day and New Year's Day fell on a Sunday, a Sunday service was still provided even though all shops were closed. (Shops and stores were not allowed to open on a Sunday until 1994). I can remember getting a bus into Liverpool on many a Boxing and New Year's Day in the 60's and 70's and walking around a desolate city centre when all shops, pubs and restaurants were closed. Back then I questioned the need for a comprehensive bus service when essentially there was absolutely no reason or need to travel into the city centre. However, today Liverpool, like many major cities in the UK is a vibrant, bustling, cosmopolitan city that needs and deserves a bus service 365 days a year.

Also, prior to deregulation, what you may not be aware of is that on Boxing Day and New Year's Day as well as Sunday service, a full football special service to either Anfield or Goodison Park using as many as 80 buses was provided by the LCPT/MPTE. How do I know all this? My father worked these services.

What really does perplex me these days is why London doesn't run any services on Christmas Day.