Cycling in the 1940s/1950s

[thirdcrank]

I think the cultural change happened very rapidly - between 1965 and 1975. ...

That seems just about right to me. My dear old dad who still had a driving licence from his WWII days bought a Mini Clubman (C reg with the C on the end.) He was worried that he might find the conversion from a three ton truck to such a tiny car hard so he had me learning too.

There were all sorts of developments around that time - Beeching cutting the railways, the start of the motorway programme - which both facilitated and reflected the changes in travel modes. I'd say a there were a couple of things that really influenced increasing car ownership. One was increasing mass-production of cars which brought down the relative price of the "family" car. Another was the increase in the availability of consumer credit and a new willingness to use it.

There were quite a lot of car owners in those days who had no need for a car in their daily lives and only made leisure trips: that's the origin of the insult "Sunday driver."

[MikeF]

Inflation also started too rise in the late 60's which ironically effectively reduced the cost of goods bought outright or even on hire purchase.

[thirdcrank]

Another factor in increased car use was the "company car." Once upon a time, the only working people who would have had a car provided would have been people seen as essential users, such as rep's. The term "traveller" had a completely different meaning then as compared with today. Things provided as a part of the job "tools of the trade" whatever, have traditionally received favourable tax treatment and providing a car was increasingly seen as a good wheeze to pay people more, whether or not they needed a car to do their job. A company car became a status symbol, having a job which came with a car and the posher the better suggested a more important job. That's in addition to the firm taking all the worries of depreciation etc.

[Cyril Haearn]

I think the cultural change happened very rapidly - between 1965 and 1975. ...

That seems just about right to me. My dear old dad who still had a driving licence from his WWII days bought a Mini Clubman (C reg with the C on the end.) He was worried that he might find the conversion from a three ton truck to such a tiny car hard so he had me learning too.

There were all sorts of developments around that time - Beeching cutting the railways, the start of the motorway programme - which both facilitated and reflected the changes in travel modes. I'd say a there were a couple of things that really influenced increasing car ownership. One was increasing mass-production of cars which brought down the relative price of the "family" car. Another was the increase in the availability of consumer credit and a new willingness to use it.

There were quite a lot of car owners in those days who had no need for a car in their daily lives and only made leisure trips: that's the origin of the insult "Sunday driver."

Insult? That is a compliment!

[pga]

I was born in 1936 so I have seen the changes over the years. During the war everyone cycled or took the bus. The decade after the war saw cycling at its peak with quiet roads and club cycling at its peak. Cycling to work remained popular in many areas up to the late 1960's. See the 1968 Census figures for towns like Hull,Cambridge Oxford,March etc. Increasing wealth from full employment led to increasing car use and transport planning saw driving as the only way. Politicians, transport planners and even the CTC have a lot to answer for their failure to see where all this would lead to. Typically, Transport Minister Ernie Marples, who did nothing to help cyclists, was a lifelong CTC
member.

Other European countries faced the same challenges from the motor industry and some recognised the dangers far quicker than we did Only time will tell if things will ever really improve for cycling to the stage when children will be able to ride anywhere on the roads from an early age, as I and my generation did.

[thirdcrank]

I think it's important to recognise that there can be some attraction to owning a car even if you have no rational need to do so.

In 1983 - quite a long time ago but nearer to the time we are discussing - I completed the Open University course D203 Urban Change and Conflict. One of the units had quite a lot of material about Cracow in Poland. The point was made that comprehensive cheap public transport meant people's travel needs were met. At the same time, many bought the typically rubbish Iron Curtain cars of the era but drove them very little, not least because petrol was difficult to obtain. It was suggested that the only driving most of these car owners did was to a local park at the weekend, when they would try to source hard-to-find items like windscreen wiper blades.

IIRC, part of the argument was that once people have disposable income a car - any car - is attractive to many of them. That's even though it's just about the quickest way of disposing of income, disposable or otherwise, known to the human race.

[ChrisButch]

... they would try to source hard-to-find items like windscreen wiper blades.

That brings back memories of those arthouse Czech and Polish films of the 1960s/70s, which showed drivers routinely removing wiper blades when they parked - otherwise they would have been nicked.

[Bmblbzzz]

Wiper blade theft was a problem right up to the early 1990s.

I'd have to take issue with one aspect of the idea that this change "happened rapidly - between 1965 and 1975"; it's not that I disagree with the process described, just that I don't think ten years can be described as "rapid". It might seem like a rapid change in retrospect and in comparison with other historical periods, but when change happens over a period of ten years, it doesn't seem that rapid at the time. Not until it's almost accomplished and people, at least the older ones, look back and think "It didn't use to be like this." My main point in saying this is probably to suggest that change is happening right now but we won't really know till it's too late to change it.

[Pete Owens]

In terms of the 65 year time frame quoted in tho OP or double that since the invention of the motor car then a decade is a small period. It isn't the case that car use gradually increased over the 20th century and eventually reached its state today, but that before 1970 it was unusual and after that it was ubiquitous, and came to dominate the way we plan our lives and our cities.

[MikeF]

In terms of the 65 year time frame quoted in tho OP or double that since the invention of the motor car then a decade is a small period. It isn't the case that car use gradually increased over the 20th century and eventually reached its state today, but that before 1970 it was unusual and after that it was ubiquitous, and came to dominate the way we plan our lives and our cities.

Not true.https://www.ons.gov.uk/.../social-trends-40---transport-chapter.pdf
Increase in car use was constrained by the 1929 recession and WW2, but otherwise rose continuously.
Before 1970 car use wasn't so extensive, but not unusual.

[Pete Owens]

In terms of the 65 year time frame quoted in tho OP or double that since the invention of the motor car then a decade is a small period. It isn't the case that car use gradually increased over the 20th century and eventually reached its state today, but that before 1970 it was unusual and after that it was ubiquitous, and came to dominate the way we plan our lives and our cities.

Not true.https://www.ons.gov.uk/.../social-trends-40---transport-chapter.pdf
Increase in car use was constrained by the 1929 recession and WW2, but otherwise rose continuously.
Before 1970 car use wasn't so extensive, but not unusual.

Only in the same sense that today cycling to work is not unusual.

in 1965 car ownership was very much a minority activity. Most people lived their daily lives getting about on foot or using public transport. By 1975 the car had come to utterly dominate the way we moved about with most households owning a car. It is that cultural shift that I am referring to - the perception of cars changing from a luxury product to a basic necessity - so ingrained is this perception that even some posters to this forum see any attempt to restrict car use as an impossible imposition.

Yes car use has continued to grow - just as consumption of all resources has grown over that period but since 1975 that use has mainly been driven people travelling further rather than non car owners taking up driving. In fact the last decade or so has probably seen a slight reduction in drivers as young people are moving back into city centres and finding insurance prohibitively expensive.

[Samuel D]

IIRC, part of the argument was that once people have disposable income a car - any car - is attractive to many of them.

I think this is changing in western countries, which gives me hope. I’m 35 years old, and neither of my two younger brothers have a driving licence (though I do). Among my friends in Paris, having a driving licence is slightly unusual.

My first car cost me £485, but what self-respecting teenager today would spend that on a clapped-out banger when they could get an iPhone instead?

This new reality is still offset by the simply obscene amount of driving that my parents’ generation did and continue to do. That generation, I’m sorry to say, has a dangerous combination of much disposable income, lack of concern about climate change and environmental problems (or even antagonism to those who tell them about these problems), and the habit of going everywhere by car without even checking the alternatives. But things are definitely changing. Slowly.

At the same time, people of my generation are using other people’s cars more than ever – taxis, Uber, etc. So many people my age contribute to the environmental and cultural problems caused by cars even if they don’t drive.

[thirdcrank]

I can only say that from my own observation, living in a discrete village within the West Yorkshire conurbation where congestion is a problem but traffic still moves, I've seen no evidence of decreasing car use among a younger generation. The absolute opposite. Your own car as soon as you can drive seems to be the norm round here, often a new one. This isn't in any way a posh area BTW. With interests rates nailed to the floor, all manner of subsidies and things like personal contracts which reduce the capital outlay and are advertised as costing £X00 PCM (or more often £X95 to make it seem a hundred quid cheaper) buying a car seems easier than ever. I think plenty of parents court trouble by fronting their children's insurance.

[pete75]

Another factor in increased car use was the "company car." Once upon a time, the only working people who would have had a car provided would have been people seen as essential users, such as rep's. The term "traveller" had a completely different meaning then as compared with today. Things provided as a part of the job "tools of the trade" whatever, have traditionally received favourable tax treatment and providing a car was increasingly seen as a good wheeze to pay people more, whether or not they needed a car to do their job. A company car became a status symbol, having a job which came with a car and the posher the better suggested a more important job. That's in addition to the firm taking all the worries of depreciation etc.

Even people who did have a company car back then could only use them on firms business. My father in law started work as a corn merchant when he was demobbed from the navy in 1946. The company cars were returned to the company depot each night and he had to provide his own transport to and from it. He said it wasn't until about 1953 when he was given a new Morris Minor that he had full use of the vehicle. His own car up until then had been a pre war Riley Kestrel.
Even with a company car he still used public transport for business, travelling up to Leeds Corn Exchange once a week he drove only to Grantham then got the train.

Didn't they call company reps commercial travellers back then?

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm not sure that young people are driving less than a decade or so ago. I went to university in the late 80s and it was rare then for students to own cars; now the car parks at those same halls of residence are jam packed. There might be less car ownership than 10 years ago, possibly, but certainly a lot more than 25-30 years ago.