London's Rail Terminals and Their Suburban Traffic: A Geographical Appraisal of the Commuter Problem

Abstract

IT HE revival of interest in urban public passenger transport shown by some American cities and by the federal government has not passed unnoticed in Britain, where rising operating costs due to street congestion and to increasing concentration of traffic into the peak periods are causing concern to both bus and rail operators.' Nowhere in Britain is the situation more serious than in London. The capital's transport system is in reasonable shape. But eventually it will be necessary for the central government, at present reluctant to regard transport as a social service, to formulate some coherent policy for dealing with a situation too complex for any local government agency to handle, even if it should be willing to try.2 Several years ago the London suburban rail system received attention in this journal ;3 the present paper is an attempt to follow up some of the implications of that work.