In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 2016 and took the role of integrated transport authorities (ITAs). The PTEs have joined together to form the Urban Transport Group (Passenger Transport Executive Group (PTEG) until 2016), in which Transport for London and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport also participate.

History

Transport Act 1968

The first PTEs and passenger transport authorities (PTAs) were established in the late 1960s by the Transport Act 1968 as transport authorities serving large conurbations, by the then transport minister Barbara Castle. Prior to this, public transport was run by individual local authorities and private companies, with little co-ordination. The PTEs took over municipal bus operations from individual councils, and became responsible for managing local rail networks.

The 1968 act created five PTE/As. These were:

  • West Midlands on 1 October 1969
  • SELNEC (South East Lancashire & North East Cheshire) on 1 November 1969 (now Greater Manchester)
  • Merseyside on 1 December 1969 (now Liverpool City Region)
  • Tyneside on 1 January 1970 (now Tyne and Wear)
  • Greater Glasgow on 1 June 1973 (now Strathclyde)

alt=British Rail Class 314 train in orange and black Strathclyde Passenger Transport livery.|thumb|312x312px|[[British Rail Class 314 train in orange and black Strathclyde Passenger Transport livery.]]

Initially they covered slightly different areas from the ones covered by integrated transport authorities today.

1970s local government reform

Local government in England was re-organised in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. The re-organisation created the six metropolitan counties, and the existing four English PTEs were named after, and made to match the borders of the new counties (for example West Midlands PTE was expanded to take on Coventry and Tyneside PTE expanded to include Sunderland becoming Tyne and Wear PTE in the process). In addition to this, two new PTEs were created for the newly established metropolitan counties of South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. The main changes made were:

  • Passenger transport authorities (PTAs) were renamed as integrated transport authorities (ITAs) although PTEs have retained their current names.
  • The bill allowed for the possibility of new PTEs being created, and for the areas of existing ones to be altered.
  • The bill strengthened the powers of PTEs/ITAs to regulate bus services, and makes ITAs the sole transport planning authorities in their areas.

The integrated transport authorities (ITAs) from 2008 onwards are the bodies which administer the executives; they are made up of councillors representing the areas served by the PTEs. They are responsible for funding the PTEs, and making the policies which the PTEs carry out on their behalf. PTEs secure services on behalf of the ITA but it is the ITA that pays for them.

In the six metropolitan counties, councillors are appointed to the ITAs or the transport committees of combined authorities by the metropolitan boroughs, or in the case of Strathclyde by the twelve unitary authority councils in the area.

The ITAs are not "precepting authorities", so they have to negotiate a "levy" every year that is applied to council tax collected by the local authorities in the areas that they serve. The executive usually requests a budget and the council representatives on the ITAs negotiate from this position.

It is worth bearing in mind that PTEs do not, strictly speaking, own anything - their role is a statutory one to provide services using the resources provided to them by the ITAs.

Current structure

There are currently six passenger transport executives in England, covering areas which correspond - though are not limited - to metropolitan counties. When a combined authority is created the integrated transport area and integrated transport authority are replaced with the combined area and combined authority. This happened in Greater Manchester on 1 April 2011 and happened in three other integrated transport areas from 1 April 2014: to become the larger Liverpool City Region, as well as Sheffield City Region, and West Yorkshire combined areas. In South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and West Midlands, the PTE has been absorbed into the combined authority, and is no longer a separate legal entity; in these areas the combined authority itself is the executive.

The seven RTPs are:

  • Shetland Transport Partnership (ZetTrans)
  • Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS)
  • North-East of Scotland Transport Partnership (Nestrans)
  • Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (Tactran)
  • South-East of Scotland Transport Partnership (SESTRAN)
  • Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT)
  • South-West of Scotland Transport Partnership (SWESTRANS)

Other countries

  • Transit district is a similar type of organisation in the United States.
  • In the Czech Republic, integrated public transport systems () have been set up by most regions to facilitate the unification of transport conditions and fare structure across various companies operating public transport in the region under a PSO contract.
  • In Germany there are similar types of organisations for the big cities with surroundings, called Verkehrsverbund. They handle both bus and rail bound traffic.
  • In Sweden there are similar types of organisations, called Trafikhuvudman (traffic responsible). Every county have to have at least one. All handle bus traffic and most also train traffic, and sometimes boat traffic. For some counties there are separate organisations for train traffic covering several counties.
  • In Norway every county has the responsibility of organising local traffic. This is done through a department (9) or through companies (8) which might cover two counties. This always includes bus traffic, and often boat traffic. The actual vehicle operation is done by private companies through PSO contracts. Tram and metro traffic are operated by some cities, but are, ticket-wise, included in the county authority. Railway traffic is maintained by the Norwegian Railway Directorate, but are sometimes included in monthly passes sold by the county authority.
  • In France regions or local authorities (communautés de communes, communautés d'agglomération, communautés urbaines or métropoles) are responsible for transportation as Autorités d'Organisation de la Mobilité.

See also

  • History of the PTE bus operations

References

  • Urban Transport Group - An association of PTEs
  • Comprehensive guide to PTEs and PTAs - In pdf format
  • EU: passenger transport policy.