Control of London Transport.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20224, 30 April 1931, Page 8

Control of London Transport.

Although the proposal of the British Government to place the whole system of London passenger transport under a Board consisting only of five members has been strongly opposed, it has advanced another stage, according to a cable message to-day. The joint committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons, which is considering the sixty-eight clauses in the Government's Bill, has come to a provisional agreement to transfer all London's underground railways to the proposed Transport Board; and this tentative decision means that the committee representatives of all Parties in Parliament are willing lo place the least of London's four transport services under a system of control which was assailed in the House of Commons by the Conservative Party on the ground that it " embodies the principle "of nationalisation, deprives local "authorities of control, takes the " property of private owners out of " their control without giving them an " option of sale, and vests in the " Minister for Transport bureaucratic " powers." Whatever else may be said about it, the Government's scheme is an ambitious one. It involves £130,000,000 of capital and proposes to make live men responsible for administering the greatest city transport system in the world. In a typical year London's omnibus, tramway, and underground railway system carries three thousand million passengers. The field of administration covers 1846 square miles, and involves the maintenance of over 2000 miles of roads and tracks at an annual cost of over £3,000,000. In Greater London the railway stations alone number about 700. A system so. vast doubtless affords opportunity for better organisation and a substantial reduction of administrative expenditure; but its vastness also provides perhaps the best reason for the keen opposition to the Government's Bill. The main aim is, of course, to " avoid unnecessary and " wasteful competitive services." For that purpose it is proposed to acquire the tubes, tramways, and omnibuses belonging to the underground group of companies and the Metropolitan Railway by means of an exchange of stocks. Private owners' rights will be acquired and discharged either by issues of stock or payments of cash. Local authorities are to have the option of allowing the Transport Board to pay interest and redemption charges on their outstanding debt, or taking Board debentures instead of annual cash payments. As the proposal stands it prepares for one of the most gigantic experiments in transport control in the world; and its development, either to success, or to failure, will be of extraordinary interest and instructive value.