Old and new ways of public transport in London
“What a comfortable way of travelling!” Sir James thought when he fell into his cushions in the horse-drawn carriage and looked out into the pouring rain. Sir James still
remembered the days when his journeys led him through foul-smelling London
streets and he had to appear at the Royal Court with dirty boots and trousers. Then
only rich noblemen travelled through London by horse, and Sir James himself had
always hated to be on a horseback. He looked out at the Thames. The other bank
could hardly be seen and he was very happy that he never had to cross that river.
One of his neighbours had died in the river two years ago: It had been a foggy day,
when two boats crashed and his neighbour fell into the freezing water and drowned.
Walking and riding
Public transport already started in Roman times, when Aulus Plautius built the first
bridge in 43 AD to get his troops across the river Thames. To be honest, transport
was mainly limited to goods that were transported on the Thames by boat. People,
who wanted to get around in town had to walk; only rich people had horse-drawn carriages and for many centuries transport on boat was the quickest form of public
transport in London.
Horse-drawn buses and trams
In the early nineteenth century London developed fast, soon counted 6.5 Mio inhabitants and covered a large area on both sides of the river Thames. If people wanted to
cross the river they took little boats called ‘wherries’ until paddle steamers were used
instead. ‘Wherries’ were rowed by watermen across the Thames. It was a dangerous
journey that most people didn’t like very much, because then only few people could
swim.
In the streets of London people still got around on foot, in horse-drawn carriages or
on horseback until George Shillibeer started the first ‘hail and ride’ bus service in
1829 that could be used by everyone. These buses were drawn by horses, and only
forty years later horse-drawn trams were used as well. The trams were cheap, which
made working-class people happy: Just like the rich, now they didn’t have to walk
everywhere anymore.
Railways and undergrounds
In Victorian London many railway stations were built to connect the city to other
towns. Public transport now consisted of horse-drawn buses, trams and railways,
many people also used carriages, went on horseback or just walked. So there were
often traffic jams in the streets and everybody knew that something had to change.
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In 1863 the first underground railway in London was finished, it went from Paddington
to Farringdon Road. The first underground did not travel invisibly through tunnels, but
there were ditches next to the streets that were covered with roofs, and if an underground passed, it was loud and the locomotives left much smoke in the streets.
Now there was less traffic in the streets, but something had to be done against the
noise and the smoke. The engineers thought a lot until the first underground line
through tunnels could be built in 1890: This ‘City & South London Railway’ had safe
tunnels through London, a way to move passengers up and down to the underground
stations and a clean alternative to steam power.
Although London had a modern underground system in 1900, almost every vehicle
on London’s streets was still horse-drawn: More than 300,000 horses were necessary to move private carriages, buses, trams and delivery vans through the streets.
Motors and electricity
Only 15 years later the picture had changed completely: Horse-buses and horsedrawn carriages disappeared completely, when motor taxis and electric trams were
invented. Public transport became more efficient, but also much more dangerous.
Fatal road accidents happened seven times more often than in 1900, so from 1934
drivers had to pass driving tests and cars were not allowed to travel faster than 30
mph.
The ‘red Routemaster bus’ as the famous red double-decker bus is also called appeared in 1959 and was used for public transport for about twenty years. Today, only
two routes are left: They run close to the London Transport Museum along the
Strand. The black cab that started its service in 1958 is still used today, but – although its shape is almost like the original – it is quicker and more comfortable than
the old ones.
Today London has about 7.5 Mio inhabitants and more than three million passengers
a day are using the tube – a number that is still rising. Londoners can also use one of
the three tram lines, over 700 buses and more than 20.000 taxis to get around in
London, so it is no surprise that London is the first world city in which nearly 5% of its
inhabitants have switched from private cars to public transport.
Text: TexteSatt, 2008
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