This Leyland Titan bus No. 2769, in the Museum’s collection, operated in Sydney and Newcastle between 1954 and 1976. Collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, B2235, gift of New South Wales Public Transport Commission Store, 1976.
The NSW Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, announced on 23 August 2012 that double deck buses are back on Sydney’s street for a trial. How did this all begin? The first private motor omnibus licence was issued on 21 April 1907 by Warringah Council to John Williams for his motor bus service from Manly to Pittwater. At this time Sydney was deeply in love with its trams. However, skills brought back by returned First World War ex-servicemen, who had gained experience with the new-fangled petrol-engined trucks in Europe, saw the rapid introduction of petrol-driven motor buses. By 1930 it was said that in Sydney there were 606 licensed buses run by 129 operators on 209 routes and running 221 services in the metropolitan area alone. Of these, 115 were in direct competition with Government trams! So serious was this threat to the established government tram routes, (the revenue was urgently needed to pay off the infrastructure loans), that legislation was passed which taxed many private operators off the roads.
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