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A Municipal View o he Thesiger Report

18th December 1953
Page 40
Page 41
Page 40, 18th December 1953 — A Municipal View o he Thesiger Report
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE first reaction as one reads the Thesiger Report is to congratulate the 'committee on the great skill and care exercised in dealing with a.. most important, arid complex subject. The era, before the Road Traffic Act, 1930, with all its chaos, is vividly remembered.

One had to travel from town to town to appear before town councils and watch committees to secure annual licences to ply for hire, and competitors were invariably permitted and, it was often believed, encouraged to plunder the services of responsible operators. The relief felt at the advent-of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, is still fresh in the memory of many people.

A Successful System The 1930 Act was welcomed by probably every responsible road passenger transport operator, involving, as it did, a complete reorganization of the licensing system on a national basis, thereby reducing wasteful competition almost to its exclusion, regularizing fares and services, and providing necessary regulations regarding construction and use of public service vehicles. Few, if any, will deny that the existing system has been a success and that any improvements would be few and minor.

The Thesiger Committee's recommendation that operators should be required to give advance notice in the vehicles of changes in existing services is already carried out by a large number of undertakings, which, in addition,. advertise their service changes in the Press. It would be unreasonable and costly, however, for minor time-table alterations to be fully publicized, as suggested, and it would be more acceptable to operators if the Licensing Authority had the power to exercise discretion in the matter..

NO fault can be found with the a6

recommendation that local authorities, joint planning boards for national parks and other operators concerned shall continue to have the right to make representations or 'objections.' From —past experience little or no criticism can be made of a Licensing Authority's exercising discretion whether or not to hear representations from other bodies and persons who have no right of appeal.

The recommendation that in the relevant statutes and regulations the use of the terms " representations " and " objections " might be more consistent, is welcome.

Traffic courts have functioned for over 20 years with a minimum of formality necessary for expeditious and efficient consideration of applications and it is pleasing to know that the committee are not in favour of recommending the adoption of a procedure similar to that of a court of law. There can be little doubt that the present procedure can hardly be improved and is best suited to the object for which the traffic courts exist.

Cause of Anxiety The recommendation regarding the furnishing of advance depositions and main documents in cases such as major fare changes is interesting because it has been practised in the past and proved useful to both the Licensing Authority and the operator: The suggestion that they should be supplied to each objector is, however, cause for concern. An operator furnishes much private matter to the Licensing Authority, which he would not willingly supply to an objector.

This does not apply as much to a municipal undertaking as to a company, but the provision of certain information to parties other than the Licensing Authority is not necessarily desirable or reasonable, especially having regard to the type of person sometimes appearing as an • objector. The Licensing Authority could well be left to decide who should have all, or any, of the documents.

Joint sittings of Licensing Authori • ties, as suggested by the committee, are rarely necessary in relation to municipal operators, but they will obviously be of value to the larger companies with services operating in , more than one traffic area.

• Although there would appear to be no need for a licence condition requiring observance of the law on drivers' hours, especially shaving regard to the -necessity of complying '

with Section 19 of the 1930 Act and not forgetting' that duty schedules are subject to trades-union surveillance, there can be no reasonable objection to making compliance a condition of the licence.

Councils and Contract Work

The committee's proposals to deal with contract-carriage work appear • to be reasonable and acceptable. The report comments that "there is no reason, from the point of view of the licensing system, why the form of licence we propose to cover contract-carriage work should not be issued to a local authority?' but could a municipal operator exercise the licence if its local Act restricted it? If it could, the concession would be much appreciated by many municipal operators.

Many discussions have taken place between transport executives on the question of appellate jurisdiction.

. Some have favoured the present system, which a majority of the Thesiger Committee prefers, and others have supported the idea of an independent tribunal. The committee point out that existing legislation permits the Minister to adopt a compromise and I do not think that any great dissatisfaction will arise in the industry whatever method is finally decided upon.

Trolleybus and tram services are operated by statutory undertakings, both company and publicly owned, and it is doubtful whether any benefit to the public or the operators would accrue from bringing them entirely under t he Licensing Authority. Although operators would probably prefer to be left as at present, there appears to be no reason why these undertakings should not be placed under the

Licensing Authority in respect of fares, stopping places, standing passengers, drivers, conductors, passengers and lost property.

There is little doubt that the committee's view that control by the Licensing Authority of localauthority services should not be abolished or lessened is in the interest of both the public and of municipal operators. The success of the present system can perhaps be best assessed by the scarcity of appeals by local authorities over a long period. It is highly probable, as mentioned in the report, that local authorities might come to regret the absence of independent assessment and approval now afforded.

To a local authority, the committee's attitude towards private hire is disappointing, because this work is often available when vehicles are standing idle, such as on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Profitable work could be foundfor them at those times with little or no detriment to other operators.

Right of Private Hire It is true that municipal vehicles are often hired to companies or to other local authorities which have power to operate contract carriages beyond their boundaries. This substantiates the claim of those without powers that they should now have the right to do such work.

The recommendation in respect of consents is long overdue and will be welcomed. The expensive procedure at present necessary has long outlived its usefulness, if ever it had any. It is probable, however, that most local authorities have consents on most, if not all, of the roads on which they may ever require to run and the easement will pass comparatively unnoticed.

The repeal of Section 72 (7) of the Act of 1930 would be welcomed by local authorities and would leave the whole matter of fares under the control of the Licensing Authority.

No change is recommended in the present period of three years for which road service licences are in force. This is disappointing, for it was hoped that the period would be extended to five years.

Representations that the onus of proof should be shifted and made lighter or heavier were not accepted by the committee, who believe that the considerations relating to coordination and the provision of unremunerative services are flexible and wide enough "to allow of the adoption of whatever policy circumstances may require so far as it is within the scope of the licensing system to do so." Operators will no doubt agree with this opinion, as well as with the committee's opposition to any relaxation in the present arrangements for securing the safety and convenience of passengers.

Consideration was given to a suggestion that conductors should be exempt from licensing, but the committee do not recommend such a course. Their attitude is understandable.

They have also rejected a suggestion that drivers shOuld keep records of their hours of driving. This would not be of any value, because in regular road passenger transport the work of drivers is scheduled and approved by trades-union representatives, who, in the interest of their members, would not condone any breach of the law.

Some disappointment has been caused by the committee's rejection of representations made to remove the necessity of carrying conductors on single-deck vehicles. There are numerous cases where the use of one-man-operated large singledeckers is desirable under the present straitened economic conditions.

Existing Areas Efficient Contrary to the opinion expressed by Mr. Dunbar in last week's issue of The Commercial Motor, I am not surprised that no modification in the present traffic areas is proposed, for they have, inAny experience, worked efficiently.

Every operator will applaud the committee's decision not to recommend powers to require the provision of bus-stop signs and passenger shelters as a condition of a road service licence. Those operators who have modern and efficient shelters know how costly it is to provide, maintain and clean them and will welcome the absence of any compulsion in the matter.

Approval of the attitude expressed in the report towards measures to stabilize road passenger transport finance may, however, not be so enthusiastic.

The committee found themselves unable to accept the proposal for "interim fares." Much as one would wish that such an arrangement was practicable, it has to be admitted that a strong case can be made out against it and disappointment must be tempered by acceptance of the committee's favourable recommendations on other matters.

The committee are to be congratulated on a work that should be in the hands of every student of road passenger transport.

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