"Walk short distances" Le Witt & Him, c.1944

Catalogue ref: INF 3/89

Petrol rationing, low car ownership, heavy use of the railways to move troops as well as the blackout all conspired to fill public transport to bursting during the Second World War. Rail passenger journeys topped 1.3 billion in 1945.

The Lewitt-Him partnership’s poster for the Ministry of Transport (with a relatively modern-seeming message for the carbon conscious 21st century) encouraged walking where possible in an attempt to thin out packed trains and buses.