Urban bus operation
Page 88
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
I HAVE often emphasized the importance of annual reports of the various transport authorities as very necessary reading for all transport students. But there are many who pore through reports and find the exercise of making a summary with a few relevant statistics extremely difficult. I thought I would take one report this week, that of the first annual report of the new London Transport Executive as an example and attempt a quick summary with special reference to road transport.
The undertaking achieved in 1970 a revenue surplus of £1 .7m, after providing for depreciation and replacement values and a transfer of E2m to general reserve in accordance with the directions of the Greater London Council. The Underground contributed &Um in net traffic receipts but this was largely eroded away by a loss on the buses of £3.6m. While no direct financial assistance was called for on the operating account, the Executive qualified for capital grants from the Government amounting to £4.5m and received a further £2m in capital grants from the GLC.
The efficient operation of urban bus services remains hampered by the effects of staff shortage and traffic congestion. London Transport reports an encouraging reduction in the shortage of drivers and conductors in 1970. To eliminate the shortage entirely and to improve the economics of bus operation, the Executive is pressing ahead with its plans for complete one-man operation-a target which it is hoped to achieve by 1978. Mileage lost through traffic congestion in 1970 was nearly 2m, relative to a total of 199m miles actually operated. While this mileage loss was less than 1969, the report emphasizes that delays resulting from traffic congestion continue to have a serious effect. In 1970 a total of 150,900 passengers came into Central London by road each day between 0700 and 10.00 hours on 3900 buses, while only 103,000 travelled in 73,600 private cars. The average car load was 1.4 persons and nearly 70 per cent carried the driver only.
In recognition of the economical use of road space taken by the bus, it is planned to introduce further "buses-only" lanes. But the Executive feels that nothing less than reserved track for buses, especially at peak times, can provide the quality of service which passengers would all like to see. Such a system is already under construction for the New Town of Runcorn where at the end of this year a rapid transit network of single-deck buses running exclusively on reserved tracks will be introduced.
The final section of the London Transport report deals with transport planning and concludes that "the new relationship between the London Transport Executive and the Greater London Council has created a fresh atmosphere in which it has become possible to discuss the whole concept of the place of public transport in the life of the community, and its function in the process of urban planning, in a new setting".
It is worth noting that London Transport is in a unique position. Even in the four Passenger Transport Areas the operating Executive is responsible not to a body with overall planning authority, but to its Passenger Transport Authority formed of representatives from the various constituent councils. Under the current proposals for Local Government reorganization, an obvious development will be for the PTE to continue to run publictransport under the new metropolitan , county councils, which relationship would then be identical to that of the iTE to the GLC. The stage would then be set for close links between operators and planners, essential for a balanced transport policy.