Atka! Commentary
Page 37
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Nuns Fret Not
W' HETHER or not it be true, I like the story I
heard the other day about a fleet of buses hired to drive slowly and continually round an airfield lely for the benefit of the American ground staff. The ntle, inoffensive futility of the operation calls to mind e band of almost forgotten men secluded in the inexe of the Ivory Tower labelled "Road Passenger “:cutive."
Far be it from me to suggest that Mr. George 1rdwell and his colleagues do nothing, or even that eir energy and ability could be put to better use than present. In these days of bustle and strife there is uich to be said for a haven of cloistered seclusion, id it is perhaps for this reason that I have kept in emory an article published some time ago in one of e British Transport Commission's own magazines, in e course of which two functions were discovered for e R.P.E.
(1) Advising the Commission on aspects of passenger road transport in the provinces on which the Commission seeks specialist advice. (2) Undertaking, on behalf of the Commission and on the Commission's instructions, the review of the passenger road transport services operating in Great Britain, which the Commission is required by the Act to make, with a view to determining the areas for which area schemes shall be prepared.
On the first point, it would be interesting to have rther information. The reference to the provinces is reminder that the London Transport Executive is a parate body on whose "aspects" the Commission ould not seek advice from the R.P.E. Outside the ondon area, the Commission has a controlling or inority interest in a number of companies (including
e Tilling and S.M.T. groups) which still function as dependent undertakings and will no doubt continue do so until area schemes covering their activities ome into force.
Lord Hurcornb's Coach
It is difficult to see what advice the Commission :eds that cannot be provided by the companies themEves. The first function of the R.P.E. seems to require tie work, apart from any research that may be needed, ir example, to advise Lord Hurcomb of the right coach
catch from Leicester to Nottingham, or of the issible financial advantages of travelling on the upper :elt of a Rochdale bus.
One must admire the gallantry of the R.P.E. in undertaking" for the Commission the review that is tended to lead in due course to the preparation of -ea schemes. The opposition to the only two schemes
■ far put forward has been formidable. The ommission appears to find it surprising and to feel at the people of the north-east and of East Anglia 'e ungrateful.
After all, the Commission need have done nothing )out area schemes. It had no obligation to shine its tegrating light upon the squalid confusion into which e Minister's Licensing Authorities had allowed the ad passenger transport industry to drift. Of its own :e will the Ivory Tower sent its missionaries to
e heathen, and deserves the more credit for the fortide and forbearance with which it received the -news the rough treatment given to its representatives. The unexpected dislike of the public for the Commission's gospel has given rise to some embarrassment, for the initiation ceremonies preceding the imposition of an area scheme are even more longdrawn-out than those of a secret society, with the added disadvantage that they are got secret. At the outset, the local authorities are entitled to protest, and have done so with great vigour in both areas so far chosen. The Commission, having drafted its scheme, has again to consult the same local authorities, as well as the providers of transport in the district.
When the scheme has obtained the Minister's approval, he must advertise it, allowing at least 40 days during which practically anybody may object—and no doubt practically everybody will. A public local inquiry is held to consider the objections. If the Minister still decides to go on with the scheme in some form or anOther, there remains a right of appeal to either or both Houses of Parliament.
Elaborate Ritual Even the scheme for the north-east has a long way to go before it completes this elaborate ritual. Until at least one scheme is actually in operation, the work of the R.P.E.—a little advice here, a judicious review there—is delightfully suited to the timeless serenity of the Ivory Tower. The recent action taken by the Ebbw Vale Urban District Council seemed a deliberate attempt to introduce the apple of discord into this Eden.
The Licensing Authorities have no control over the fares charged by the Commission or its agents. Red and White Services, Ltd., is one of the companies controlled by the Commission, and when it applied to the South Wales Licensing Authority for permission to raise fares, the Ebbw Vale Council, heroically waiving its own right to object to the proposed increase, maintained that the Licensing Authority had no jurisdiction in the matter, and backed its fancy with the ratepayers' money. The case went to the Court of Appeal, who found that Red and White Services, Ltd., was not the agent of the Commission.
If the decision had gone the other way, it would have presented the R.P.E. with the difficult task of preparing charges schemes for all the nationalized companies in less than six months. Presumably in the meantime Red and White Services, Ltd., could have raised fares to whatever level it wished, which might not have suited Ebbw Vale.
To have thus rudely shaken the R.P.E. from its repose would have been regrettable. At present it provides an example of a public corporation in a state of almost clinical purity. There is no distracting influence such as mars the contemplation of the other colossi; no angry public screaming for service (outside of Ebbw Vale); no tedious Parliamentary debates; no uncouth hauliers shrieking before they are hurt. Instead, the R.P.E. is left free to devote itself to its duties (both of them).
It would be wise to remain contented with its lot. "Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room." The Licensing Authorities have administered the country's passenger transport ably and satisfactorily for I score of years. The Commission is not forced to interfere, and in any event has other problems that should be occupying the whole of its attention.