The first horse drawn bus arrived in Upton in March 1891, the bus ran to Claughton Village, but little is known about it.

 In 1896, buses departed from the Eagle and Crown for Woodside Ferry at 10.00am, 1.30pm and 4.15pm. A further bus, leaving at 6.00pm, ran to Birkenhead Park only.

Buses returned from Woodside at 11.05am, 2.30pm and 5.05pm. The 6.00pm bus to Birkenhead Park returned to Upton at 7.00pm.

On Saturdays, the 6.00pm bus to Birkenhead Park ran through to Woodside Ferry and returned at 7.15pm.

There was no service on Sundays.

On 14th July 1920, the Birkenhead Tramways Committee inaugurated the first motor bus services into Upton. The first service was for workers and ran between Upton Village and Birkenhead Park Station. Three buses ran each morning, leaving Park Station at 7:45, 8:20 and 8:50 and returning from Upton Village at 8:00, 8:35 and 9:10am. In the afternoon the buses left Park Station at 4:35, 5:35 and 6:35pm.

The second service ran between Upton Village and Charing Cross. The first bus on this service left Charing Cross at 9:30am and then every hour until 9:30pm. The first bus from Upton Village left at 10:00am and then every hour until 10.00pm. On Sundays the first bus from Charing Cross was at 2:30pm and the first bus from Upton Village was at 3:00pm.  This service was extended to Birkenhead Central Station a month later.

The Upton terminus for these services was at the top of Salacre Lane, by the war memorial.

The Corporation buses where originally in a chocolate brown and cream livery, but this was replaced by blue and cream in 1933.

Over the years, four main routes through Upton where established by the Corporation;

-	96	Woodside to Thurstaston
-	42/46	Bromborough to Saughall Massie
-	51	Port Sunlight to Saughall Massie
-	77	Woodside to Moreton Shore

..

Just three months after the Corporation buses arrived, the first Crosville Motor Services bus arrived. The bus ran from West Kirby via Newton, Frankby, Greasby and Upton to the Birkenhead boundary by the waterworks on Boundary Road. Crosville applied for a licence to run the service to Park Station, but this was turned down by the Birkenhead Watch Committee. Crosville appealed to the Ministry of Transport, and eventually they were allowed to run through to Claughton Village where the service connected with the Corporation Trams.

The vehicles used for the service were probably 26 seater Daimler CK type buses with solid tyres.

A number of other services were tried by Crosville before the end of 1921, including:

-	Wirral Outer Circle - from West Kirby via Thurstaston, Heswall, Barnston, Woodchurch, Upton and Moreton to Wallasey Village then back to West Kirby via Moreton, Meols and Hoylake.
-	Wirral Inner Circle - from West Kirby via Meols, Moreton, Upton and Greasby to Frankby then back to West Kirby via Black Horse Hill.
-	Wallasey Village to Claughton Village via Moreton and Upton.

The Inner Circle and Wallasey to Claughton Village services were not popular and did not last long, but the Outer Circle was popular with four trips a day in each direction, while the original West Kirby to Claughton service had around a dozen trips each day. At the end of 1922 the outer circle was shortened and became  Wallasey to Heswall via Moreton, Upton, Woodchurch and Barnston.

In 1923 a new route was started:

-	West Kirby via Meols, Garden Hey Road, Saughall Massie and Upton to Claughton Village.

At the end of 1923 agreement was reached with the Corporation to allow the West Kirby services to run through to Park Station, provided that Crosville would accept the "Widnes Formula". Under this Crosville were prohibited from picking up or setting down local passengers less than half a mile beyond the outer Corporation bus terminus. This meant that passengers in Upton Village could not board Crosville buses heading towards Park Station, and could not get off Crosville buses coming from Park Station. The extent of this limitation was Overchurch Road on the Saughall Massie route and the bridge over the Arrowe Brook on the Frankby route. Crosville also had to charge 1d more than the equivalent Corporation fare for the part of the journey within the Borough. Crosville buses also used different bus stops from the Corporation buses.

Crosville introduced route numbers in 1946 and the West Kirby to Park Station via Greasby was numbered 108.  

F32/34   Birkenhead Park Station to West Kirby

 

On the 1st December 1969, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (MPTE) took over the bus services from Birkenhead Corporation, together with those of Wallasey and Liverpool. The livery used was different in each of the areas they operated in, that used in Wirral was similar to that of the Corporation busses. In 1974, following the local government reoganisation, all MPTE buses where given a standard livery of Verona Green and Cream.

 Following deregulation in 1986, Merseybus took over running the bus services from the MPTE, and the livery was changed to maroon and cream. In 1989 Merseybus was sold to its employees and became MTL, buses on Wirral where rebranded Wirral Peninsula, with a cream and red livery.

In the period since deregulation, buses of many different liveries have been seen running routes through Upton Village, Greater Manchester introduced Birkenhead and District buses for a short period between 1994 and 1995, PMT introduced Red Rider buses, then later took over Crosville's services, PMT themselves later being taken over by First.

Today, bus services in Upton are run by Arriva Merseyside (who bought MTL in February 2000), Stagecoach (who bought First) and a few independent operators.

 

Fares

In 1966, the adult single fare from Upton Village to Woodside Ferry Terminal on Birkenhead Corporation's route 96 was 9d (equivalent to about 4p). In 1975, the 96 was being run by the MPTE and the fare from Upton Village to Woodside had risen to 18p. By 1980, the 96 route had been discontinued, but route 82 followed almost the same route and the fare from Upton Village to Woodside on this service was 40p.