London Transport Executive (GLC)

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The London Transport Executive was the executive agency of the Greater London Council , which was responsible for the local public transport in London and the surrounding area from 1970 to 1984 . Like all traffic authorities in the years 1933 to 2000 it appeared under the brand name London Transport . She is not to be confused with the London Transport Executive from 1948 to 1962.

history

The Transport (London) Act 1968 brought about the formation of the state-owned National Bus Company (NBC), which took up many non-urban bus operations in Great Britain and thereby placed them under state control. The Transport (London) Act 1969 created a new subsidiary of NBC for the bus routes in the rural outskirts of London ("London Country") and the Green Line express bus routes, which from January 1, 1970 as London Country Bus Services (LCBS) outsourced the green buses and their depots from the London Transport Board (LTB). London's red urban buses and the Tube came under the control of the Greater London Council (GLC) as the new London Transport Executive on the same date .

At the end of 1970, London Transport had 60,192 employees, of which 27,966 in the bus sector, 11,041 in the rail sector, 19,458 in the workshop area and 1,727 in general management. There were 71 bus depots with a total of 6428 buses, of which 1180 one-man cars, 4423 subway cars, 22 depots and railway workshops, 246 stations with 235  escalators and 83  lifts .

At the end of the 1970s, the London Transport Executive consisted of the main department, as well as the three departments bus, rail and property / asset and real estate management.

At the end of 1982 London Transport had 58,072 employees, of which 29,965 at London Buses (including the workshop), 23,706 in the rail sector (of which 12,185 in the workshop area) and 4,401 in administration and management. There were a total of 6205 buses, of which 5596 double-deckers, 4069 subway cars, 21 depots and railway workshops, 266 stations (of which 247 under own management) with 272 escalators and 70 lifts.

Leyland Titan, used from 1979

Bus transport

The one-man buses envisaged according to the reshaping plan , increasingly also as monoplane, were ordered from the British commercial vehicle industry and fitted with bodies designed for London purposes. These “off the shelf” buses caused great problems for the London Transport Executive because they did not meet the requirements of the demanding London operations. The problems that prevailed at the time with the British automobile manufacturers resulted in a shortage of spare parts. Therefore, from the beginning to the middle of the 1970s, rows of buses had to be parked inoperable. In addition, there were further problems due to a lack of staff and the increase in private transport . In 1974 and 1975, 15% of the planned mileage was not driven. 15–30 percent of the services (driver, conductor, workshop) could not be filled. The shortage of staff was countered with increased recruitment and better wages, but the effects did not begin to take effect until 1975. The response to the effects of traffic jams was increased by setting up bus lanes . Longer use of older buses helped to reduce the shortage of vehicles. Because of the problems of British commercial vehicle manufacturers, buses with Swedish chassis (Metro Scania , Code MD) were acquired for the first time . Other new buses in large numbers came from Leyland (single decker Leyland National = LS, double decker Leyland Titan = T) and Metro-Cammell-Weymann (double decker MCW Metrobus = M). There were again delivery problems with the double-deckers, so that larger numbers of them could not be used until 1979.

The previously centrally managed bus division was given a new management structure in 1979: It was divided into eight locally managed “districts”, each with seven to ten garages (bus depots and depot), spread across the London area. The district managers were able to adapt operations to the local conditions. With the help of an operations manager and a technical manager, the district managers were responsible for the deployment of buses and staff in the seven to ten bus depots in the district.

The eight districts whose buses operated under the common brand name London Buses were:

  • Abbey District, London NW1
  • Watling District, London NW2
  • Leaside District, London N4
  • Tower District, London EC4
  • Forest District, Ilford, Essex
  • South East London & Kent = SELKENT District, London SE5
  • Wandle District, Mitcham (Surrey)
  • Cardinal District, London W5

Subway

In the area of ​​the railway department, four subway departments were created to operate two subway companies each:

In addition to the responsibility for daily use, maintenance was also organized. The Victoria Line and the western part of the Jubilee Line were completed during the time of the London Transport Executive.

literature

  • John R. Day, John Reed: The Story of London's Underground , 10th Edition. Capital Transport, Harrow 2008, ISBN 978-1-85414-316-7 (English)
  • Oliver Green, John Reed: The London Transport Golden Jubilee Book (1933–1983) . The Daily Telegraph, London 1983, ISBN 0-901684-96-1 (English)
  • Michael HC Baker: London Transport since 1963 , Ian Allan Transport Library, Shepperton 1997, ISBN 0-7110-2481-2 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Reed: London Buses . Capital Transport, Harrow Weald 2000, ISBN 185414-233-X , p. 62
  2. ^ Eight new Districts in the reorganizations of London Buses . In: London Transport Report Extra supplement to the Annual Report and Accounts for year ended 31 December 1979 , London Transport Executive, London SW1, 1980, ISSN  0308-1605
  3. ^ Underground reorganization . In: London Transport Report Extra , supplement to the Annual Report and Accounts for year ended 31 December 1980 . London Transport Executive, London SW1, 1981, ISSN  0308-1605