Public passenger transport in inter-war Britain: the Southern Railway’s response to bus competition, 1923-39

Scholarly criticisms of the quality of British railway management between the
world wars have focused partly on the allegedly inept reaction to the threat of bus
competition. By contrast this thesis shows that the Southern Railway (SR) developed
policies and practices with regard to the bus industry that were rational and broadly
successful given the legal, political and economic circumstances.
The SR was probably atypical of the four major inter-war railways. Because of
the social and economic geography of the areas it served, it suffered less from bus
competition and a smaller decline in receipts from passenger trains. Nevertheless
in common with the rest of the industry, management action was greatly hampered
in the 1920s by political opposition to direct bus operation. A key finding is that
legislation in 1928 had the unintended effect of determining that the railways instead
entered into partnerships with bus companies. In the SR’s case this policy produced
considerably greater returns on capital than historians have hitherto thought.
The SR influenced rather than controlled its associated bus companies, allowing them
considerable commercial freedom. Even so the SR was largely able to shape network
development to its advantage and to introduce measures, such as through ticketing,
that were seen by contemporaries as key elements in reducing public-transport
competition and thus enhancing consumer benefits. However, in practice such
measures probably proved more advantageous to the company than its passengers.
In sum the SR’s policies and practices in relation to bus competition were much more
adroit than scholars have previously allowed. This study cannot demonstrate that the
quality of the SR’s management was equally good across the company’s multi-faceted
business. Nevertheless in this limited sphere, the SR achieved the most advantageous
result possible, an outcome reflecting considerable credit on its managers.