Management
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matters continued
converts these passenger counts into bus schedules showing optimum vehicle numbers and headway required.
High -costs per unit
Mr. G. R. Hill, principal lecturer in economics and a research worker for the Centre of Transport Studies at Leeds University, spoke on "Costs and the demand pattern in public passenger transport." He contrasted the requirements of efficient production in industry—efficiency being assessed in terms of low average cost per unit of output—with the very different circumstances obtaining in public transport today.
In industry, by and large, it was possible to balance supply and demand at a steady rate over time. This was especially important where the production method used involved high fixed costs to total cost ratio.
But in the declining public transport industry the adverse effects of unbalanced loading, frequent traffic hold-ups etc. upon the average cost per unit product was very great, with major implications for the level of fares necessary to raise a total revenue sufficient to cover total cost. Largely as a result of factors quite outside the control of the bus industry itself and "due to a legacy of regulation inspired by vague notions of equity and public service," the public passenger industry operated in an increasingly difficult environment.
The discussion on Mr. Hill's paper raised some interesting questions on subsidies. Were subsidized fares an alternative to higher fares at peak travelling times? Was it feasible to stagger work trips to achieve more balanced loading? Mr. Hill was unhappy about subsidies. Off-peak passzngers were now subsidizing those on flat fares at peak traffic levels, he said. How could accurate cost /benefit studies be worked out across a whole local community? What sections of the population really needed subsidized buses? Everyone tended to say "let someone else pay for my public transport services."
More attractive buses In his paper: "Rational design or the urban bus", Mr. M. R. Dyer, a research worker at the Centre for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, concluded that some form of road-based public transport mode, similar to the present bus, must contribute to the alleviation of the urban traffic problem during the foreseeable future. If the bus was to compete effectively with the private car a serious effort was now essential to improve the operational efficiency and attractiveness of the vehicle itself.
On the assumption that one-man operation would become increasingly popular, Mr. Dyer discussed in detail design factors such as the layout of the doors, seating, luggage accommodation, staircase and fare collection equipment with a view to speeding passenger circulation and reducing the time at stops. He put in a word for articulated buses. They were common in some European countries and could have a seating capacity of up to 180 within a length of 50-60 ft. Mr Dyer quoted some operators who held that, when equipped with selftracking rear axle, such buses were astonishingly manoeuvrable—"some say better than 39-foot rigid vehicles."
Another of Mr Dyer's points concerned acceleration rates and he contrasted the I. mph per second of a typical bus with the 4/5 mph per second acceleration of a car. He thought all buses in towns should be able to accelerate at least by 2 mph per second. Discussing Mr Dyer's paper, Mr. G. C. Hilditch (Halifax) said that if a driver was given a machine with good acceleration he would exploit it, and heavier fuel bills and greater wear and tear on the transmission would result.
How much research?
Professor K. M. Gwilliam, professor of transport and economics, University of Leeds, opened a discussion on the role of research in the bus industry. He posed a number of questions: What sort of research was called for? How should it be done? What sort of undertaking should do it? What interrelation with existing bodies was called for?
Among subjects qualifying for research, Professor Gwilliam listed engineering design; operating techniques, including scheduling and routing; administration, documentation, control methods; economic and marketing factors. On the question of how research should be undertaken he noted that in operating companies any thought given to practical problems constituted research. But there were obvious difficulties in mounting research on a sufficient scale in small concerns; possibly joint research by groups of small companies could be set in train.
An industrial research unit for the whole industry could be envisaged, said Professor Gwilliam. Such a body could have the assurance that its research was of relevance but there was a danger that it could become rather inward-looking, ignoring suggestions from outside.
The Motor Industry Research Association, the Local Government Operational Research Unit, and some engineering research institutions were also involved in research of interest to the bus industry.
The universities, said Professor Gwilliam, had not taken to the bus industry or indeed
to transport as a whole. Not much effort was displayed by universities in terms of resources but at Leeds University improvements were anticipated. He noted that the Ministry of Transport had been disappointed in a number of instances when research projects had been abandoned, for example when staff concerned moved away. At Leeds University the Operational Research Units and the Centre k for Transport Studies proposed to guarantee that research projects undertaken would be completed.
During the discussion some questions related to the major problem of staff recruitment in the .industry. If research bodies could help operators to recruit even 10 per cent of the staff they required urgently the industry would be grateful, said one delegate. Professor Gwillian suggested that operators might have to face the necessity for capital-intensive equipment because of the difficulty of labour recruitment.
A delegate suggested that the industry constricted itself in labour questions. An artificial level of irregular working was often preserved. Many necessary duties could well be done during off-peak traffic periods. The discussion revealed that in Hamburg the transport authority run a housing trust. One in five of the staff lived in houses owned by the authority. Because of the tremendous attraction to staff, the questioner hoped that the new Passenger Transport Authorities in Britain, who were empowered to do so, would have the courage to build houses.
Getting the facts One of the important matters arising from this Bus Seminar concerns the provision of data for computer analysis. Professor Gwilliam stressed that at Leeds his department had not the resources to generate its own primary data collection. Existing material, he underlined, could be positively disastrous; the Government was paying for a new Leeds study on journey generation factors.
Surely in this field bus undertakings could collaborate much more closely with university departments undertaking transport research? It is ludicrous if young academies with access to costly computer hardware have no up-to-date accurate data and must await new survey material paid for by the taxpayers.
Is it not possible for university research teams to spell out in detail the form and content of the data they need? If bus undertakings were aware of this it would seem to be a simple matter for normal statistical returns to be appropriately rejigged.
By no means all bus companies take transport research seriously. I know of one bus transport manager in the Home Counties who completely ignored, over a period of six weeks, appeals by an external student of London University for some current statistical data. The student's thesis had to be presented minus some relevant material. Considering that the thesis was designed to show how many car commuters might be weaned back to public transport, the company concerned, in my view, had a poor sense of public relations.