Issues and campaigns: Transport history

Episodes and anecdotes from the history of moving around

Station Road

Station Road

I live in a village with a Station Road.
It has houses with low walls
the village hall, community library
no shops, a couple of bus stops
the Parish Council office
and a Station Drive coming off it.

Poeting for Locomotion no.1

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Watch this online event on Facebook here. Locomotion No. 1 Fundraiser – Bring it home… for good! Performing at the event: 6.00pm (BST) -6.05 – Tony Stowers (introduction about the benefit) 6.05-6.20 – Nazim Khan 6.20-6.40 – Singer of the … Read More

Bristol’s Brilliant Bus Boycott (1963)

Bristol bus boycott

Back before barring blacks became banned Bristol buses blocked brown-skinned blokes becoming buscrew But better Bristolians batted back bit the bullet and boycotted the buses Bent-backed, booted bipeds bicycled, as bitter brushes blazed between bile and benevolence Bands of brave, … Read More

How Transport Workers Beat the Colour Bar

Asquith Xavier

A version of this was published in Solidarity 568: This story of colour bars in the UK railway and bus industries begins after the Second World War, when Britain had a labour shortage and people moved to Britain in increasing numbers … Read More

Speaking on ‘colour bars’ on the railway

Log in via Zoom here Facebook event here In 1966, Asquith Xavier became the first black guard at Euston station, overturning a “colour bar” which prevented black workers from being employed in certain grades. His struggle was not the first … Read More

Llanelli 1911 Railway Strike Commemoration Rally

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On facebook live introduced and hosted by Tim Evans Cor Cochion music video Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary RMT Tosh McDonald, former President ASLEF Shavanah Taj, General Secretary Wales TUC Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS Hussein Said, Stand Up To … Read More

Plundering London Underground – speaking with the German left

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An online discussion on experiences from the resistance against the partial privatisation of the London Tube with: Janine Booth (author “Plundering London Underground: New Labour, Private Capital and Public Service”) Phil Rowan (RMT Finsbury Park International officer) The event takes … Read More

The 1919 rail strike – a reply

medal

The last issue of RMT News contained a useful pull-out on the historic 1919 railway strike. It captured some of the excitement of the action and its success in beating back pay cuts. The strikers and their supporters are heroes … Read More

1919 – Triple Alliance: Untapped Power

rail strike bulletin

Also published on the Workers’ Liberty website, here. With engineers and others taking on the employers, the time was ripe for the other bastions of industrial power – the rail workers, miners and transport workers – to join the fray. The … Read More

Public Transit Struggles in London and Toronto

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Janine Booth speaking at a meeting on Public Transit Struggles in London and Toronto in August 2015. The meeting was organised by the Socialist Project and also included speakers from Toronto-based campaigns for better public transport.

If workers ran public transport …

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Venue: Birkbeck College, London Well-resourced, accessible, safe public transport would be a key component of the infrastructure of a sustainable, rationally-run society. But capitalism is not making such a great job of it. Transport is generally inadequate, profit-driven, understaffed, and not … Read More

Speaking about London Underground PPP: World Social Forum, Tunis

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Janine will be speaking about the experience of the London Underground Public-Private Partnership at a workshop at the World Social Forum, hosted by Observatoire Tunisien de l’Economie. The workshop will bring together campaigners against PPP, and the London Underground experience is rich … Read More