ew hope for future of public transport
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Is there to be a renaissance in public transport? One of the speakers at the 37th International Congress of the International Union of Public Transport suggested that this was not beyond the realms of possibility.
FROM the point of view of the public, the quality of service offered by a public transport undertaking might be assessed by the following points: Are passengers at stops kept waiting in uncertainty without knowing how long it will be before the next bus arrives? What is the cost in time for a bus to get through the congested central area of the city? Can a passenger rely upon getting a connection at an interchange point, assuming that the connecting vehicle leaves on time? Are buses unevenly loaded— in other words is a larger proportion of passengers than necessary carried under conditions of greater discomfort than need be?
This was the opinion of P. Brouwer, director, Gemeentelijk Energie-en Vervoerbedrijf Utrecht, expressed in a paper to the 37th International Congress of the UITP in Barcelona this week. Mr. Brouwer's paper was entitled "Measures taken by transport undertakings to combat the evil of traffic congestion". In it he reviewed the progress made by a number of undertakings in combating the problem.
Among special measures which could be introduced to speed the movement of public transport vehicles in congested streets Mr. Brouwer suggested the control of traffic signals at street crossings by an approaching bus and the adoption of special priority rules, such as police assistance to help buses to move off from stopping places.
One was justified of speaking, not unoptimistically, of a renaissance of public transport, said Mr. Brouwer, but if it was to become a reality, public transport must offer some tangible attractions to attract commuters away from their cars. The vicious circle resulting from an increasing number of people travelling to work by car, thus producing an increasing volume of traffic, resulting in more delays to public transport and, in consequence, a further reduction in the quality of service offered, leading in turn to a greater tendency among remaining passengers to use their own cars, must finally be broken.
Other measures to improve public transport could include the sale of tickets before passengers boarded the bus, either by local agents or by ticket machines; provision at certain times of kerbside conductors at the more important stops; and self-service methods. The present-day level of telecommunications technology afforded a number of aids to help in maintaining regularity of services as much as possible.
The proper strategy called for a keen examination of the traffic and transport situation of the city in question. The measures as a whole must have the necessary flexibility because it was not known beforehand, or not known accurately enough, where, when and to what extent traffic difficulties were likely to arise. For the passengers it was important that remedial measures could be taken quickly.
Livery important
Many transport undertakings were careful when selecting the colour of their rolling stock, but there were countless others which, for one reason or another, paid little attention to this point, said H. J. van Zuylen, director, NV Rotterdamsche Tramweg Maatschappij, Rotterdam, in a paper "Man and public transport" presented to the Congress. These latter operators went on using the same colours, which were no longer to the taste of the public, when repainting or touching-up their rolling stock. The passenger, said Mr. Zuylen, should be given proof of the fact that things were moving with the times and that an interest was taken in his wishes and feelings, since he was and felt himself to be the customer of the transport undertaking. Well-maintained and well-painted rolling stock attracted the attention of the public, including non-passengers, and this would therefore have a transport propaganda function.
Mr. Zuylen tried to suggest ways in which a harmonious relationship between private and public transport could be reached. Public transport undertakings should try and convince car drivers that the combined use of a private vehicle and public transport was the only and proper solution to meet the need for regular transport without serious delays.
For this the introduction of parking prohibitions in the centre of cities was also necessary. It was self-evident that restrictions on private traffic would have to be well thought out and kept to a minimum; public transport must do everything possible to attain the same degree of comfort, speed and flexibility as the private car.
Tax and public transport.
The work of the International Commission on Economic Policies in Transport was described by R. Seggel, director, Bremer Strassenbahn AG, Bremen. This Commission is the most recent to have been set up within the UITP and its first task was an investigation into the tax situation of transport undertakings.
The results already available raised the question of whether and to what extent it was reasonable to place such a heavy tax burden as at present upon public transport, whose activity represented to an increasing extent a public service in the general interest and which as a result of its costs was frequently no longer able to cover operating expenses fully from fares. Mr. Seggel regarded an examination of the conditions for, and possibilities of, clarifying the relationship between the public authorities on the one hand and the urban passenger transport undertakings on the other, as being the most pressing task of the Commission. Quite apart from relief for operators in respect of charges imposed upon them extraneously, it should be incumbent upon the public authorities, wherever they required an activity of the passenger transport undertakings in the public interest, at the same time to compensate them for such services.
The problem of an equitable distribution of permanent way or road costs (infrastucture) would also have to be considered in this context.
Automatic fare collection
Progress made in the introduction of automatic fare collection systems for one-man-operated buses was discussed by A. Latscha, director, Verkehrsbetriebe der Stadt Zurich, Zurich. In his introduction, Mr. Latscha referred to the growing extent to which oneman operation had come to be applied during recent years. He pointed to the efforts of undertakings to combine the advantages of one-man operation with those of having a conductor on the vehicle, advantages of the latter being, in particular, short stopping times and hence a higher commercial speed.
This aim was served by the use of appropriate items of equipment which partly relieved one-man bus drivers from the actual work of a conductor. Apart from installations such as money changing and ticket-printing machines there were also in particular the ticket-cancelling machines with which passengers themselves could cancel their multiple journey tickets.
The use of such technical aids made it possible to extend oneman operation to larger vehicles such as articulated or double-deck buses, for which until only a short time ago a driver and conductor were considered indispensable. In many places the growing demands made on drivers by increasingly dense traffic in cities called for the adoption of systems of one-man operation capable of relieving the driver of all the work of a conductor. Full passenger self-service was the aim.
Apart from the cancelling of tickets, self-service also implied either the mechanical issue or advance sale of tickets. This form of operation, which was mostly still in an early stage of development, might well come to assume great importance in some undertakings. It opened up the possibility of one-man operation even on routes with very heavy traffic.
Urban transport economics
Theory and practice in urban transport economics was the subject of a report to the Congress by I. Meyer, director, General des Transports en Commun de la Region Messine, Metz. (France). Mr. Meyer referred to a report published in August 1963 by the Committee of Deputies of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport in which it was stated that public transport fares might be calculated in various ways. For example, they may cover all costs, having regard to the remuneration of capital; cover the difference between the above costs and a fixed subsidy; be• calculated to bring in the maximum receipts; or be established on the basis of marginal cost.
These main ideas formed the headings of the chapters of Mr. Meyer's report. The author recognized from the start that before envisaging the possibilities of applying tariffs which corresponded to costs, these costs should be cut down as much as possible by means of good management. This concept thus entailed the idea of maximum efficiency and Mr. Meyer, after indicating the existing economic situation of the majority of urban transport undertakings, went on to speak of efficiency in management.
He then put forward some ideas on returns on capital, equalizing subsidies and the maximum obtainable revenue. In this field the elasticity of demand must be borne in mind. Finally, as it was thought that tariffs should be aligned on marginal costs, the author, after recalling the definitions of marginalism, showed how very high marginal costs at times of peak demand could be produced.
Automatic vehicle control
Attempts made in Hamburg to keep bus services going in the face of increasing congestion by employing automatic control of vehicles were described by H. Tappert, of Vorstandsmitglied, Hamburger Hochbahn AG, Hamburg. Mr. Tappert also reviewed some of the experiments undertaken by other transport undertakings—for example the bus electronic scanning indicator system (BESI) employed by London Transport on a number of routes.
Hitherto, remedial measures in the event of dislocation of services had been limited by the fact that information regarding them did not become known until it was too late to intervene except to a limited extent, if at all. A survey in Hamburg showed that on average there was a delay of 15 minutes before the disruption became known. An improvement had already been obtained by the introduction of radio-telephones.
Isolated disorders, such as vehicle breakdowns, accidents and the like, could be reported immediately after the occurrence. The outcome of further surveys showed that disruptions during operation, which arose in the form of isolated buses not running to time, or irregular service at stops, could be kept track of only to a limited extent by means of a radio telephone system. It was further ascertained that more than 70 per cent of all conversations carried out following a reported delay served to provide information about the position of other vehicles on the route.
Partly for considerations of time, and partly because of the need for processing, the requisite speed in reporting positions at any given moment could only be obtained with the help of electronic data processing ml conjunction with radio-telephone. In Hamburg, tests were being carried out with an electronic control system for bus operation whereby 20 buses automatically reported their pos tion by radio-telephone every two minutes; this was recorded on to a time graph representing the schedule. Through these recordings it was possible at all times to compare the theoretical and actual thitetable.