AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

THE RELATIVE MERITS OF TRAMS AND BUSES.

18th September 1928
Page 14
Page 15
Page 14, 18th September 1928 — THE RELATIVE MERITS OF TRAMS AND BUSES.
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Eighty-four Local Authorities Represented at the Manchester Conference of the Municipal Tramways and Transport Association.

O(AVER 200 'delegates attended the 27th annual conference the Municipal Tramways and Transport Association, which was held at Manchester on Wednesday,,,Thursday and Friday of last week. They represented 84 local authorities in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. After the Civic welcome in the Council Chamber of the Manchester Town Hall, on Wednesday, Alderman James Bowes (chairman of the Manchester City Tramways Council) delivered the presidential address. The conference was favoured throughout with delightful weather.

"Everybody is concerned with transport,' he said. "We live in moving times and times of movement. Never before were so many persons carried on publicservice vehicles in this country. Never before were such vehicles multiplied so rapidly. Never before did the populace desire to move so quickly. Never were they so insistent on luxuriant excellence.

"More and more yehicks come. The latest arrivals are the railway companies. What the effect of their coming will be, first, -upon themselves, secondly, upon the roads, and thirdly, upon those already there, no one can foretell.

"The systems which this association represents and operates have cost:— For tramways ... ... 78,790,595 For motor omnibuses ... 3,477,821 For trolley vehicles ... 739,143

A total of ... ... £83,007,559 "They carried over 4,392,000,000 passengers last year, and employed about 87,000 persons.

"Outside London, the combined local authorities are the largest operators of buses, of which there has been a great expansion during the year. In London, the County Council has not the power to run ,motorbuses.

"That is not surprising. We hold that no form of ownership and control of public-service vehicles can equal, much less excel, that of the' local authority or a combination of local authorities, either for efficiency, constancy, safety and cheapness. They are best able to judge of the needs of their own services. The response to a public demand is prompt and effective. The question of dividends C30 does not enter into the matter. They can raise capital almost as . cheaply. as the British Government itself. It is far too big a public service to be controlled in a haphazard and irregular fashion by any man or body of men less than the community itself. Every ratepayer is, willynilly, concerned about the roads and their cost, whether he uses a public-service vehicle or not; every passenger is doubly concerned both in the cost of the roads and in cheap• transport; and all are concerned with safety. All waste in this service must react upon the ratepayer. It is eminently a service to be governed, in the of Lincoln, 'for the people and by the people.' famous words "It is pre-eminently our business to provide 100 per cent. efficiency and sufficiency whether we are isolated or co-ordinated. Our strongest defence against aggression will be the completeness of our services and the unity of our purpose. "There are some foolish people who are so far out of touch with the trend of the times that they talk lightly of local authorities disposing of these services to private interests, because, forsooth, Parliament at present cribs, cabins and confines them within narrow limits. • "Can you imagine the road passenger-conveyance services of this city in the hands of a private company with say, ft ordinary shares of the Manchester and District Passenger Transport Company (let us call it that) quoted on the market at 150 per cent, premium?•, or Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield at the same price? ; or Glasgow with its reputed deficit, but in reality a very rich and profitable undertaking, at a shade higher?: or the London County Council higher still?; and the House of Commons to protect them?; and most of all the effect upon the electorate? "The democratic spirit of the community would quickly leap into activity and make short work of non-municipal men in tuunicipal power putting up city franchises for auction.

" The railway companies went to Parliament this year for practically universal powers to operate road vehicles to be exercised without restraint or control, and have put forward claims to compete anywhere with anybody—whether with statutory or nonstatutory undertakings did not matter. They said in so many words 'Look at the local authorities !!! They have the rates to fall back upon,' and inferred that we need not care to apply commercial principles to our trading undertakings. They were silent, however, when the aggregated tramways results of the whole of the local authorities in the country were put before the Joint Select Committee. The outcome of the long and costly investigation of the railway Bills is that we have got what is called 'internal protection ' for local authorities ; that is, the companies have not to compete

within the area of the authority. . "I am sure you will agree with me in emphasizing the wrong, moral and financial, which has been done by Parliament to those local authorities that have, under statutory power, constructed and reconstructed tramways outside their own boundaries and spent large sums of capital in doing so."

When the conference resumed after being entertained to luncheon by the Lord Mayor of Manchester it was to hear a paper by Mr. U. P. Stokes, general manager Plymouth Corporation Transport, on "The Progress and Development of the Transport Undertakings of Local Authorities." This was a survey of facts with which most of our readers will already be familiar. It was very thoroughly and interestingly done and it contained the suggestion that the Government instead of diverting money from the Road Fund for outside purposes should utilize it for research work in order to procure a suitable home-pro(bleed fuel for internal-combustion engines. In his ()Pinion, he said, the most successful type of bus will, in the near future, be eight-wheeled and have its power unit centrally placed with a simplified method of transmission, compressed air or hydraulic power being used in steering and braking.

He gave the following summary of information collected from certain local authorities who were able to give material for the comparison. It shows the enormous development that bus taken place in municipal bus services.

1919-20 1927-8 Buses On solid tyres ... 394 503 Buses on -pneumatic tyres 3 2003 Total number of buses 397 2,506 Average seating capacity 31.5 31 Mileage. run ... ... 5,933,725 72,520,328 Passengers carried .... ... 47,700,018 410,216,550 Average distance for 1icl. fare 1.1 miles 1.2 miles Buses of the following seating capacity :— 10 to 20 passengers ... 1 244 21 to 30 passengers 81 900 31 to 40 passengers 300 791 41 to 50 passengers 15 270 51 to 60 passengers 275 61 to 75 passengers — Total number of employees 1,406 8,332 Total cost of undertakings £968,263 £4,545,081

t` The Policy and Outlook Relating to Passenger Trans.. port Services of Local Authorities" was the subject of the paper introduced on Thursday by Alderman J. K. Chestham, J.P. (chairman of the Oldham Corporation Tramways and Transport Committee).


comments powered by Disqus