"Roads were more important than they are normally given credit and were significance for a variety of reasons. The speed of communication and efficiency enlarged the market. Not to be dismissed as insignificant, was the precedent of passenger travel by road. "Road transport revealed a potential which the railway was able to exploit more effectively. It is clear that personal travel was already a growth industry before trains came along, such that the `success' of railway passenger business becomes less of a surprise, while the special strengths of road transport - speed and reliability - could be supplied to a superior standard and at a lower cost.""