Mulley, Corinne Ann
(1990)
Public control of the British bus industry: The origins and effects of legislation in the 1930s and 1940s.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with the public control of motorised passenger-carrying vehicles and the effect of control on the development of this sector of the transport industry. The thesis consists of three main sections. In the first part, the origins and implementation of the Road Traffic Act, 1930 are examined. This Act marked the beginning of public control on the bus and coach industry which was then a relatively young and rapidly growing sector of the total transport industry. The implications for road passenger transport following the nationalisation proposals introduced by the Transport Act, 1947, are examined in the second part of the thesis. The 1947 Act did not specifically provide for radical changes in the public control. However, in making provisions for nationwide Schemes for road passenger transport it lay the foundations for substantial change. This section considers the progress of these Schemes and, in particular, documents the slow progress of the first of these for North Eastern England. The final chapter brings together information from the two earlier sections and highlights the more important differences and similarities in approach of the two pieces of legislation. The main objectives of the thesis are to analyse the background and implementation of these two Acts and to place this analysis into an economic framework. The examination of each of the two Acts commences with a review of pertinent economic theory before considering the historical evidence and reaching conclusions about the relevance of economic theory in contributing to our understanding of these events. The analysis benefits from access to new source material: these include Government and Cabinet papers and information from personal interviews conducted with people working in the industry when the Acts were passed. Reference to these new primary sources, in conjunction with a more formal economic framework, has led to a new interpretation of the origins of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, and a substantially more complete knowledge of the problems involved in developing a unified system for road passenger transport under nationalisation. In addition, the provision of an economic framework permits greater analysis not only of the individual Acts but of their similarities and differences and leads to a greater understanding of the legislative process in the transport sector.
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