Among the issues to be tackled were the ownership and operation of bus services, which were rapidly losing patronage and profitability due to increased prevalence of private motor cars.

[1] Instead of forming the regional authorities, the government published a white paper proposing the merger of the THC and BET organisations into a single National Bus Company.

In the early years of the company, there was some rationalisation, generally leading to the amalgamation of operators into larger units and the transfer of areas between them.

The company's coaches, which previously carried the traditional colours of local subsidiaries, were re-branded as 'National' and painted in unrelieved white, with the NBC logo and the 'NATIONAL' name in alternate red & blue letters using a bespoke typeface.

[13] National Travel was the country's first attempt at a uniformly marketable express network, which superseded Associated Motorways and the plethora of other services provided by individual NBC subsidiaries.

The coaches were managed by a few areas and included travel agent booking offices based at major bus stations.

In the 1970s all local service buses adopted a uniform design under Norman Wilson's corporate identity scheme, generally in either leaf green or poppy red, with white relief.

Buses operating in the area of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive used yellow in a similar fashion to the PTE's own fleet but to the NBC specifications for layout and colour; some buses operating within West Yorkshire were liveried in WYPTE verona green and cream; Jones (Aberbeeg) was liveried in blue, while local subsidiaries East Yorkshire, Midland General and the Northern General subsidiary, Sunderland District, also retained blue for short periods.

The NBC inherited from the Transport Holding Company 75% shareholdings in chassis manufacturer Bristol Commercial Vehicles and body builder Eastern Coach Works.

Conscious of the very limited information on their market (their passengers), NBC extended the programme throughout the areas served by the subsidiary Companies.

As part of the MAP local area identities were invariably introduced, with new fleet names applied to buses, bus stops, timetables and publicity.

During its early years, NBC pursued a policy of merging smaller subsidiaries to form larger regional companies.

In addition to those businesses inherited from the Transport Holding Company, NBC took over the municipal bus operations in Exeter and Luton during 1970, with these operations being absorbed by Devon General and United Counties respectively, while the country area services of London Transport also passed to NBC in 1970 as London Country.

Notable independent operators acquired during this period included Jones of Aberbeeg, Venture of Consett, Provincial of Fareham, and Wessex of Bristol which were (at least initially) retained as subsidiaries.

1974 saw the coach-only subsidiaries consolidated into four "National Travel" companies, while a fifth was established to take over another independent coach operator, Don Everall of Wolverhampton.