The new governance of transport in London

Abstract

The history of London governance provides some valuable examples of institutional experimentation. The city has been governed by different metropolitan arrangements for most of the twentieth century, but it also experienced about 15 years without any metropolitan institution. In investigating the link between institutional and policy change, the chapter briefly investigates such varied history, to concentrate on the last reform which established the Greater London Authority (GLA). The process by which the new government was established in 1999 is thoroughly analysed, and both the parliamentary and the administrative negotiations are investigated. The second part of the chapter discusses the change enacted by the GLA; in particular, the differences in the ways policies are formulated. This second part permits us to trace the link between institutional change and policy changes in metropolitan transport.