A Week In 1952
Page 49
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By JANUS
LIKE most of its kind, the sample survey of road goods transport carried out by the Ministry of Transport clearly reveals what we already knew but is less definite about the questions for which we are most curious to have answers. It tells us, for example, that the railways' road vehicles were engaged in highly specialized collection and delivery services during a certain week in September, 1952, while British Road Services' vehicles were doing longer hauls. It has nothing to say on efficiency and economy.
The information analysed in the survey was obtained for 7,243 vehicles, constituting a representative selection from the point of view of size, geography and licence. The questionnaire sent to operators had to be one they could answer without too much difficulty. Less than 10 per cent. failed to respond; and this can have had no marked effect on the result. The survey has made available—perhaps for the first time—within a reasonable margin of error, a statistical chart of the work performed by the country's road goods transport.
Ammunition for Argument D:sputants in the argument between road and rail, or between nationalization and free enterprise—with the possible exception of the railway champions—will find ammunition for their cause. Averages are worked out for weekly ton-mileages. They range from 82 for C licensed vehicles between one ton and two tons unladen weight, to 5,945 for the heavier B.R.S. vehicles with an average carrying capacity of 257 cwt. Railway goods vehicles able to carry 267 cwt. can claim only 400 tonmiles a:week. Another comparison states that a railway wagon carries, in a week, about 40 per cent. of its capacity, whilst a B.R.S. lorry on journeys of similar or greater length carries approximately five times its capacity. The yearly tonnage carried by road is put at 900m.—three times the figure for rail—but the tonmileage at 19,000m. is slightly less than the railways' 22,000m.
On this point and, indeed, all the way through, the survey ventures no expression of opinion, although it does make the safe comment that road goods transport is " a major part of the country's transport system." It contents itself also with holding the ring in the nationalization controversy. On the whole, according to the figures, more use appears to be made of each 11.R.S. vehicle than of a vehicle of comparable size operated either by a free haulier or by a C licence holder.
Better Figures from B.R.S.
Empty mileage of A licensed vehicles increases with the unladen weight from 22 per cent, for vehicles under two tons to 40 per cent. for vehicles over five tons. The proportion is 22 per cent. for B.R.S. vehicles between two and two-and-a-half tons, but it falls to 17 per cent.
for the heavier vehicles. For weekly mileages also B.R.S. have much better figures, as might be expected from the fact that they are allowed to travel longer journeys. When these results are used to calculate tonmileages, I3.R.S. figures all the way through are about twice those of A licence holders, and, for the smaller vehicles, over three times those of C licensees.
For the benefit of Socialists and others, it is just as well that the survey gives a warning against drawing rash conclusions. The differences between licences and the distinction which enables B.R.S. to operate without a licence "correspond to genuine and substantial differences in the nature and quantity of work performed by each vehicle." The survey cannot help in deciding whether the licensing system caused the division of function or whether the division exists in its own right. " It is not possible to estimate the extent to which the institutional framework encourages or discourages the utilization of the capital equipment."
Discouragement from 25-mile Limit It is, of course, a fact, although the survey does not mention it, that the 25-mile limit forming part of the "institutional framework" has very much discouraged the utilization of certain haulage vehicles. The threat in the new Labour party statement of policy lends interest to the question whether restrictions on C licensed vehicles would have much effect on their operations. One of the tables in the survey, from which the following is abstracted, shows the average lengths of haul. A range is given because, as is frankly admitted, the possibility of error is considerable.
There is evidence Isere that even the heaviest C licensed vehicles carry their loads, on average, little farther than the restricted haulier. It is the large total number of C licensed vehicles that gives them the preponderance in practically every field. The weekly traffic carried on hauls of over 40 miles is estimated at about 1,900,000 tons, of which 55 per cent., or over.4m. tons, is carried on C licensed vehicles. The survey gives' a varied list of the kind of goods those vehicles carry. Although no conclusions are drawn, the evidence points strongly to the advantages to the trader of using his own vehicles, or, at any rate, vehicles over which he has close control.
More Value With Second Survey
Too much must not be expected from the first survey. Its value will be increased when, in due course, a second survey is made. It should then be possible to see how the pattern of the country's road transport has changed in accordance with the demands of industry, technical advance, road improvements and the revised licensing system.
Caution must be exercised in quoting from the survey. Small errors in a sample are magnified when applied to the whole. An example may be found in the estimated annual aggregates. There were 823 B.R.S. vehicles in the sample, and their work was checked over one week in September, 1952. From the results, it is estimated that the B.R.S. fleet as a whole carries 58m. tons in a year. Reference to the British Transport Commission's report for 1952, however, shows that B.R.S. carried only 42m. tons. Although the margin of error seems large, it need not greatly affect confidence in the analysis of the work done hy B.R.S. in a representative week.