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Birmingham City Transport was the municipal passenger transport undertaking in Birmingham from 1904 until its absorption into the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive on 1 October 1969. Originally known as the Birmingham Corporation Tramways Department, it was renamed as the Birmingham Corporation Tramway & Omnibus Department in 1927, before finally adopting the operating name of Birmingham City Transport in 1937.

Historical Overview
A tramway in Birmingham was first proposed in 1860, although the scheme never came to fruition. However, by the early 1870s Birmingham Corporation was overseeing the creation of a tram network within the city, which it controlled by constructing the lines itself before leasing them to independent tram operating companies.

By the beginning of the 20th century there was an established network of tramlines in and around Birmingham. The Corporation now resolved to obtain the powers to operate the tramways directly and so, as the leases on its lines expired, they were not renewed and the Corporation began to operate its own services over the lines instead. This process began in January 1904 when, following the expiry of the lease on a section of the former Birmingham and Aston Tramways system between Steelhouse Lane and the city boundary, the Corporation took over the line, electrified it, and began operating its own service. Over the next eight years the Birmingham Corporation Tramways system gradually expanded, both as the various leases of the City of Birmingham Tramways Company (CBTC) expired and as the city itself grew, absorbing the tramway lines and operations of the neighbouring former authorities swallowed up by the city. CBTC's final operating rights expired on January 1, 1912 and the last remaining lengths of track reverted to the Corporation, which also acquired a number of the Company's trams.

In addition to using its statutory powers to acquire the tramways in the city which it did not already own and operate, Birmingham Corporation had also determined to consolidate bus operations within the city. It already had some limited powers under the Birmingham Corporation Act of 1903 to run motor buses during the construction or repair of a tramway, or as an extension to tramway route, and in July 1913 it began running its first buses on an extension of the Bristol Road tramway between Selly Oak and Rednal. Two more routes were opened by the end of the year, one between Five Ways and the General Hospital, the other between Selly Oak and Rubery.

The Birmingham Corporation Act of 1914 gave the Corporation wider powers to operate motor buses, but its planned services conflicted with those of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company ("Midland Red"), which was already operating services to destinations within the city. The Corporation, wishing to consolidate public transport within the city boundaries, and BMMO, which recognised that expansion within the city was going to be difficult, reached an agreement in February 1914 to prevent a wasteful duplication of services. The agreement permitted the Company to operate services into Birmingham from places outside the city boundaries, subject to protective fares being charged. The Corporation for its part would restrict its operations to within the city boundaries. As part of the agreement, BMMO's Tennant Street garage and 30 vehicles were transferred to Birmingham Corporation. BMMO subsequently concentrated its efforts on expansion in the wider Midlands area, ultimately becoming one of the largest English bus companies.

By 1921 the condition of the tramway to Nechells was deteriorating, and trolleybuses were seen as a potential replacement. A delegation from the Transport Committee visited Bradford, where two experimental double-deck trolleybuses were being operated. Impressed by Bradford’s vehicles, the decision was taken to convert the Nechells route to trolleybus operation using twelve top-covered double-deck trolleybuses.

Birmingham Corporation was also keen to expand its network of motor bus services, but objections were raised by the Public Works Committee in 1922 because of the damage caused to the roads by the buses’ solid tyres. The Transport Committee therefore agreed that all new buses would be fitted with pneumatic tyres. In addition, following the success of the top-covered trolleybuses introduced the previous year, and thanks to new powers granted by the Birmingham Corporation Act of 1922, all future orders for double-deck motor buses would specify top covers. This was a pioneering step, as up until this point the Board of Trade had been reluctant to allow double-deck motor buses to be top-covered. General Manager Alfred Baker was proud to have what he claimed to be the first top-covered, double-deck motor bus to operate anywhere in the UK when it entered service on July 24, 1924. More than 200 similar vehicles were in operation by the end of the decade, and various bus garages were opened across the city to house them. This large growth in the bus fleet also led to the Department being renamed from the Birmingham Corporation Tramways Department to the Birmingham Corporation Tramway and Omnibus Department in 1927.

The city was continuing to grow (Perry Barr Urban District was absorbed in 1928, followed by parts of Castle Bromwich and Sheldon in 1931). Some bus routes to the new housing estates mushrooming all over the city ran alongside existing tram lines, and it was found that the public were increasingly favouring buses, which saw great advances in design in the late 1920s and early 1930s that did not reflect well on the now ageing trams. Consequently, some tram routes were becoming uneconomical and this fall in revenue, coming at the very time the system was in increasing need of investment and renewal, led the Corporation to a decision to phase out its tramway operations in favour either of buses or trolleybuses.

Trams
Birmingham operated the largest narrow-gauge tramway network in the UK, its 1067 mm gauge having been inherited from the former steam tramways. It was also the UK's fourth largest tramway network of any gauge after London, Glasgow and Manchester. Birmingham was a pioneer in the development of reserved trackways, which served the suburban areas as the city grew in the 1920s and 1930s.

The first line in the city, a horse-drawn route between the city centre and Hockley Brook, opened to the public on 11 September 1873, with a second (to Bournbrook) opening on 17 June 1876. Mechanical traction, originally in the guise of steam-hauled trams, was authorised from 1879. Several lines were built and leased during the 1880s

Birmingham City Transport's very origins lay in the operation of the city's tramway network. Since the network's beginnings in 1872, Birmingham's tram services had been provided by various lease-holding private companies running horse, steam and electric cars over the corporation-owned lines. From 1904 however, as the various leases expired, the Corporation assumed responsibility for running its own services and Birmingham City Transport – or the Birmingham Corporation Tramways Department as it was then known – was born.

By 1912 the Corporation had full control of the tramway within the city, and the system continued to expand after World War I as a comprehensive network of routes radiating in all directions from the city centre to its boundary was developed. There were also links to neighbouring undertakings at various points, such as BET's Black Country network at Ladywood and the South Staffordshire Company at Handsworth.

BCT's first tramcars comprised 20 open-topped, 56-seat cars. After a few years' service a change to Board of Trade regulations enabled the cars, which were supplied in 1904, to be fitted with top-covers. Covered cars were popular with the passengers and increased ridership. A large proportion of this first batch of cars fell victim to bombing raids during World War II - ten were destroyed and four were badly damaged, seeing no further service. The remaining six cars lasted until they were withdrawn when the Perry Barr route closed in 1949. By that time each remaining car had completed over a million miles in service.

In 1905 the Corporation signed a contract with Dick, Kerr & Co. for the supply of 200 cars - fifty for delivery by March 1906, with 150 cars to follow. The first fifty cars seated 48 and, like Birmingham's first trams, were originally open-topped, being fitted with top-covers after a few years' service. The remaining 150 cars, which seated 52, were delivered after the Board of Trade's decision to allow top-covered narrow-gauage cars and so operated with top-covers from new. Advantageous terms prompted BCT to place two further orders on Dick, Kerr & Co., one in 1906 (for fifty cars), and one in 1907 (for thirty cars). These cars were identical to the first fifty of the 1905 order.

Birmingham's expansion in July 1911 would mean BCT would be absorbing the tramway routes in Handsworth, Selly Oak, and Kings Norton. In anticipation of this growth, BCT ordered sixty 52-seat cars in 1910; the contract again being won by Dick, Kerr & Co. The order was extended by a further forty cars when it was realised many of the cars that would be accquired from CBTC were in very poor condition and unlikely to prove reliable.

A further fifty new cars were ordered from Dick, Kerr & Co. in 1912. Growth in service demand meant these new cars were necessary despite the addition of 122 former CBTC cars following the expansion of the city in 1911. General Manager Alfred Baker emphasised the phenomenal growth of the Corporation tramways in February 1913 when a further 75 slighty larger, 62-seat cars were ordered. He noted at the time that there had been a 20 percent increase in receipts compared to the previous year.

Following the initial rapid expansion there followed a seven-year lull in orders, not least due to the First World War. However, by 1920 there was a demand for new rolling-stock once more and fifty new 62-seat cars were ordered. Further new cars were ordered in 1923 (25 cars), 1924 (40 cars), 1925 (30 cars), and 1926 (30 cars).

Ultimately, however, Birmingham Corporation felt the future of public transport in Birmingham was to be track-free. Trolleybuses replaced trams on the Nechells route from November 27, 1922, marking the start of the decline that was to accelerate during the 1930s. The route to Bolton Road was abandoned in May 1930, quickly followed by the Hagley Road route (August 1930). By 1939 the Lozells, Yardley, Stratford Road to Acocks Green, West Bromwich, and Dudley routes had all been replaced.

BCT's original plans envisioned complete closure of the tram system by 1944. However, World War II imposed a reprieve as a lack of availability of new buses and the need to transport many thousands of workers to vital industries across the city meant that the the bulk of the system remained in use throughout the war years. Finally in 1947 the wholesale closure of the system began, and on July 4, 1953 the last three routes to Short Heath, Pype Hayes and Erdington closed simultaneously, bringing over 70 years of tramway operations in Birmingham to an end.

In all, Birmingham City Transport ran some 843 trams during the 49 years it had operated the system. At its peak, 825 cars from 20 depots ran over 133 km of track on 45 main routes.

Trolleybuses
Birmingham's trolleybus network opened on November 27, 1922.

By the standards of the various now-defunct trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom, the Birmingham system was a medium-sized one, even though Birmingham was then, and still is, the most populous British city outside London. With a total of only five routes, and a maximum fleet of 78 trolleybuses, it was closed relatively early, on June 30, 1951.

Garages
Birmingham City Transport operated from the following garages and depots. Many of these premises continued in use long after BCT had been adsorbed into the West Midlands PTE. While some of these buildings no longer survive, several are still in use as bus garages to this day, and a few have been put to alternative use. *Where no date is shown, the premises passed to WMPTE after continuing in use until BCT ceased operating in 1969. **Still in use with BCT's ultimate successor, National Express West Midlands.

Infrastructure
Beyond its former bus garages, little today remains of BCT's once extensive infrastructure. A few examples of it's once ubiquitous post-war design circular bus stop plates could still be found as late as the early to mid-1980s, but have since all disappeared.

BCT's final design of curved bus shelter survived longer - a few isolated examples can still be found - but by and large these too have since been replaced by newer types.

Another item of street furniture now disappeared from Birmingham are the Bundy clocks utilised by Birmingham City Transport at its route termini, or at specific timing points on circular routes, to provide a reliable time keeping record.

The timepiece visible at the top of the Bundy clock was sychronised via a drive mechanism with a paper tape printer inside the central box. Drivers were provided with coded keys which they inserted into a slot in the central box. On turning the key, the printer printed the driver's key number and the time onto the paper tape.

Of Birmingham's once vast tramway network there is now virtually no trace. A small section of track alongside the Council House in Brimingham City Centre was preserved, as was a section at the former tram terminus in Birmingham's southwestern suburb of Rednal. One of the tram stop shelters was acquired and preserved by the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire and put to use at its Crich Town End terminus.