Scotland Wants ction on Transi rt Problems
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ys, Ashley Taylor, A.M.I.R.T.E. CHANGES in transport come closer home to the Scotsman-in-the-street than they do to his English counterpart. Around the industrial belt north of the Border the effect of sales of British Road Services units, and the new freedom for established operators, is. keenly discussed by those having transport interests. In the north of Scotland, the public are interested in transport in the wider sense, for the distances over which their commodities have to be carried often have a direct influence on prices. As a simple example, one may take .ffie nominal 2-1b. loaf, which, in the Western Isles, costs Id. more than it does in more fortunate places on the mainland. , . The need in the Highlands and Islands is felt to be for more transport, rather than for any change of the method of its provision. The parts of which I speak are fat enough from Edinburgh and Glasgow, by which cities Highlanders often imagine themselves to be forgotten. . They are even farther from London, where , mysterious officials on occasions display palpable , ignorance of the simple facts surrounding the lives of , common folk in these-remote places.
Feelings on this matter are stronger than the average Englishman would readily believe. For that reason, I shall not be surprised if the future brings a Scottish Transport Authority within which there might be a co-operative existence for the railways and such road services as the State continues to own. The advantages of British RailWays (Scottish Region) being transformed into an autonomous body responsible for the control of railways north of the Border have already been strongly urged in the highest circles.
The linking of the retainable and unsold sections of British Road Services with such a .body would not be an illogical development. Mr. William IT. Stevens, director and secretary of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, told me that a suggestion which would undoubtedly command strong support among Scottish business men was that the retainable fleet and any other units unsold might be welded into a Scottish road traffic authority.
The significance of the Scottish situation has already been demonstrated by the selection of that part of the world to form a guinea-pig in the disposal of substantial units. This scheme may well have been inspired by the natural disinclination of the Scots to submit to any arrangement which results in their being classified, so to speak, as North Britons, but in that area, in any case, the pattern of events can be distinguished with greater clarity than is possible in the More involved industrial life of England.
sl6 I aim at the outset to examine the effects of transport in general on the north and north-east of Scotland. This is a territory that has a reaction on Scotland as a whole, as Scotland, in turn, is bound to have reaction on the remainder of Great Britain. Changes are brewing and the vision that is before those who speak for the north of Scotland is not entirely represented by that part of the world as it is today, but rather as it might be if -given transformed transport.
In 1951, the Committee on Highland Transport Costs, appointed jointly by the Scottish Council (Development and Industry), the Advisory Panel on the Highlands and Islands, and the Scottish Board for Industry, published a special report. During the past three years the precise costs may have altered slightly, but there have been no fundamental changes affecting the main argument.
That report, in its frank delineation of the problems involved, constituted a challenge to the providers of transport. That challenge still remains. The pattern of transport along those roads which one of my contacts aptly described Ai running " through miles and miles of nothing on the way to nowhere" may suffer changes in the future, but nobody has yet discovered an easy answer. And when a penny rate yields around £250, as it does in Sutherland,all the ordinary preconceptions , regarding roads can be put on the ice.
The effective main-road width in the crofter counties is 7 ft., doubled at suitable intervals to provide passing places. That is all that can be afforded and this situation literally leaves formidable obstacles in the way of transport development on any normal basis.
In preparing the re-port, the duty of the committee was "to consider to what extent the present scale of transport charges imposes an obstacle to the maintenance of the existing population and industrial activity in the Highlands and Islands and to suitable 'economic and social progress in these areas; and to propose practical steps for neutralizing the diSadvantages that may be revealed." . The outcome of this. investigation was a recommendation that the policy to be pressed should be one of increasing the efficiency of" theexisting transport services by road, rail and, sea, of deliberately lowering transport charges. over long distances and of giving special assistance in this respect to agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and to other industries that it was desired for social or strategic reasons to stimulate in the Highlands.
Problems of local distribution, it was felt, presented features that could not be wholly overcome but were inherent in the economy of sparsely populated and scattered communities, such as the Highlands. Possibilities of mitigating the difficulties were suggested as lying in increasing the regularity of freight services, improving roads, bridges and piers, distributing from well-sited storage points and purchasing commodities in bulk on a co-operative basis.
The Harris Crofters' Association declared that the high cost Of road transport beyond the pier head in Harris was caused principally by bad roads, as vehicles could not be loaded to full capacity and the cost of maintenance was excessive. It was rarely possible to arrange for outward and return loads because, though vital to the loCality, the overall quantity of goods traffic to remote areas was small.
The report related a percentage of the --high costs to the fact that al7
much of the traffic was in small consignments and pointed out that as much merchandise as possible should be ordered in bulk well in advance and carried at much reduced rates.
Transport costs were found to react most severely on .goods • being carried to remote districts beyond rail or pier head. In an attempt to obtain representative figures a study wasmade of costs of consignments moving. from the Edinburgh-Glasgow area to south and north Moidart. This showed the terminal haul to add between 31 per cent. and 111 per cent to the rail charges
• from Edinburgh and Glasgow..
The committee regarded this as " the most intractable • part of the problem, since transport in these isolated areas is largely in the hands of small local hauliers and
• contractors whom it is difficult to-assist by any general measures on the purely transport side."
When the report was published there was a lurking feeling that British Road Services, as an element in the national structure, might be going to provide something • that could be classified as a welfare service. but no such approach has manifested itself. Under fire from other angles, B.R.S. have wanted to square their accounts. . Instead, private enterprise, partially in the form of the C-licensee, has had to be its own Fairy Godmother in the situation.
• In this connection, a writer in a recent edition of the. Scottish .Councirs, magazine questioned whether the Highlands' complaint regarding transport troubles was really valid and he quoted the manner in which difficulties Of a similar nature had elsewhere .been . Overcome by local enterprise. So far as-the Highlands are concerned, the operations of the road transport controlled by the late Duke of Westn-litister's estate are worthy of close ekarnination. But, first of all, let us look at the genera! position.
Drivers Buy Vehicles At Inverness, which is the focal point of traffic working in the-Highlands, a substantial B.R.S. unit was established. Up to the time of my visit last month only about 20 per cent. of the local fleet had been sold. All the disposals were in lots of not more than three vehicles, such as that purchased by Messrs. A. and J. Fraser, two ex-B.R.S. drivers who established themselves at Portmahonack in Easter Ross with an erstwhile workmate as third man. '
Originally, the Road Haulage Executive bought businesses in remote parts that had a certain flexibility in the matter of days and hours of working. These were substantially incorporated on what may be called a full operational basis, but there will be no surprise for the local public if some of these now run rather as inducement offers, the new owners concerning themselves with other forms of activity in order to balance out their work and fitting haulage into a jigsaw that may include farming and other forms of livelihood.
Users of transport around Inverness are anxious that A-licence vehicles shall not be lost to the territory. One or two interested parties who might have been expected to purchase B.R.S. units in the north told me that they could not afford to march the tenders which were
l 8 understood to have been made by individuals from some other areas.
One transport user said that latterly B.R.S. had offered more competitive rates. He thought that their fleet was invaluable to the locality, in that they could move big lots quickly over long distances. To provide the availability of transport desired by the district the A-licence vehicles would obviously have to remain in the area, but, in the case of many commodities, they now appeared to be subject to severe competition from B-licence lorries.
No Drastic Cuts Another user told me that for long past the customers in the area had had a good choice of B-licence operators and it seemed unlikely that changes associated with denationalization would make any appreciable difference. From figures quoted by local businessmen, rates for the longer distances are tending to be related in some degree to the relatively low figures quoted for agricul
tural products within a limited radius. For that reason, despite all hopes to the contrary, it would seem highly unlikely that any drastic reduction in charges can be expected.
Mr. John C. Frame, secretary of the North of ScotlandFreight Charges Committee, and Liberal Unionist candidate for the Western Isles, told me he believed that there was a much bigger opportunity of road-transport development in the Highlands area than in any other part of Scotland. "A complete change in the industrial position is in progress here," he said.
"Now that the electricity supply " in the Highlands is equal to that in the Lowlands, a new prospect emerges. Further, there is an atomic repeater station at Thurso. Atomic power will be the basis for the future, bringing developments that cannot be served by an out-dated railway. The hydro-electric schemes will continue for many years yet and only road transport will be able to supply the needs that will accompany the changing industries." Possibilities of substantial variations in the transport requirements here are stressed .by the fact that Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, the Conservative Member for Inverness, resigned his seat in the House of Commons in December, announcing that he intended to devote his whole time to the rehabilitation of the Scottish Highlands through private enterprise. Whilst it would be foolishly optimistic to assume that any substantial expansion of industry would necessarily drop gifts of traffic into any particular lap, the significance of the situation will not be lost on those who are studying the overall plan of Scottish commercial life.
Low cost of transport, which sometimes seems to be. the primary demand from this part of the world, would appear to have to be combined with other advantages. Capt. J. Maclean, harbour master of Inverness, reported a few weeks ago on the large number of ships leaving the port in ballast for the south, and Provost J. M.
Grigor, chairman of Inverness Harbour Trust, pointed out that traders might save money by sending suitable.
non-urgent goods by this means. The October cargoes received there included 11 of cement, 12 Of oil, one of coal, one of timber and one of general goods.
Nevertheless, as already emphasized, the question of cost necessarily looms large. During the first 45 weeks of 1954 the total freight tonnage carried on rail in Scotland fell by approximately 5.5 per cent, as compared with that in the corresponding period of 1953. This trend is attributed by British Railways to increasing pressure of competition from independent road haulage contractors.
A prominent member of the Inverness .Chamber of Commerce transport users' committee informed me that there was a feeling throughout the area that railway operation could well be confined to about four stations between Inverness and Perth, with road distribution from the railheads. Such an arrangement, it was contended, would reduce costs and speed up service, and offer great scope for small-scale hauliers.
B.R.S. in the North
The main B.R.S. unit in the north is InvernessDingwall, with 46 vehicles (175 tons). Not far distant there is a six-vehicle unit at Nairn. B.R.S. operations include trunk services between Inverness and Glasgow, and between Inverness and Aberdeen. Trunk vehicles also run from Inverness on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays northward to Wick and Thurso, making the return journey on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Services run every day to Thin and between Elgin and Aberdeen.
Great quantities of small consignments are carried on these routes. Much tipping work is performed for civil engineering companies engaged in connection with the hydro-electric schemes.
Large tonnages of herring are carried and, although B.R.S. offices are provided at Ullapool and Gairloch, this traffic is frequently brought in by local operators to the depot at Conan Bridge (Dingwall) for interchange, thence, being transported to Fraserburgh and places elsewhere.
Timber from Spean Bridge, from Invergarry and from the Dingwall district, is taken in substantial quantities to Spalding, Lincolnshire, and to Glasgow. Another important traffic is livestock, thousands of sheep being carried down from the hills for wintering at lower levels.
Narrow Roads
When I was travelling along the narrow road that leads from Lairg beside the edge of Loch Shin and northwards to Laxford Bridge, I was impressed by the reduction in overall speed resulting from the necessity of frequent waits at passing places and by the impossibility of overtaking for long distances. This is the main route to Kinlochbervie, a redeveloped fishing port, so that I encountered many fish lorries as well as livestock wagons.
Similar conditions apply on the Ullapool-Dingwall road and the writer, in the November issue of Scotland, referred to a report of 120 fish vehicles having been counted on this route in a day. Although nothing of a total on double-track highways, this figure indicates boiling-point pressure on a narrow road. From the article in question it appears that the transport element in fish from Aberdeen represents 5 per cent, of the price at the English point of sale, more than double that in respect of fish from the English east-coast ports. An even higher percentage would clearly apply where landings are in the north of Scotland.
Many of the heavy vehicles seen•on the roads around Ullapool, Laxford Bridge and Lairg belong to the Sutherland Transport and Trading Co., Ltd., an organi zation.that in recent years has been taken over, by the late Duke of Westminster's estate, which also owns Pulford Transport. The latter fleet hits up substantial mileages in running fish from Kinlochbervie to Aberdeen Ind elsewhere.
This Kinlochbervie-Aberdeen run is welt over 200 miles each way and the vehicles normally leave in the early evening, so as to arrive in time for the next morning's market. Eight-wheelers have proved extremely efficient on this work, although for over 60 miles the road is rough and narrow. They make two round trips every week.
Sutherland Transport has an A-licence fleet which carries mainly agricultural goods, provisions, timber and livestock. Here, again, much use is made of large lorries and, by organizing the traffic so as to give the maximum number of return loads, the transport element in the price of goods produced in the area and consumed there has been reduced.
Aberdeen Wants Lower Rates
So far I have dealt with country where natural problems somewhat overshadow the probable effects of denationalization. Moving to Aberdeen, I reach what may conveniently be regarded as a boundary with the area where normal transport factors reassert themselves, although there is still the problem of the exceptional cost of the long haul to and from the principal markets.
Mr. Charles H. Taylor, secretary of Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce, told me that traders were expecting lower charges and better service as a result of denationalization. Aberdeen is 118 miles from Edinburgh, 144 miles from Glasgow, 405 miles from Birmingham, 328 miles from Manchester and 488 miles from London. With these distances in mind, it would appear that many members of the trading community would prefer to send goods by rail, but the vast difference in costs has tipped the scales in favour of the road operator.
The Chamber of Commerce considers that rail freight charges are excessive, especially as the percentage increases in rates work to the detriment of communities so distant from their chief fields of distribution. With their ample vehicle availability, B.R.S. seem to have had the immediate advantage, but there appears to be a general feeling that with the full return of freeenterprise haulage, the question.of transport costs can be viewed by traders with much more optimism than hitherto.
Hauliers Bring Down Rates
I was told that on one route where the rail charge is Over 90s. per ton, B.R.S. charged 70s. and the indications were that the private haulier would be willing to work for 50s., a figure equalled only by coastal steamer, which is limited in scope and is unsuitable for a number of commodities.
The haulier still has to face keen railway competition in some spheres, for substantial discounts are offered to fish traders if they will send all traffic by rail to any of • 30 selected destinations. It seems that the rail service is good enough and much of this traffic is not likely, in present circumstances, to go back to road. Certainly, the concessions have been an advantage to those traders who have been able to use the routes specified, but the situation has created annoyance among the remainder by causing differences, not readily understandable to the purchaser, in the cost of the fish at the point of sale.