The history of public transport authorities in London details the various organisations that have been responsible for the

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

network in and around

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, England - including buses,

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

trams A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ar ...

trolleybuses A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Lo ...

, and 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 counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

. From 1933 until 2000, these bodies used the London Transport brand. The period began with the creation of 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 ...

, which covered the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

and adjacent counties within a 30-mile (48-km) radius. This area later came under the control of 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 o ...

and then the

London Transport Board The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport (except main-line trains) in London, England, and its environs from 1963 to 1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public na ...

. The area of responsibility was reduced to that of the Greater London administrative area in 1970 when the Greater London Council, and then

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

took over responsibility. Since 2000, the Greater London Authority has been the transport authority and the executive agency has been called Transport for London; ending the 67-year use of the ''London Transport'' name.

Background

Prior to 1933, the ownership and management of the transport system in London was distributed among a large number of independent and separate organisations. The

Underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

railway system had been developed and was owned by the

Underground Electric Railways Company of London The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an und ...

(UERL) and the Metropolitan Railway.

Tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and

Trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

networks were owned by various local authorities and public companies and buses were owned by numerous companies. Many of these services were in competition with one another leading to wasteful duplication. The

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

managed tram operations within the

, but its responsibility did not extend to the bus or tram routes that ran outside its area; or to the railways, which also extended into neighbouring counties. A Royal Commission on London Government in the 1920s did not permit the London County Council to extend its area of responsibility and an ad hoc

London Traffic Area The London Traffic Area was established by the London Traffic Act 1924 to regulate the increasing amount of motor traffic in the London area. The LTA was abolished in 1965 on the establishment of the Greater London Council. The traffic area ex ...

was created to regulate motor traffic in the wider London region. In the 1930s another ad hoc solution was sought to improve the control and coordination of public transport.

London's transport authorities

1933-1948: London Passenger Transport Board

The London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was the transport authority from 1 July 1933 to 31 December 1947. Day & Reed 2008, p. 112. It unified services in the London area for the first time. The

London Passenger Transport Act 1933 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 major se ...

removed responsibility for of tram route from the

, three

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

s and a number of other local authorities in the Greater London area. It brought the UERL lines under the same control, and took over supervision of buses from the Metropolitan Police. The area of responsibility of the LPTB was far greater than the current Greater London boundaries and was known as the London Passenger Transport Area. The period saw massive expansion of the tube network and was directly responsible for the expansion of the suburbs. The extensive

New Works Programme The New Works Programme of 1935–1940 was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolley ...

was halted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, with some projects abandoned and others completed after the end of hostilities. The 'roundel symbol' designed in 1918 was adopted by London Passenger Transport Board and the London Transport brand and architectural style was perfected during this period. The iconic

tube map The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was des ...

designed in 1931, was published in 1933.

1948-1963: London Transport Executive

The London Transport Executive (LTE) was the transport authority from 1 January 1948 to 31 December 1962. Day & Reed 2008, p. 150. London Transport was taken into public ownership and became part 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 ...

, which brought London Transport and British Railways under the same control for the first and last time. The period saw the start of direct recruitment from the Caribbean and the repair and replacement of stock and stations damaged during the war as well as completion of delayed projects such as the Central line eastern extension. The

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...

bus was introduced in 1956.

s were withdrawn in 1952 and

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

es in 1962.

1963-1970: London Transport Board

The London Transport Board was the transport authority from 1 January 1963 to 31 December 1969 Day & Reed 2008, p. 163. It reported 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 a ...

, ending its direct association with the management of British Railways. During this period many of Britain's unprofitable railways were closed down, as most routes in the capital were widely used the Beeching Axe had little effect. However, during this period there was little investment in public transport and the motor car increased in popularity. During this period, the Victoria line was opened - although work had started in the early 1960s - and the

AEC Merlin The AEC Swift was a rear-engined step entrance single-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC between 1964 and 1980. The chassis design was closely related to the Leyland Panther. It was available in and lengths, with an AEC AH505 or AH691 ...

single-deck bus was introduced.

1970-1984: London Transport Executive

The Greater London Council was the transport authority from 1 January 1970 to 28 June 1984 and the executive agency was called the London Transport Executive. Day & Reed 2008, p. 172. The legislation creating the Greater London Council (GLC) was already passed in 1963 when the London Transport Board was created. However, control did not pass to the new authority until 1 January 1970. The GLC broadly controlled only those services within the boundaries of Greater London. The (green painted) country buses 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 ...

had been passed in 1969 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 ...

, which in 1970 became part of the National Bus Company. The period is perhaps the most controversial in London's transport history and there was a severe lack of funding from central government and staff shortages. The inter-modal zonal ticketing system currently used by Transport for London originated in this period. Following the Greater London Council election in 1981, the incoming Labour administration simplified fares in Greater London by introducing four new bus fare zones and two central London Underground zones, named ''City'' and ''West End'', where flat fares applied for the first time. This was accompanied by a cut in prices of about a third and was marketed as the '' Fares Fair'' campaign. Following successful legal action against it, on 21 March 1982 London Buses fares were subsequently doubled and London Underground fares increased by 91%. The two central area zones were retained and the fares to all other stations were restructured to be graduated at three-mile intervals. In 1983, a third revision of fares was undertaken, and a new inter-modal

Travelcard The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Elizabeth line, Docklands Light Railway, London Trams, London Buses and National Rail services in the Greater London area. Tr ...

season ticket was launched covering five new numbered zones; representing an overall cut in prices of around 25%. The ''One Day Travelcard'' was launched in 1984 and on weekdays was only sold for travel after 09.30.

1984-2000: London Regional Transport

London Regional Transport was the transport authority from 29 June 1984 to 2 July 2000. Day & Reed 2008, p. 189. The GLC was abolished in 1986 with responsibility for public transport removed two years earlier in 1984. The new authority, London Regional Transport (LRT), again came under direct state control, reporting to the Secretary of State for Transport. The London Regional Transport Act contained provision for setting up subsidiary companies to run the Underground and bus services and in 1985 London Underground Limited (LUL), a wholly owned subsidiary of London Regional Transport, was set up to manage the tube network. In 1988 ten individual line business units were created to manage the network. London Buses Limited was constituted to progress the

privatisation of London bus services The privatisation of London bus services was the process of the transfer of operation of buses in London from public bodies to private companies. For half a century, operation of London bus services for public transport was under the direct co ...

. London Transport was converted to a route operating contract tendering authority, and the former bus operating interests and assets of London Transport were split into 12 business units under the banner ''London Buses''. The 12 units competed for contracts with private operators from 1984, and were all sold off by 1994/5 becoming private operators themselves. Further amendments to the fare system were made during this period, including inclusion of the separately managed British Rail services. In January 1985 the ''Capitalcard'' season ticket was launched, offering validity on British Rail as well as London Underground and London Buses. It was priced around 10-15% higher than the Travelcard. In June 1986 the ''One Day Capitalcard'' was launched. The Capitalcard brand ended in January 1989 when the Travelcard gained validity on British Rail. In January 1991 Zone 5 was split to create a new Zone 6. The

was opened on 31 August 1987 and was included in the zonal Travelcard ticketing scheme.

2000 onwards: Transport for London

The Greater London Authority, a replacement authority for the GLC, was set up in 2000 with a transport executive called Transport for London (TfL) that took control from 3 July 2000. It is the first London transport authority since 1933 not to be commonly called ''London Transport''. Unlike previous transport bodies, TfL gained responsibility for a wide variety of other transportation functions - including management of major roads in London, walking & cycling as well as taxi and private hire licensing. The London Underground did not pass to TfL until after a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) agreement for maintenance was completed in 2003. In 2017, TfL became the longest running transportation body in London - following London Regional Transport.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

Transport for LondonTfL Group Archives and Records ManagementLondon Transport MuseumLondon Transport Museum
Photographic Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Public Transport Authorities in London History of transport in London