The motorway age (1955–79) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 88

dropped and new strategies based on car restraint and public transport promotion were
put forward as alternatives to road building.
5.8 Maintaining socially necessary services
Alongside the emergence of concern about the environmental impacts of transport
was a growing recognition of its social significance. Initially questions of 'hardship' or
'social need' arose in the context of the withdrawal of bus and train services in rural
areas. Soon however the debate widened to consider the role of public transport in
catering for the needs of all those who did not have access to a car and for whom the
road-building orientation of national and local policies offered nothing.
As far as railways were concerned the target of breaking even financially which
had been set by the Conservatives in 1962 was abandoned. In its place Labour's 1968
Transport Act introduced a system of grants to pay for the retention of individual
services, substituted a few years later by a single Public Service Obligation (PSO)
grant in 1974. Payment was conditional on maintaining a pattern of services in broadly
the form in which they were then operated. By the time the rail passenger network
was stabilised in this way it had been reduced by about 40% from the one 20 years
previously.
In relation to bus services the financial position of companies began to deteriorate
in the 1960s as car ownership increased rapidly. Without expensive infrastructure
to maintain, the response of operators was more incremental and less politically
contentious than on the railways. Nevertheless rural areas were badly affected since
services were sparse anyway and the reduction of bus frequencies often coincided with
a loss of local facilities, thus compounding the accessibility problems of people without
the use of cars.
Unlike rail services there was no public inquiry in the case of complete withdrawal
of a bus service and no consideration of alternative facilities for people who would
experience hardship. Service changes and fare increases required the approval of
Traffic Commissioners but, whilst they and operators sought to minimise the effects of
economy measures, the overall direction of change was unavoidable.
Following examination of the issue by the Jack Committee (MOT 1961) the 1968
Transport Act gave local authorities powers to make revenue support payments to
operators for bus services in rural areas and government grants were available to assist
with this. A more comprehensive treatment of the issue of socially necessary bus
services outside London and the conurbations followed as part of local government
re-organisation in 1974. County Councils were given responsibility for promoting the
provision of a co-ordinated and efficient system of public passenger transport generally.
Both capital investment and revenue support payments could be made to assist with
these policies.
Local authorities' response to the possibility of supporting bus services was highly
variable. Not only was there political resistance to the idea in some counties but
professionally too the new responsibilities did not sit well within county surveyors'
departments traditionally dominated by road building. (A separate 'sub-profession'
- the Association of Transport Officers (ATCO) - was formed at this time by the
officers involved.) The Government attempted to strengthen arrangements in 1978
by requiring county councils to prepare a five-year Public Transport Plan including
an assessment of needs in rural areas. However solutions were intractable since in
essence transport was being asked to make good 'deficiencies' in the availability of