The Transport Act 1968 (1968 c.73) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

. The main provisions made changes to the structure of nationally owned bus companies, created passenger transport authorities and executives to take over public transport in large conurbations.

National Bus Company

The Act formed, from 1 January 1969, the National Bus Company by merging the bus operating companies of the government-owned

Transport Holding Company The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government-owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport C ...

with those of the privately owned

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

. NBC operated bus services throughout England and Wales outside of large cities, although independent operators still thrived in many rural areas.

Scottish Transport Group

The Scottish Transport Group was also formed at the beginning of 1969. It combined the state-owned Scottish Bus Group and Caledonian Steam Packet Company shipping line.

Passenger transport authorities and executives

The Act also allowed the formation of

passenger transport authorities In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 2016 ...

to co-ordinate and operate public transport in large conurbations. The authorities were to be made up of councilors from the various local authorities in the area, while the executives were to be the operators of public transport: for the most part taking over the existing local authority bus fleets. Following consultation the following PTAs/PTEs were established under the Act: * West Midlands on 1 October 1969 * SELNEC (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire) on 1 November 1969 *

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

on 1 December 1969 *

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as publishe ...

on 1 January 1970 *

Greater Glasgow Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

on 1 June 1973 (also operated the

Glasgow Subway The Glasgow Subway is an underground light metro system in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the fourth-oldest underground rail transit system in Europe after the London Underground, Liverpool's Mersey Railway and the Budap ...

)

Subsidies for socially necessary but unremunerative railways

Section 39 of the Act introduced the first government subsidies for railways which were unremunerative for

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 ra ...

but deemed socially necessary. Grants could be paid where three conditions were met: (i) the line was unremunerative, (ii) it is desirable for social or economic reasons for the passenger services to continue, and (iii) it is financially unreasonable to expect British Rail to provide those services without a grant.

Waterways

The Act made changes to the use of facilities controlled by the state-owned

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotlan ...

. Reflecting the decline in the use of

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

s and rivers for freight distribution, waterways were divided into three categories, as envisaged by the White Paper entitled ''British Waterways: Recreation and Amenity'' which was published in September 1967. * Commercial waterways would be principally available for commercial use and the carriage of freight. * Cruising waterways, would be available for leisure cruising, fishing and other recreational purposes. *

Remainder waterway British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland ...

s, would be maintained to the minimum levels possible, consistent with requirements for public health, and the retention of amenity and safety. An important provision for remainder waterways allowed them to be transferred to or maintained by local authorities. The Act recognized the value of the waterway network for leisure use, and set up the

Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council Inland may refer to: Places Sweden * Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Northern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Southern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Torpe Hundred, a hundred ...

(IWAAC) to give advice to both government and British Waterways on all matters concerned with the use of the network for recreation. In May 1968 the IWAAC had been set up as an informal body prior to the passing of the Act, and the 22 members became part of a statutory body on 18 November 1968, as a result of the Act.

Vehicle testing and driving hours

The Act made changes to the MOT vehicle test. Previously vehicles had been liable to annual testing ten years after first registration. This was reduced to three years from first registration. The Act also introduced maximum driving hours for goods drivers and also allowed the introduction of the

tachograph A tachograph is a device fitted to a vehicle that automatically records its speed and distance, together with the driver's activity selected from a choice of modes. The drive mode is activated automatically when the vehicle is in motion, and ...

to record driving periods despite the resistance of the trade unions, which called them 'the spy in the cab'.

References

*Transport Act 1968 (1968 c.73) *

Bibliography

* {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1968 Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Railway Acts 1968 in transport Transport policy in the United Kingdom History of transport in the United Kingdom