. . the community has made WRITES
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the choice of road transport'
WHATEVER hopes the representatives of road transport may have bravely pretended to entertain in advance of the statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, they must have appreciated that, from their point of view, the shadow of Dr. Beeching lay heavily across the Budget. It was hardly likely that, within a week of the publication of his plan to put the railways on their feet, their main competitors would have been given direct encouragement by means of a cut in taxation.
In spite of Mr. Maudling's hint that the subject is not :permanently, closed, operators are justified in feeling Agloomy. By next year there may be another Chancellor, r4ttnd they assume that in any case the railways will still be lidding out their hand for assistance. The arguments that are put forward about the value to trade and industry and the community of an efficient and inexpensive road transport service seem to weigh little in the balance against the .enormous revenue collected from road users, the ease with
• which it can be obtained and the certainty that it will continue to increase with no effort by the Government.
'One line of attack now going out of fashion is to compare road taxation receipts with the amount of money 'actually spent on road construction and upkeep. The Minister of Transport has made it plain that revenue from One section of the community need not be used for the benefit of that section. Whether or not they accept this line of reasoning, some of the interests concerned have taken the hint, and now concentrate their fire on other targets. It is probably no more than coincidence that this change of fashion comes at a time when Lord Stonham and his national council on inland transport are conducting a campaign on the theme that too much money is spent on road users.
FAMILIAR TECHNIQUE
His technique has become familiar. When there is criticism of the annual railway deficit of £150 m., Lord Stonham . points to the " subsidies " given to road transport in the form of police services, lighting, hospital services for road casualties, and so on. He is not content to add the actual expenditure on the roads during the course of the year, but has his own home-made estimate of the capital or replacement value of the present road system, and insists that the interest on this sum should be taken into account in any comparison with railway profit and loss.
The long discussion that this has opened up may well be inconclusive. Lord Stonham may feel he has succeeded if he has cast fresh doubts on the old costs-taxation formula that was once so confidently used by road transport interests. He could hardly have set about his task better if his main purpose was to prove that arguments about comparative costs, especially between road and rail, are bound to lead nowhere because they are not about the same things. Like many another propagandist he may discover, after the expenditure of much effort, that he is fighting a battle already won.
He might use his energies to more effect in disposing of some of the other transport fallacies. I would commend to him particularly the sterile arguments about the comparative efficiency of different vehicles and different forms of transport. It is possible to prove with coefficients of friction and other scientific data that a train is a much more efficient machine than any road vehicle, however well designed. What is important, if deplorable, is that the passengers either do not believe it or are not impressed.
On the passenger side particularly, comparisons seem doomed to frustration. Even with only a handful of occupants, the bus or train is at least as efficient on paper as the private car carrying only the driver. All the same, the -half-empty bus and the little-used train 'are taken out of service, while the number of cars increases year after year. The facts are all against common sense. Private car operation is almost the classic example of how to get the least efficient use from a machine that is a triumph of modern engineering. Unfortunately for the theory, it would be difficult to find a motorist who would agree.
A DIFFERENT PICTURE
With goods transport the picture is different. As the surveys made by the Ministry of Transport have shown, most operators, even the C licence holders who might be expected to find greater difficulty, succeed in their aim of keeping their vehicles well 'laden; often in both directions. The typical 8-wheeler operated by a haulier has often been praised as an example of a high standard of productivity.
In view of all this, it may seem strange that Lord Stonham should single out the goods vehicle for most of his criticism. Would he not do better to concentrate on the private car? The answer may be obvious, but in any case the point is not worth pursuing. The obvious fact is that the community has made the choice of road transport, for the carriage of goods as well as of people. This is the situation, whatever the Government, or Lord Stonham, or the unions may think.
The only sensible policy must be to come to terms with the popular form of transport. This means making proper provision to meet reasonable public demand. In comparison, the present burden of taxation is unimportant. It need not be surprising that the approach to the Chancellor this year by, say, the British Road Federation seemed much more hesitant than the Federation's more or less, simultaneous publication pointing out the importance of providing the necessary funds for a proper, road-building programme.
Considerably more money would be needed. The Federation suggests that for the next five-year, programme Government spending on roads should double, at a compound rate of about 15 per cent, instead of the present intention of about 7+ per cent. It is clear that most, if not all, of the money will be saved by economies in the services where expenditure is deplored by Lord Stonham. There will also be substantial economies in operation, and a system of modern roads will have a vital part to play in the changes in the, location of industry that the authorities would so much like to see.