The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport (except main-line trains) in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, and its environs from 1963 to 1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.

History

The London Transport Board (LTB) was established on 1 January 1963 pursuant to the

Transport Act 1962 The Transport Act 1962 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Described as the "most momentous piece of legislation in the field of railway law to have been enacted since the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854", it was passed by Haro ...

and replaced the

London Transport Executive The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in Greater London, England between 1948 and 1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of ...

(LTE) upon the dissolution of the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

. It was an independent statutory undertaking reporting directly to the

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

, whose responsibilities were similar to those of the LTE, but with the addition of some railway lines previously the responsibility of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ways. The first Chairman was Alexander Valentine, who had been the Chairman of the LTE. The LTB was responsible for the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

and for bus and coach services within the

London Passenger Transport Area The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passe ...

, an area with a radius of about 30 miles from

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

established when the

London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...

was formed in 1933. Services were generally maintained and not cut as elsewhere in the country, as train services were under the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. The board was responsible for the

Bus Reshaping Plan The Bus Reshaping Plan of 1966 was a plan devised by the London Transport Board for the reorganisation of bus routes in London, England. The main features of the plan, which was to be rolled out over ten to fifteen years, were: * Introduction of o ...

in 1966, a comprehensive programme of changes to bus services. By 1970 the roads in London had become so congested that the Greater London Development Plan included in its scope policy to reduce dependence on the car. On 1 January 1970 responsibility for public transport within Greater London passed to the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

(GLC) under the Transport (London) Act 1969, with the ''London Transport'' brand retained by the GLC. Bus services outside the GLC area and

Green Line Coaches Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. The trademark is owned by Arriva, with services operated by Arriva Shires & Essex and Reading Buses. Green Line had its origin in the network of coach services established ...

were passed to a new company,

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

, formed on 1 January 1970 as a subsidiary of the National Bus Company.GLC and London Transport ''

Buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

'' issue 177 December 1969 page 515

Notes

References

* * * {{Authority control British Transport Commission Defunct transport authorities in London Government agencies established in 1963 Intermodal transport authorities in the United Kingdom 1960s in London 1963 establishments in England 1969 disestablishments in England