Cheap Trains Act 1883
Encyclopedia
The Cheap Trains Act 1883 marked the beginning of worker's train (and later, bus) services. It removed the passenger duty on any train charging less than a penny (1d, ½p) a mile and obliged the railway companies to operate a larger number of cheap trains.

Origin

The Railway Regulation Act 1844
Railway Regulation Act 1844
The Railway Regulation Act 1844 was a British Act of Parliament introduced as a means of providing a minimum standard for rail passenger travel.-The prior situation:...

 had established the provision of third class coaches on what became known as Parliamentary train
Parliamentary train
A Parliamentary train or Parly is, nowadays, a British English term for a train that operates a Parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station, thus maintaining a legal fiction that either the station or, in some cases, the whole line is open, although in reality the...

s. This included the right of passengers in this class to take up to 56 lb (25.4 kg) of luggage with them, so facilitating travel in search of work. In return the railways were exempted from paying duty on these passengers.

The duty was collected by the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...

 and gradually, as services improved, the Board allowed more and more exemptions, even on trains which did not stop at all stations, as required by the Act. However as the duty collected rose to around £500,000 in the 1860s, the Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...

 took an interest. A test case in 1874 against the North London Railway
North London Railway
The North London Railway was a railway company that opened lines connecting the north of London to the East and West India Docks. The main east to west route is now part the North London Line. Other lines operated by the company fell into disuse, but were later revived as part of the Docklands...

 confirmed that trains must stop at all stations for the duty to be remitted.

This duty had always been irksome to the railway operators, who felt that it hindered their development. The railway operators formed the Passenger Duty Repeal Association in 1874, followed in 1877 by another group,the Travelling Tax Abolition Committee. Between them they lobbied for the complete abolition of the duty. As is usual in these cases, the government would not agree without some quid pro quo
Quid pro quo
Quid pro quo most often means a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favour for a favour" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "give and take", "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back,...

.

The Act

This period was one of extreme overcrowding in the major cities. It was a major political issue and one solution sought by the authorities was to encourage working people to move to new housing outside the cities. However this implied the availability of cheap transport, for even a penny a mile was beyond most people's reach.

The Act applied to all trains charging less than a penny a mile, even those that did not stop at all stations. The Board of Trade could decide whether a company's services were adequate and reasonably priced. If it felt otherwise it could remove the company's exemption on all its services.

Its effect

Some railways in London were already operating workmen's trains although they were often overcrowded and inconveniently timed. Although the Act was opposed by some railway officers, notably Sir Edward Watkin
Edward Watkin
Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet was an English railway chairman and politician.- Biography :Watkin was born in Salford, Lancashire, the son of a wealthy cotton merchant, Absalom Watkin who was noted for his involvement in the Anti-corn Law League.After a private education, he returned to...

 of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.-Origin:...

, the number of cheap suburban services increased greatly. During the 20th century the appearance of competing road services meant that the railways were forced to reduce their fares. So few services attracted duty that it was abolished in the Finance Act 1929.

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