ABSTRACT
Although in the period 1760-1830 coaches offered an increasing variety of types of passenger transport, trading celerity against cost, their use was restricted to affluent passengersbusinessmen, gentry, and the professions-and small, high-value goods, as prices per mile were high and space restricted. At the top of the range, mail coaches concentrated on reducing their journey times, as shown in Maps 5.3 and 5.4, but this meant higher cost, as horses had to be changed more often and rested longer. Some improvements in road construction, such as graded surfaces leading to greater wear-resistance and faster drainage as advocated by inter alia
Macadam and Telford, the turnpike trusts, and better coach design made for more rapid and safer transit. However, the lack of any economies of scale made coaches unsuitable for large-scale goods transport and most important in the carriage of samples and packages, the diffusion of ideas, fashions, and news, and in servicing an upper-crust leisure industry as the wealthy travelled to spas and
fashionable resorts such as Bath or Brighton. Coach travel was more important in moving ideas and information than cargo.
