As many will know the period from 1979-1997 in the UK saw an emphasis on privatising state owned enterprises - transport being one of the more contentious areas. Prior to the 1980's London's passenger transport was provided by mainly 2 operations, the national railway - British Rail and London Transport; the board in charge of public passenger transport in Greater London since 1933. The privatisation policies endorsed and performed by the Thatcher-Major Conservative governments saw all public operated transport moved to a system where a number of large, mainly private bus companies took responsibility for parts of London's bus network. In the mid 1990's the breakup of British Rail saw all routes contracted out to a number of similar companies. Both British Rail and London Transport do not exists today. Two umberella brands exist in their place to bring together the services of all the companies and to sort out the many teething problems experienced, particularly since the privatisation of British Rail. National Rail provides the umberalla for the passenger rail services throughout the rest of Britain while Transport for London provides the umberella for all Tube, Surface Rail, Bus and Croydon Tram services throughout Greater London. While privatisation has brought some benefits in better quality of trains and customer service, it has still not been the success that was hoped particularly in light of increased fares, reduced services on some routes, overcrowding and a spate of significant accidents such as the Potter's Bar accident in 2002.
The jewel in the crown of London's Transport system is of course the Tube, operated by London Underground Limited. Comprising 4 sub-surface, 7 deep level tube lines and the Docklands Light Rail, the Tube was the worlds first underground railway. The Metropolitan Line being the first opened and operated by specially modified steam locomotives from 1863. When electrification became the standard source of power in the early 1900's, most of the low level tube lines in Central London were constructed at around that time. The Victoria and Jubilee lines are the only two completely new routes contstructed in the second half of the 20th century. Often crampt, crowded and in summer extremely stuffy, the tube makes getting around London simple and is the benchmark for which cities around the world attempt to imitate.
The collection of photographs below include shots of the famous Routemaster rear platform entry buses in their final weeks of operation. The famous red buses operated from the 1950's until December 8, 2005 on the final route 159 from Marble Arch to Streatham in South London.
A visit to the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden is highly recommended, however it is currently closed for rennovations until late 2007. In the interim, A visit to the Museum Depot at Acton Town is also very worthwhile.
Photo Gallery