Transport Economy Calls •
Page 50
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for Radial Services
Mr. D. McKenna Gives His Views on How Plans for New Towns Can Most Conveniently Be Arranged so that Public Transport May Operate with Full Economy
gcF I were to say that the right way
I to plan a new town is to lay out the passenger transport system first and then fit in the residential, industrial and commercial areas, and all the other components so as to suit the transport, I should immediately be accused of putting the cart before the horse."
Mr. D. McKenna, commercial manager of the London Transport Executive, made this comment when he lectured to the London branch of the Industrial Transport Association. He continued: "Even if one cannot go quite as far as to say that the whole town should be built up round the transport system, it is nevertheless worthwhile spending a lot of thought in the planning stage, studying transport layout and arranging that a reasonably economical transport system is at least practicable. .
" In some of the earlier plans for new towns, it was suggested that public service vehicles should be prohibited from entering the 'main shoPping area in the town centre. No such prohibition, however, was proposed for private cars. The grounds for this prohibition were traffic congestion, but the degree of congestion caused by any particular vehicle should not be related merely to the size of the vehicle, but also to its function."
Area Per Passenger
The speaker said that the average passenger load of a bus in one of these towns would not be less than 15, whilst the average private-car load would not be likely to exceed two. The area of road space per passenger was therefore 13h sq. ft. for a bus and 40 sq. ft. for a car. Moreover, buses were stationary for only a minimum period and were not parked in the shopping streets. Any attempt to prevent buses from reaching the traffic objectives, while allowing private cars to do so, was inequitable. .
Conditions pointed towards the need in new towns for a radial road pattern suitable for bus traffic. The focus would be on the town centre and neighbourhood units would straddle the roads en their outer stretches. By this means, a bus service would obtain the kind of load to make its operation economic.
The same vehicles would carry the traffic between the neighbourhood units and the town centre, the local traffic within the neighbourhood units and that between the neighbourhood units and adjacent villages. If attempts were made to segregate the traffic and provide separate services for each class. operation would become uneconomic.
ni 6 It was a rule in plans for new towns to concentrate factories together in an industrial area adjacent to the railway. This, however, was bound to produce peaks in traffic in the mornings and evenings. Whilst a heavy movement in one direction might well be unavoidable, said Mr. McKenna, it was possible by careful planning to ensure that there was some movement in the opposite direction at the same time. With at least two industrial areas suitably located, an economic transport layout became possible, because of the better balance 'oftraffic.
Garage Near Centre The siting of schools was another important consideration, also the location Of a central garage and the provision of suitable turning points for local routes. The speaker assumed that a garage with capacity for about 100 buses mould be needed. For efficient working, it should be placed as near as possible to the point of maximum service density—the town centre.
In the'earlier part of his lecture, Mr. McKenna 'described London TransPort's procedure for examining requests for improvements in services. " First of all," he said, " 'loadings' are taken; that is to say, figures of the number of passengers on board a bus at a given point. Loading reporters are stationed at various points along the route in question and they record for each vehicle the time it passes, the number of passengers arriving at the point, the number set down, the number picked up and the number departing. If any passengers are left behind on the pavement from lack of accommodation, a note is made on the record sheet.
"Two observations are usually taken for the whole of a day, although sometimes, if the matter under investigation is merely a peak-hour difficulty, over the period of the peak only. Back in the office, the loading sheets are examined and they will at once throw up whether there is any inadequacy on the route. They reveal in particular the length of the queues and the time taken to clear the queues, including the maxi mum wait of any passenger in the queue."
In the country areas it was the practice for conductors to record the numbers of passengers on board their buses at specified points on two days in the year, one in summer and one in winter. This twice-yearly census was of great value for checking the extent to. which services met needs, but whilst the figures showed the state of the loadings at successive points en route, they did not indicate how far individual passengers travelled.
This information, important for planning reliefs, did not become available in a statistical form. An indication could, however, be obtained by sending a trained observer to ride for a few days on the route. He could note the distances travelled by passengers and obtain a picture of the traffic. It was probable that the same man would be employed on making the examinations of the loading sheets, so that a better picture could be built up than if a merely statistical exercise were attempted.
"If the loadings show a state of inadequacy which is bad in relation to a reasonable general Standard," Mr. McKenna continued, "a preliminary schedule is prepared for an increase in the service and a rough assessment made of the cost in terms of vehicles and crews. This preliminary scheme is then passed to the schedules department for the detailed vehicle and duty schedules to be worked out, and a closer estimate to be made of the cost of the increase.
"It may well be that by some small adjustment of the preliminary scheme, a more economical schedule can be produced without materially affecting the traffic value of the proposal. . . A final assessment is then made of the Proposed increase in service in relation to its traffic value, the general standard of service elsewhere and the cost. A decision is then taken whether the additional service should be put on or not."
New Route Demands
When new routes were suggested, many factors had to be taken into account—the density and the type of housing, the proximity to existing means for transport, the location of factories, shops and places of amusement. The nearest approach to a measurement of the potential demand was obtained by making a census of pedestrians and cyclists.
Observers were posted at points along the projected route and a count was taken over the whole day of the numbers passing in each direction. Mr. McKenna pointed out, however, that the results of such censuses could not be used alone in determining demand. The number of pedestrians and cyclists who would use buses, if provided, was uncertain, also, in the absence of a service, there was little encouragement for people to move about more than necessary.
All services were continuously reviewed to see whether needs were being met and to ensure that operations were economic. Adjustments were constantly being made and "tailoring the service to meet the traffic goes on, whether the initiative comes from within or outside the organization."