ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an account of the origins and early development of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). It deals with the demographic, industrial, geographic and organizational background. As early as 1935 Frank Pick, in his role as vice-chairman of the LPTB, was issuing a warning about the growth of motoring. While Ashfield was engaged in convincing his shareholders that the creation of the LPTB was in their interests, Morrison set about persuading the sceptics among his Labour Party colleagues to accept the idea of a public corporation to run London’s transport. In the event Morrison’s bill for the establishment of the LPTB was not published until March 1931. The London Passenger Transport Act, 1933, gave the LPTB a monopoly over road passenger transport within an area of 1,550 square miles and a total area of operation of some 2,000 square miles.
