NOTTINGHAM AND THE RAILWAY STRIKE.
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How the Services into and out of the City were Maintained by Means of Mechanical Road Transport. The Importance of Fair Rates and Good Service.
By. W. DONALDSON WRIGHT (Transport Manager, Nottingham Chamber of Commerce).
THE EFFECTS of the railway strike have not been so keenly felt in. Nottingham as in some other centres, and local manufacturers are loud in their praise of the efficient way in which road transport was able to fill in the gaps caused by the restricted rail services. The city is exceptionally well placed with regard to its road transport organization, as ts geographical position places it within 100 miles of all the principal centres.
'The activities of the Road Transport Department of the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce are already wellknown to • readers of The Com an e reial Motor. The Department has been in existence now for over four years, and, in spite of the decline in trade and severe competition fr om the railways, it still continues to
flourish. T h e reason for this is that the transport manager of t h e Chamber makes a special point of providing reliable services at feasonable rates, which will pay t h e haulage contractor, and by this means he is assured of a good service from the haulage contractors who provide the vehicles. Furthermore, as stated above, the geographical position of Nottingham considerably simplifies the organization of road transport, as 100 miles radius is considered to be the . effective and_ economic range of a petrol-driven vehicle. This radius embraces such centres . as ondon (practically), Birmingham, Liverpool, Man-. chester, arid the East Coast ports, and it will thus be seen that there is a large field for the development of road transport in the district. . .
The Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the local haulage contractors, in normal times runs regular services to most of the large towns, and so soon as a stoppage on the railways was threatened, arrangements were immediately made to augment these services. The local engineering department of the Post Office Telephones rose nobly to the occasion, and, in response to an urgent request from the Chamber, they installed an additional exchange line in the offices of the Transport Department at an hour's notice. It will thus be seen that the Department was ready to cope with the expected rush of traffic which came on the first Monday morning'of the strike period. Plenty of lorries were available from the local haulage contractors, and, further, every lorry running into the city from other centres such as Liverpool and Manchester was immediately utilized.
Seen on the Portsmouth Roa
A carelessly placed jack sadly imp broth The Transport Department of the 'Chamber is so well known amongst haulage contractors from all pinta of the country, that they report to it as 'a matter of course, and it is thus always assured of a plentiful supply of vehicles. In normal times a large percentage of the foodstuffs from the ports conies into Nottingham by road and the lorries handling this traffic were immediately utilized for taking goods away for export. The milk supply of the town now always comes in by road from the surrounding villages, and these services proceeded as a matter of course. With
h tregard to the supplies of coal, Nottingham, being on the fringe of the coalfields, is very well served, and there are actually pits within the city boundaries. Large reserves of coal are always'held for the supply of t h e electricity and gas under
takings, a riKi these services have proceeded without any curtailment.
The whole of
___ the services oi.ganized by the Chamber have proceeded with clock-like regn la r it y, not a single breakdown having been reported to the transport manager during the period of the strike. It will thus be seen that Nottingham is in an extremely fortunate position with regard to its road transport organization, and is much better served than many other places where road transport services had to be hastily organized.
During the period of the railway strike a large volume of -.Nottingham traffic has been attracted to the road, and this traffic has been so efficiently dealt with that it is extremely likely that it will be perManently retained for the benefit of the road interests, No attempt was made to take advantago of the situation by charging excessive rates, the policy Of the Chamber being to carry at rail rates wherever possible. -Those 'few individual haulage contractors who exploited the public during the period of the strike have newfound. that the traffic which came to them has reverted to rail, "so that their benefit has been but temporary, whereas it could, to a certain
extent, have been made permanent. ' The road services for the conveyance of passengers are also of a,in extremely efficient nature, such well known concerns as the Trent Traction Co. and Barton Bros, . Ltd., covering a large area in all directions of the city. These services were all augmented, and were of considerable assistance to those who were prevented from travelling by rail.
d during the railway strike.
erils the mutual relations of the US.