I'm a little, Little Gem - a photo on Flickriver

I'm a little, Little Gem

Bus deregulation came in 1986, and it upended an industry that had worked in a way that was directly created by the Road Traffic Act 1930, over half a century earlier. We won't go into whether or not the 1986 Act was a good or bad thing - it happened.

The industry suddenly had to think about competition, and gaining new business. The latter meant tying new experimental routes that might not be popular at first, certainly not enough to justify big double decker bus: and often these new routs went into housing estates to make getting the bus as convenient as taking your car. This meant smaller buses - minibuses, or perhaps midibuses.

The newly deregulated GM Buses called its small bus fleet 'Little Gem' and threw itself into the new operations with gusto and, it has to be said, with a lot of marketing flair. There were posters and promotional items including this card model, approximately A4 in size.

Minibuses soon faded, for several reasons. One was that their lightweight construction meant a short life; another was that either a new route didn't work, in which case it simply ceased; or it was successful in which case the Little Gem wasn't big enough. It was an exciting and slightly confusing era and we're pleased that one of the buses on which the card model is based, GM Buses 1676, is in our museum awaiting restoration.

Why not make the model yourself? We've made a point of putting the water mark away from the model itself - we're sorry that we need to have it at all, but unfortunately people do rather make a habit of reuploading our photos without permission, despite every photo including a note saying that this is not allowed.

If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to motgm.uk.

© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.

Taken on: August 29, 2024

Tags:

Museum

Transport

Manchester

www.gmts.co.uk

GMTS

bus

buses

Museum of Transport

GMTS collection

Greater Manchester Transport Society

Boyle Street

Cheetham Hill

M8 8UW

Greater Manchester

heritage

history

MoTGM

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Little Gem

model

card

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toy

GM Buses

deregulation « less

Sets appears in: • Selnec/GMT/GM Buses

Groups appears in: • Bus UK: Metro-Cammell of Birmingham and Weymann of Addlestone • MCW BUS AND COACH more » • Greater Manchester City Region • Lost Treasures of Greater Manchester Transport « less

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