Tyne and Wear PTE were the second-largest operator of Metropolitans, building up 140 of them between 1975 and 1977. By the mid-1980s most of the Tyne & Wear Metropolitan's were withdrawn although a handful did pass to the new arms-length private company Busways Travel Services brought about by de-regulation of the British bus industry in 1986. 499 (RCU 499S) was the last to be withdrawn in 1989, and the only vehicle to be repainted in the Busways livery. A significant proportion of them were acquired by various operators throughout the UK and some of the Tyne & Wear Metropolitans have also survived into preservation.