Ralph Featherstone Bennett FIMechE,

FCILT The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) is a professional body representing the transport and logistics industries worldwide. It is a membership-based organisation with over 30,000 members in over 30 countries. This i ...

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(3 December 1923 – 10 November 2015) was a British transport administrator who was general manager of

Manchester City Transport The history of public transport authorities in Manchester details the various organisations that have been responsible for the public transport network in and around Manchester, England, since 1824. Timeline *On 1 January 1824, the first horse b ...

from 1965 to 1968 and chairman of the

London Transport Executive The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in Greater London, England between 1948 and 1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of ...

from 1978 to 1980. Bennett introduced

one-man operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus ...

to buses in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and promoted

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

's extension of the Piccadilly line to Heathrow Airport and the construction of the

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some sect ...

Career

Bennett was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

on 3 December 1923. After an education at

Plympton Grammar School Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Pl ...

and Plymouth Technical College, he joined

Plymouth City Council Plymouth City Council is the unitary authority for Plymouth, Devon. It has traditionally been controlled by Labour or the Conservatives. The council is currently in a state of no overall control, with the Conservatives governing as a minority a ...

's Transport Department as an

articled clerk Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two years, but previously three ...

in 1940. From 1955 to 1958 he was deputy general manager of transport in Plymouth before becoming general manager of transport in

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of ...

(1958–60),

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

(1960–65) and

(1965–68). When at Manchester, he changed the name of the Manchester Corporation Transport Department to

and ended

trolley bus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

operations in 1966. He introduced

on buses for the first time in 1966, commissioning the Mancunian double-decker bus for this purpose and reforming the fare collection system. In 1968, Bennett joined the

London Transport Board The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport (except main-line trains) in London, England, and its environs from 1963 to 1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public na ...

and served as a member of this until 1970 and then of its successor, the

(LTE), until 1980; being its deputy chairman from 1971 to 1978 and its chairman from 1978 to 1980. As in Manchester, he introduced one-man operation on buses and simplified the fare system, though he retained conductors and Routemaster buses for operations on busy central London routes. Bennett supported the

's extension of the Piccadilly line to Heathrow Airport (opened 1977) and the construction of the first section of the

(opened 1979). During Bennett's time as deputy chairman and chairman, London Transport's finances were in poor order and passenger numbers were falling. Following a controversy over managerial waste and a critical report by management consultants commissioned by the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

, that advised that the LTE's senior management lacked the skills needed to manage the organisation, Bennett was dismissed as the chairman three years before the end of his term of office.

References

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Ralph Featherstone 1923 births 2015 deaths Businesspeople from Plymouth, Devon People associated with transport in London