Belfast Transport

`Belfast Transport' is the story of public transport in Belfast from the horse buses of the 1860s to the Metro buses which were introduced in 2005. It is a fascinating story encompassing the change from horse buses to horse trams; the introduction of motor buses; 30 years of the trolleybuses; the closure of the tramways in the early 1950s; the closure of the trolleybus system in the late 1960s and the total dependence on diesel buses for intra-urban transport in Belfast.

The story is told mainly through pictures with extended captions, describing not only the vehicles themselves but also their physical and social contexts.

It covers the period of civil disturbances euphemistically known as `The Troubles' from 1969 during which the Belfast Corporation and its successor Citybus lost members of staff, hundreds of vehicles and millions of pounds.

It covers managers from the charismatic Andrew Nance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to the equally charismatic Werner Heubeck in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Different men; different methods but with the same purpose; to provide that best transport that they could in the climate in which they operated.

About the Author

Mike Maybin had a varied career, working as a social worker, lecturer and civil servant until his retirement in 2001. His interest in public transport was as an enthusiastic amateur, although like many small boys of that era badly wanted to be a bus driver! He has written several books on aspects of Belfast transport over the last 20 years, but this will be his first covering the entire period from the 1860s to the present.