Science of Transport I.o.T. Style
Page 52
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IF allowed to grow unchecked by
scientific analysis, transport could develop until each nation possessed a collection of bankrupt public services alongside an astronomical fleet of privately-owned vehicles, which could continue to move only if cities were rebuilt and motorways multiplied. The real cost of transport would then mount until it became a formidable proportion of the entire cost of living.
This was stated by Mr. K. W. C. Grand when delivering the presidential address to the Institute of Transport in London on Monday.
Scientific analysis, properly applied, would provide the opportunity to avoid this kind of nonsense, Mr. Grand claimed, by revealing the true choice facing the comrnnnity and avoiding the costly chaos which millions of individual choices without regard to wider issues,
would otherwise cause. .
The Institute fnembership of over 10,000 was high, Mr. Grand said, though not high enough, and there was not enough lead given from the top. Leaders of the industry might speak well of the Institute without giving the same encouragement to the value of membership within their own undertakings.
Need For Knowledge
Entrants into transport would not make the most of their opportunities unless they took pains to inform and educate themselves about the profession they had chosen. Transport was basically a service, he said, and one in which many worked away from direct supervision, The development of professional standards was essential. A strong Institute, embracing the majority of those engaged in transport, and actively promoting scientific study of transport, would be of immense benefit to the industry.
Whilst questions of ownership and policy regarding transport were bound up with politics, this should not affect the frame of mind with which a study of the problems was undertaken. It was not easy to be impartial, Mr. Grand admitted, but an attempt must be made.
nI 8 It was therefore all the more necessary that basic research should be carried out by those not involved in day-to-day business and who had a detached background. Scientific study could proceed only if facts were available and Mr. Grand considered that the Government could help in this respect. Although some sections of the transport industry were obliged to publish detailed statistical information, the amount available compared very unfavourably with information issued in the United States. It was difficult to study the true facts of transport if little were known about whole sections of the industry.
More support was required from Government statistical departments, and Mr. Grand doubted if leaders of great enterprises needed to be so fearful of publishing more information voluntarily.