Bus Reshaping Plan

The Bus Reshaping Plan of 1966 was a plan devised by the London Transport Board for the reorganisation of bus routes in London, England. The main features of the plan, which was to be rolled out over ten to fifteen years, were:

The plan began to be implemented in September 1968, but immediately proved problematic: the public disliked the changes, the new vehicles - "Merlin"s - were found to be unsuitable, and it was difficult to find available land for the proposed suburban transport interchanges. By 1973 the plan had effectively been abandoned, with a decision to retain crew operation and to dispose of the Merlins.

By the early 1950s the London Transport Executive was experiencing difficulty in providing bus services in the capital. The reliability of services was declining as an increase in private motor traffic was causing congestion. At the same time, industrial relations in the organisation were poor, and the retention and recruitment of staff was difficult. The issue of London's public transport had become one of interest to national politicians, and two committees of inquiry had been appointed to investigate the matter. The Chambers Committee, chaired by S P Chambers, deputy chairman of ICI was appointed by the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Alan Lennox-Boyd in April 1953. The emphasis of the committee's work was to find ways of reducing costs "with a view to ascertaining what practical measures can be taken... in order to secure greater efficiency or economy". The committee delivered its report in February 1955, and recommended only limited changes to bus services. The London Transport Executive had forcefully made the case for the wholesale introduction of one man operation, but the committee rejected this option. Indeed, they felt that it would be impractical in much of central London, and would in fact lead to serious delays and a reduction in service efficiency. Instead they suggested that only some routes in the Country Area should be converted to OMO. Flat Fares were also examined, but were felt to be inappropriate in most areas of London. One idea explored by the committee was the "Wheel Plan", suggested by the Greater London Chambers of Commerce. This would divide bus services in London into two groups: radial services in the suburbs, terminating at the edge of the central area; and a separate system of central London bus routes. Passengers moving from the radial services to the central routes would be required to change buses at a number of interchanges at the edge of the central area. The committee found that the Wheel Plan did not reflect the actual traffic patterns, and that it would cause unnecessary hardship and expense to passengers. One innovation that the committee did suggest was the provision of special services in peak hours where there were very heavy traffic flows such as to and from the mainline railway termini. Dedicated "standee" vehicles would be used, which would have a much higher passenger capacity than conventional seated buses.

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