Impact of car ownership & other travel developments 1918-79

Question 1

Road building

Answer 1

Expansion during the 1930s - growth of car ownership.
New roads cut through scenic countryside.
Major civil engineering projects result of increase - Mersey Tunnel 1934.

Question 2

Cars in wartime

Answer 2

Car production interrupted by WW2 - production lines used to build tanks and aircraft.
Placed restrictions on petrol - rationing continued until 1950.

Question 3

Growth of car ownership

Answer 3

1960s wages continued to increase - more car ownership.
By the end of the decade 2.2million cars in London alone.
1972 - 13million drivers on Britain’s roads.
Buying better, cheaper cars from overseas - Germany, Japan.
1975 - ⅓ of cars imported, ½ by 1979.
People visited further afield - 3million to National Trust 1971.

Question 4

Impact on public transport

Answer 4

Decline in train and coach journeys.
Coaches - 1952 accounted for 92bn kilometres of all journeys, fell to 63bn kilometres in 1969.
Car travel - 1952 accounted for 58bn kilometres, rose to 286bn by 1969.
Railways - half the network shut down, Beeching Axe 1963.

Question 5

Roads and motorways

Answer 5

Roads during the 1930s, motorways during the 1960s and 70s.
Improvements in transport of goods, greater mobility, less time.
Environmentalists and homeowners near motorways complained.

Question 6

International travel

Answer 6

Roll-on-roll-off ferries early 1960s.
Airline passengers grew - 1million in 1955, 14million in 1970.
Charter flights - companies cut costs, some went bankrupt.