|
|
Post by charleyfarley on Oct 4, 2012 10:17:24 GMT
Morning all. Can anyone suggest a book to read or website to visit which gives a little detail about the process by which independent underground companies and bus companies were brought together into one huge organization?
Did all these companies give up their independence willingly or were one or two of them dragged kicking and screaming into the LPTB?
Although the LCC was far smaller than the later GLC, why were LPTB-operated road services extended so far outside what wdould be the GLC area?
I rather enjoy digging, and recently discovered fascinating facts about early horse bus services in the Capital.
Although bus services had started in 1829, it wasn't until 1867 that buses were legally required to stop only on the near side. Previously, buses had stopped on whichever side of the road alighting passengers wanted to be.
|
|
|
|
Post by metrailway on Oct 4, 2012 11:55:17 GMT
The Met was certainly dragged kicking and screaming!
|
|
|
|
Post by bassmike on Oct 4, 2012 13:05:12 GMT
History of London transport by Barker and robbins vols:1&2 . dont know if still in print.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2012 19:54:02 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamhewett on Oct 7, 2012 17:17:49 GMT
Besides the Barker and Robbins book, for the bus side of things, there are some useful Capital Transport publications - The battles of the General, The last Years of the General, and London buses before the War all by Ken Glazier. and AA Jackson's "London's Metropolitan Railway" is also useful, although none of these focusses directly on the creation of LPTB as such.
Essentially, the process was a slow one beginning with the creation of the "Combine" in Edwardian times, which brought together the underground lines (but not the Met), the company-owned tramways (but not the municipal ones) and the LGOC. The Combine dominated transport in London . The next key step was in 1916, when the separate component companies were legally released from the obligation to publish separate accounts so effectively ceasing to exist commercially. Other important milestones were the amalgamation of the mainline railways, leaving the Met as a standalone company (and incidentally preventing the mainline companies from running bus services, which had a knockon effect on the bus operators surrounding London), the 1924 legislation which regulated bus services in London for the first time, so reinforcing the LGOC's dominant position and - by giving some value to established independent operators - allowed the LGOC to buy out the independents. The other important event was the formation of the BBC (!) in 1924 as a not-for-profit public corporation which showed the scope for creating a body which valued public service over profit maximisation. Against this background, the Labour Government of 1929-1931 sought to nationalise the Combine, the Met and the municipal tramways, not least to allow crosssubsidy within the new Board to pay for extension of the Underground and for the replacement of the ex-municipal tramways fleets which had long passed their renewal date. Although that Labour government fell, the need to expand the system and replace wornout asets remained and the 1931 Coalition government took up the legislation albeit in a modified form.
To answer your query about why the LT operating area was the size it was, the origins of that lay in the LGOC's policy of expanding well beyond London by doing deals with, especially, the East Surrey and National bus companies (the LGOC had had a shortlived prewar direct operation in the Bedford area but later preferred to protect and control its "fringe" territory by collaboration. It didn't manage to strike deals with the dominant operators in the Thames Valley, however, which led to the rather lopsided area inherited by LT.
Sorry if this is too much info!
GH
|
|
