Birmingham City Transport Bus Ticket

Description:Birmingham City Transport [BCT]: Serving Passengers and Rate Payers

The bus ticket was purchased by a worker at Longbridge. It has been selected to represent BCT’s obligation to run services profitably. This stemmed from 1904 when the Council began to take over in stages tram services from the privately owned City of Birmingham Tramways Co. Ltd.^{<small>1</small>} Such ‘municipalisation’ did not equate to a socialist nationalisation.^{<small>2</small>} Rather it was in the spirit of Joseph Chamberlain’s model of applying business principles to local government in order to provide effective services for the benefit of customers but doing so, crucially, without undue burden upon ratepayers.^{<small>3</small>} The objective of such trading activities was to generate profits to cover and expand operations and to contribute to the General Rate Fund. Joint ownership of electric generation and tram services in Birmingham supported this because the tram system was progressively electrified during the Edwardian period. This stimulated demand for the electric supply department at a time when industrial use was relatively low and private consumers did not provide enough demand to warrant reasonable prices.

Whilst the council had owned tramway infrastructure for many years, it was only after 1903 that it could effectively direct transport policy in support of its wider plans.^{<small>4</small>} Suburban growth was assisted by strategic tramway extensions, for instance along the Bristol Road where housing developments occurred at Northfield, Rednal and Rubery. Many were entrepreneurial speculations that resulted in ribbon developments, with countless ‘Jazz Age’ houses sporting ‘appliquéd Tudor beams and sunburst gates’.^{<small>5</small>} In contrast, council built estates were commonly located some distance from tramways where land was cheaper and where larger tracts could be obtained for the integrated designs favoured by planners. Estates such as Weoley Castle suffered as a result of this segregation from existing transport links.^{<small>6</small>}

A dilemma arose where BCT provided effective services to private residents via its tramway, but often did not offer comparable services to council tenants. When assessing tramway extensions, BCT had to consider capital outlay and likely returns. For the Bristol Road tramway, extensions to Rednal and Rubery could be serviced within the operating patterns already serving the major traffic generator at Austin’s factory and full commercial fares could be supported because of the growing private residential population. Conversely, potential extensions into Allen’s Cross and Weoley Castle would pose operating challenges because the population of these areas was less affluent.^{<small>7</small>}

The alternative was to run motor-buses into the estates, but BCT had to ensure that such services did not take revenue away from the tramway.^{<small>8</small>} Caution was therefore exercised, often prompting complaints over delays to service introductions. Weoley Castle was constructed from 1931 and complaints quickly emerged about the lack of transport links for workers and residents.^{<small>9</small>} BCT introduced bus route 20 in October 1932, linking the estate to the tramway at Selly Oak. Complaints continued as residents wanted a direct link to Birmingham and this was finally introduced in 1935.^{<small>10</small>} Even then, the tramway’s interests were protected, as the bus route did not run along the Bristol Road for any great distance. Instead it was routed through Harborne, providing useful links for another new council estate at California and offering a replacement service for the Harborne Railway whose regular passenger services had ended in November 1934.^{<small>11</small>}

BCT’s operations consistently supported the General Rate Fund, but it struggled to meet the needs of all potential customers. Such tensions remain with transport policy today, as do concerns over funding decisions that impact on socially essential but commercially marginal bus services, including evening and Sunday operations.


<font color="#666633"><small>¹ P. Collins, Birmingham Corporation Transport 1904–1939 (1999), p.18
² The Labour Party’s constitution of 1918 called for the common ownership of the means of production and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of industries and service. This was amended in 1929 to include common ownership of the means of distribution and exchange and underpinned the post-war nationalisation of road, rail and inland water transport. See G. Jenkins, ‘Subordinate Clause’, Socialist Review, no.180 (November 1994)
³ Such business principles included large scale borrowing, takeovers of commercial utilities and long-term planning. Water supply and gas generation had previously been taken over by the City Council, an electricity supply was municipalised in 1900, with the first tram services being operated from 1904. See C. Upton, A History of Birmingham (1993), pp.150-152. For details of municipalisation, see History of the Corporation of Birmingham vols. 1 & 2 by J. Bunce (1878 & 1885), vols. 3 & 4 by C. Vince (1902 & 1923)
⁴ The Birmingham Corporation Act (1903) gave the council powers to directly operate tram services.
⁵ Ronald Blythe’s description of suburban south-western Essex, in his Introduction to ‘East Anglia’ in The New Shell Guide to England (Second Edition) edited by John Hadfield (1981), p.354
⁶ Allen’s Cross and Weoley Castle both lay to the west of the Bristol Road tramway, but a part of Allen’s Cross was in reasonable proximity to the tramway - at least for the young and fit. Other council estates also suffered from transport isolation, such as Billesley and the Pineapple estate that lay between King’s Heath and Stirchley.
⁷ Private residents chose to reside in specific areas and factored travel costs and opportunities into their decisions. Many council tenants were re-housed, often without direct input and with little consideration given for their travel needs for employment, kinship ties, etc.
⁸ BCT first commenced bus services in 1913, linking Selly Park with Northfield and Longbridge in advance of the Bristol Road tramway being extended.
⁹ M. Hunkin’s research with the Suburban Birmingham project has highlighted such concerns, frequently expressed through the <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1409">Weoley Castle Review</a>. Services only commenced in October 1932. Similar experiences were encountered by residents who moved into Billesley. See C. Chinn, Homes for People: Council housing and Urban Renewal in Birmingham 1849–1999 (1999)
¹⁰ Collins, pp.91 & 97
¹¹ M. Hitches, Birmingham Railways in Old Photographs (1992), p.27</small></font>