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London Passenger Transport Board

Details
In operation:	1933-1948
Scope:	within 30 miles of Charing Cross
Control:	Board appointed by trustees
Legislation
Created:	London Passenger Transport Act 1933
Abolished:	Transport Act 1947

The London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), commonly known as London Transport, was the organisation responsible for transport in London, United Kingdom and its environs from 1933-1948.

The statutory body was set up by the London Passenger Transport Act 1933 of 13 April 1933. The original hybrid bill had been introduced by Herbert Morrison, who had been Transport Minister in the then Labour Government until 1931. As a hybrid bill it had been possible to allow the legislation to roll over onto the new Parliament, under the incoming National Government. Although heavily populated by Conservatives, the new government decided to continue with the Bill with no serious changes, despite its extensive transfer of private undertakings into the public sector. On 1 July 1933, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) came into being, covering the "London Passenger Transport Area".

Contents 1 The board 1.1 Members 2 London Passenger Transport Area 3 Responsibilities 3.1 Railways 3.2 Tramways 3.3 Omnibuses and Coaches 4 Sources 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

The board had seven members: a chairman, and six other members. The board were chosen jointly by five "appointing trustees" listed in the Act. The appointing trustees were:

• The chairman of the London County Council;
• A representative of the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee;
• The chairman of the Committee of London Clearing Banks;
• The president of the Law Society; and
• The president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

The Act required that the board members should be "persons who have had wide experience, and have shown capacity, in transport, industrial, commercial or financial matters or in the conduct of public affairs and, in the case of two members, shall be persons who have had not less than six years experience in local government within the London Passenger Transport Area."^[1]

The first chairman and vice-chairman were Lord Ashfield and Frank Pick, who had held similar positions with the Underground Group. Each member of the board had a term of office of between three and seven years, and was eligible for reappointment.

• Lord Ashfield 1933 - 1947^{[1] [2]}
• Frank Pick appointed 1933, retired 1940^[1][2]
• Sir John Gilbert (London County Council) appointed 1933, died 1934^[1]
• Sir Edward Holland (Surrey County Council) appointed 1933, retired 1939^{[1] [3] [4]}
• Patrick Ashley-Cooper, director of the Bank of England, latterly Sir Patrick and Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company^[1]
• Sir Henry Maybury, civil engineer, chairman of the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee, appointed 1933, died 1943^[1]
• John Cliff, secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, 1933 - 1947^[1]
• Charles Latham, (London County Council) 1935 - 1947^{[5] [6]}
• Colonel Forester Clayton, 1939 - 1947^[7]

Latham and Cliff went on to become chairman and vice-chairman of the successor London Transport Executive in 1947.

The London Passenger Transport Area had a radius of 30 miles from Charing Cross, extending from Baldock in the north, to Brentwood in the east, Horsham in the south and High Wycombe in the west; in other words, beyond the boundaries of what later officially became Greater London.

London Passenger Transport Area 1933 - 1947

The London Passenger Transport Area is outlined in red, with the board's "special area", in which it had a monopoly of public transport services, indicated by a broken black line. Within the special area services operated by the LPTB did not need road service licences, and no person or undertaking was allowed to provide a public road service without written permission from the board. In the board's area outside the special area it was required to hold road service licences.[8] The boundary of the Metropolitan Police District at the time is shown as a blue broken line, and the County of London is shaded in grey. Broken red lines indicate roads over which the Board was allowed to run services outside its area.

Main article: List of transport undertakings transferred to the London Passenger Transport Board

Under the Act the LPTB became responsible for the following concerns:

• London Electric Railway which controlled:
  • District Railway
  • Bakerloo Line
  • Piccadilly Line
  • Hampstead & Highgate Line (modern Northern Line Charing Cross branch)
  • City & South London Railway (modern Northern Line Bank branch)
  • Central London Railway
• Metropolitan Railway which also controlled:
  • Great Northern & City Railway

• London County Council (1,713 tramcars and 167.17 miles of route including tracks owned by the Borough of Leyton and the City of London)
• Middlesex County Council (42.63 route miles leased to Metropolitan Electric Tramways)
• Hertfordshire County Council (21.5 miles leased to Metropolitan Electric Tramways)
• City of London (0.25 miles operated by London County Council)
• Barking Corporation, (operated by Ilford Corporation, London County Council and East Ham Corporation since 1929) (1.8 miles)
• Bexley and Dartford Urban District Councils (joint undertaking since 1921) (33 tramcars and 10.29 route miles),
• Croydon Corporation (55 tramcars and 9.28 route miles)
• East Ham Corporation (56 tramcars and 8.34 miles)
• Erith Urban District Council (4 miles)
• Ilford Corporation (40 tramcars and 7.13 route miles)
• Leyton Corporation (operated by London County Council since 1921) (9 miles)
• Walthamstow Corporation (62 tramcars and 8.93 miles)
• West Ham Corporation (134 tramcars and 16.27 route miles)
• London United Tramways (150 tramcars, 61 trolleybuses and 29.05 route miles)
• Metropolitan Electric Tramways (316 tramcars and 53.51 route miles of which 9.38 were owned by the company and 46.23 were leased from Middlesex County Council and 1.5 from Hertfordshire County Council)
• South Metropolitan Electric Tramways (52 tramcars and 13.08 route miles)^[9]

• London General, London General Country Services, Overground, Tilling & British Automobile Traction, Green Line Coaches

The LPTB was also empowered to enter into co-ordination agreements with the main line companies concerning their London area suburban services.

In all, some 92 transport and ancillary undertakings, with a total capital of approximately £120 million, came under the authority of the LPTB. From the date of transfer, central buses, trolleybuses, underground trains and trams were all painted in what had been the "Underground" and "London General" red; country service buses and coaches, in green. All coaches became "Green Line". Already in use on most of the tube system, the "UNDERGROUND" branding was to be extended to all lines and stations. The name was said to have been coined by Albert Henry Stanley, Baron Ashfield in 1908 when he was General Manager of the Underground Group.

The LPTB embarked on a massive capital investment programme that not only extended services, but also reconstructed many existing assets. This mostly came under the umbrella of the 1935 - 1940 "New Works Programme". It involved extensions to the Central, Bakerloo, Northern & Metropolitan lines, the provision of new trains and maintenance depots, the extensive rebuilding of many central area stations (such as Aldgate East) as well as the replacement of much of the Board's tramways by what was to become one of the world's largest trolleybus systems. It was also during this period, that two icons of London Transport were first seen - 1938 tube stock trains and the RT-type bus. Although curtailed and delayed by the outbreak of World War Two, the programme delivered much of the present Underground system.

The board also continued to develop the highest traditions of corporate identity, design and commercial advertising that had been put in place by the Underground Group. This included stations designed by Charles Holden, bus garages by architects such as Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, as well as more humble structures such as bus stops and shelters. The posters and advertising issued by the board were often of exemplary quality and are much sought after, even to this day.

The board was replaced in 1948 by the London Transport Executive under the Transport Act 1947. It was effectively nationalised, but with considerable autonomy as befitted such a unique undertaking.

• T C Barker and Michael Robbins, A History of London Transport, Volume two - the Twentieth Century to 1970, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1974

• History of transport in London (1933-2003)

• The Railway Archive - London Passenger Transport Act, 1933 (25 MB)

Preceded by Various other

London transport authority 1933–1948

Succeeded by London Transport Executive