Car ownership increased rapidly throughout Great Britain in the 1980's before levelling off in the early 90's, several years after the deregulation of public transport. While automobile growth increased at about the same rate in Greater London, Great Britain and the English Mets (large cities other than London) in the 1980's, London and the English Mets both experienced a slight decline beginning around 1991.

Source: London Transport Travel Market, Digest of Statistics, page 23.

The twelve years between 1970 and 1982 were marked by a steady decline in ridership of London buses. Patronage declined so quickly that few believed public transport in the United Kingdom had any future.

Source: London Transport Travel Market, Digest of Statistics 1993-94, page 3.

Recently, London Transport has seen a dramatic turnaround in both costs and ridership. This corresponds with the deregulation that occurred in 1994-95. In 1994, knowing it was going to be deregulated, London Transport got its costs under control. Because of improved service, ridership also began to increase significantly for the first time in decades. Because subsidies are no longer required, taxpayers who do not use London Transport benefit as well.

Source: Transport Report 1995 (Department of Transport), pages 32-33.

Road traffic grew steadily throughout the 80's, but levelled off around 1989. In 1994, traffic growth resumed, but at a lower rate than before. Traffic has increased over 40% since 1983 and is still increasing at 2% a year, fast enough to double every 36 years.

Source: Transport Report 1995 (Department of Transport), page 16.

Since 1991, the costs per train kilometre of the London Underground have substantially decreased. The decrease has been most drastic since 1993, in a run up to a possible privatisation plan.

Source: Department of Transport, http://www.open.gov.uk/dot/ann_rpt/figure16.htm

After deregulation, the downward trend in ridership continued for several years. However, bus mileage, and therefore service, greatly increased. Public transport has been the most successful in London, where mileage increased the most and ridership stayed steady.

Source: The London Transport Travel Market, Digest of Statistics, page 23.

Three major pollutants produced by road vehicles are essential ingredients of smog, one of the most notorious pollution problems in cities. Automobiles cause ten times as much air pollution as public transport.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are key ingredients of acid rain. Road transport accounted for 51% of these emissions in 1992. After a long period of rapid increase of emission levels, the government required all new cars to have catalytic converters, which reduce emissions by 70%. Emissions have fallen steadily since.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are mainly hydrocarbons, which can be dangerous to the health and cause smog. 37% of emissions came from road transport in 1992. Catalytic converters and evaporative emission control systems reduce emissions. Both have been required in all cars since the end of 1992.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is unhealthy, and it contributes to global warming and smog. Road transport is the main polluter, accounting for 90% of all emissions. Catalytic converters have been able to reduce the emissions significantly.

Source: Transport Report 1995 (Department of Transport), page 18.

Over the last forty years, the car has become the main form of land transport in Britain, accounting for just over 40% of passenger miles travelled in 1953 and just over 90% in 1993. The automobile accounts for all the increased travel over that period. Meanwhile, both rail and bus mileage has declined even while total passenger miles have grown rapidly; in 1993 they accounted for less than 10% of passenger miles travelled.

Source: Transport Report 1995 (Department of Transport), page 15.

Following privatisation, the British rail industry in listening more to customer demand. For example, a new call centre opened in 1996 in Cardiff is six times as large as its predecessor and can take 1000 customer calls an hour. Consequently, customer complaints are significantly down in all areas, and especially with regards to the reliability of service.

Source: Department of Transport Press Release, 4/12/96

Over the past 24 years, patronage of the London Underground has been varied. A decline in the 70's followed by a recovery in the 80's, helped by the introduction of a new pass sytem and zonal fares. The ridership again began to decline in the early 90's, because of a recession and increasing fares, so that patronage in 1994 was only slightly above patronage in 1970.

Source: London Transprot Travel Market, Digest of Statistics, 1993-94

Lead is generally thought to be unhealthy, especially for children. The maximum legal amount of lead in petrol was reduced first in 1981 and again in 1985, and duties on unleaded petrol have been kept abnormally high since 1987. In 1990, a new law required all new cars to be able to run on unleaded petrol, and today all new cars with catalytic converters must use unleaded petrol. As a result of these measures, lead emissions have steadily and rapidly decreased. Unleaded petrol controlled 54% of the market in 1992, up from nil in 1987.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas. Road transport accounts for only 19% of all emissions, but emissions have risen steadily and the only known way to reduce them is through less fuel consumption.

Black smoke, caused by leftover fossil fuels that have not been fully combusted, produces a tiny particulate which is harmful to the lungs. Since it is caused primarily by accelerating Diesel engines of buses and other large vehicles, emissions increased substantially with bus mileage after deregulation in 1985. Road transport accounts for 47% of all emissions

Source: Transport Report (Department of Transport), page 18.

These travel statistics for London illustrate the importance of travel time to the success of public transport. The graph shows the average time for longer journeys, averaging 6.5 miles, to Central London and to Outer London from any part of Outer London. In trips to Central London, London Transport (LT) is competitive and considerably faster (64 as opposed to 73 minutes) at rush hour. As a result a majority of Londoners take it to the city centre. However, in journeys within Outer London, an average 6.5 mile trip takes almost twice as long on public transport as in a car. While public transit accounts for 75% of trips to Central London, it accounts for only 43% of journeys in the city as a whole.

Sources: Department of Transport Press Releases, 24/10/96 an 28/3/96.

Contrary to the expectations of many critics, safety on the rails after privatisation has improved dramatically in many categories. Fatalities and significant accidents dropped by almost a third, and accidents per mile travelled decreased by almost 40%. Incidents causing alarms also dropped, though not as dramatically. Operators have a financial interest to meet or exceed all safety standards; few passengers would consider riding a train if they felt unsafe.

Department of Transport Press Release, 5/12/96

Complaints about punctuality on the rails have dropped significantly as the punctuality of the new franchises improved in the first year of privatisation by an average of 18%. While 11.1% of trains were late in 1995, only 9.1% of trains were late in 1996. The only company that did not improve, Chiltern Rail, nevertheless has an excellent record on punctuality, a mere 6.7% of the trains being late. The private companies on average easily met the government standard of 10%, which cannot be said of the government itself, which operated the majority of trains a year earlier.

Source: Department of Transport Press Release, 19/11/96.