Ralph Bennett

Ralph Featherstone Bennett FIMechE, FCILT, FRSA (3 December 1923 – 10 November 2015) was a British transport administrator who was general manager of Manchester City Transport from 1965 to 1968 and chairman of the London Transport Executive from 1978 to 1980. Bennett introduced one-man operation to buses in Manchester and London and promoted London Underground's extension of the Piccadilly line to Heathrow Airport and the construction of the Jubilee line.

Bennett was born in Plymouth, Devon on 3 December 1923. After an education at Plympton Grammar School and Plymouth Technical College, he joined Plymouth City Council's Transport Department as an articled clerk in 1940. From 1955 to 1958 he was deputy general manager of transport in Plymouth before becoming general manager of transport in Great Yarmouth (1958–60), Bolton (1960–65) and Manchester (1965–68).

When at Manchester, he changed the name of the Manchester Corporation Transport Department to Manchester City Transport and ended trolley bus operations in 1966. He introduced one-man operation on buses for the first time in 1966, commissioning the Mancunian double-decker bus for this purpose and reforming the fare collection system.

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