1970 Report confirms public transport decline
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• In the years 1960-1970 passenger journeys by public road transport decreased by a third, according to a report published by the Department of the Environment — Passenger Transport in Great Britain 1970.
Over the same period the use of private transport rose by more than one-third — from 56 per cent to 77 per cent of all passenger mileage.
The report gives trends and statistics relating to domestic travel by air, road and rail, and the decline in the use of public transport is attributed in it to the greater popularity of the family car. In 1970, there were 12,684,000 private vehicles in Britain, and more than 50 per cent of all households are estimated to have had the regular use of a ear.
Although further closures by British Railways in 1970 resulted in a reduction of route mileage, the number of passenger journeys increased by 16 million. to 821m. BR carried nine per cent of all passenger transport, public road transport 13 per cent.
Passenger Transport in Great Britain 1970 is -available now from HMSO, price 55p.