The London Transport Board (LTB) was established on 1 January 1963 pursuant to the
Transport Act 1962 and replaced the
London Transport Executive (LTE) upon the dissolution of the
British Transport Commission. It was an independent statutory undertaking reporting directly to the
Minister of Transport, whose responsibilities were similar to those of the LTE, but with the addition of some railway lines previously the responsibility of
British Railways. The first Chairman was
Alexander Valentine, who had been the Chairman of the LTE. The LTB was responsible for the
London Underground and for bus and coach services within the
London Passenger Transport Area, an area with a radius of about 30 miles from
Charing Cross established when the
London Passenger Transport Board was formed in 1933. Services were generally maintained and not cut as elsewhere in the country, as train services were under the
Beeching cuts. The board was responsible for the
Bus Reshaping Plan in 1966, a comprehensive programme of changes to bus services. By 1970 the roads in London had become so congested that the
Greater London Development Plan included in its scope policy to reduce dependence on the car. On 1 January 1970 responsibility for public transport within Greater London passed to the
Greater London Council (GLC) under the
Transport (London) Act 1969, with the
London Transport brand retained by the GLC. Bus services outside the GLC area and
Green Line Coaches were passed to a new company,
London Country Bus Services, formed on 1 January 1970 as a subsidiary of the
National Bus Company. ==Notes==