Is Roac France ansport in Igressing ?
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By 0 pe Alfred Woolf, Fren B.A.
a Continual Threat of Political Intervention, port Faces the Future Determined to Remain :e from Railway Domination
FRANCE, amongst nations of the Western hemisphere, has long been regarded as one of the most highly civilized. Certainly, if roads be any indication of a country's standing on the cultural ladder, France can claim a seniority to which Britain, with its relatively new and already inadequate highways, cannot even pretend.
Since the days of the Romans, France has possessed an excellent highway system which revolutionaries and reformers alike have taken care to maintain and expand. Yet to-day only some 775,000 goods vehicles and about 16,000 public service vehicles ply along the 50,000 miles which comprise the Routes Nationales and the 186,250 miles of what may be termed county maxis. In all, there are over 400,000 miles of paved roads in France.
As a basis of comparison, Britain possesses only 8,176 miles of trunk road which, in the main, are much inferior to the French Routes Nationales. Altogether there are 183,794 miles of roads of all types in Britain, on which over 850,000 goods vehicles and no fewer than 74,000 public service vehicles operate. Britain's teeming highways carry over 4m. vehicles, compared with the 21m. in France.
In terms of human energy devoted to the many sides of road-vehicle construction and operation, Britain again leads. Some 950,000 people are employed in road transport in France, compared with 1,705,000 in Britain. Operators of public transport in Britain total 54,000; in France the number is 40,000. Including the vehicles owned by the British Transport Commission, there are to-day over 175,000 goods vehicles in what might be termed the Aand B-licence classes in this country In France, the equivalent number is approximately 100,000 al 2 In the C-licence class, Britain has 747,898 vehicles. and France 660,000. As in Britain, the proportion of C-licence vehicles in the total in France has risen rapidly.
One of the mottoes of the Union Routiere de France, the equivalent of the British Road Federation, is" busy roads create prosperity." One wonders whether the slow rate of post-war recovery in France is in any way connected with the level of activity on the roads. Before coming to any decision on the question, however, it is necessary to consider the wider aspects of road transport operation in the country.
In the first place, the character of road transport differs fundamentally from that of Britain at present and as it existed before the war. In the main, road transport concerns are family businesses, or, more exactly, local concerns. No less than 50 per cent. of the operators possess only one vehicle. Only 5 per cent. operate 100 or more, and 94 pei cent. run fewer than six.
Secondly, there is no real competition between the various means for transporting goods—or, for that
matter, for the transport of passengers, either. The railways are the dominating feature of transport in France, and the work cal-tied out by the nationalized Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer is strictly complementary to that effected by the road-vehicle operators. Nevertheless, as in most other countries, the decreasing possibilities of profit-making on the railway system have made the railways an opposing force of some magnitude, which road transport, with its lesser degree of political influence, has difficulty in overcoming.
Another factor influencing the present situation in French road transport is the low level of industrial activity. Unlike other Continental countries, which have rapidly regained and, in fact, exceeded the pre-war tempo of production, France has not been able to throw off the effects of occupation and destruction In March of this year, the total production of vehicles of all types in France was 35,879—a figure closely comparable with that of each of the past six months. Of this total, 10,394 were commercial vehicles, again a total which can be matched with those of preceding months.
No fewer than 6,559 of these were up to 2-tonners, 4,399 being 10-cwt. types. Only 1,471 were in the 31-15-ton category and only 218 were buses or coaches. Production of commercial vehicles in 1950 showed a downward trend. Berliet, one of the best-known builders of buses and heavy vehicles, produced 356 buses in 1950, Saurer only 16, and Somua 146. On the other hand, the Citroen 375 c.c car—a revolutionary design admirably suited to the combined commercial and private use which is the basis of much road transport in France—is being manufactured at a rate of 1,300 a month.
Mention of the dual-purpose vehicle, such as the Citroen 2 c.v., is important. for an enormous amount of transport is undoubtedly carried out by small vehicles which the owner can use privately. Less stringent legal requirements enable the French to put their vehicles, whatever they are, to whatever use they see fit. There is thus a sharp division between the type of equipment required by the professional haulier and the small carrier. Unlike British operators French professional hauliers use the heaviest vehicle possible, and there is less grading of fleets to suit varied needs than in this country. No doubt this circumstance arises partly from the long distances which some goods travel, and by the absence of restrictive legislation on speeds. There are thus many long-distance hauliers who run regular services covering the larger part of the country and linking the principal industrial areas.
The ubiquity of the railway, however, and its astonishingly low tariffs, has resulted in a greater degree of specialization amongst hauliers than in Britain. Tankers, refrigerated vans, insulated containers and enormous pantechnicons form the larger part of the professional hauliers' fleets. Oil-engined vehicles, too, are favoured, the proportion of petrol to oil-engined units in the haulage industry being roughly one to three.
Tax Entirely on Fuel Taxation is levied entirely on fuel. At the moment, petrol costs 54 francs a litre, of which 60 per cent, is taxation. Oil fuel cosIs 40.80 francs a litre, the proportion of tax in the cost being 52 per cent. In addition, there are registration fees which amount to about £9 per heavy vehicle, which may carry up to 26 tons on three axles, or 24 tons on two. Overall length may be up to 37 ft. and width 8 ft.
Turning to passenger transport, again one finds a situation entirely different from that pertaining in this country. Legislation passed in 1934, when a "transport plan," supposedly co-ordinating the railways and road services, was created, restricts severely the possibility of extending passenger road services. As a result, there are only a few long-distance services, some of which are operated by foreign concerns, such as the Swedish Linjebuss company, which runs services through France from Sweden, to Italy and Switzerland. Even the operation of tours and excursions is on a smaller scale than in this country, and the introduction of new ones is almost impossible.
The charges scheme of the S.N.C.F. is partly responsible for this situation. Practically everybody in France can claim a cheap-rate ticket on one ground or another. Large families, parents of large families, Servicemen, civil servants, workmen, business people— practically everybody can claim a reduction on the standard fare. Rail fares are thus remarkably low, and the service is excellent, particularly where long distances have to be covered.
Lastly, the efforts of the principal private-car manufacturers in France to make a cheap, serviceable and economical private car have not been entirely unsuccessful. This introduces another element of competition which reaches a higher peak than it does in Britain. Even in the tourist industry, more important
in France than here, the private car plays a striking part, for good roads and easy access to France from neighbouring countries encourage private motoring for touring.
Such coach services as there are are mainly of the contract-carriage type, arranged by booking agents and tourist associations. There are also the circular tours and short-distance express services operated by a few established operators. Manufacturers, too, have started and continue to operate some such services, and municipal urban transport is on similar lines to that operated in Britain.
Nevertheless, the railways—which also operate a variety of different road transport services, ranging from local deliveries to coach tours—have found the competition offered by the road-transport industry to be a good excuse for falling revenue. Enormous deficits are being incurred by the S.N.C.F. and the government has cast about for means for raising enough revenue to counterbalance these losses.
In France, one hears less often the suggestion that the railways be scrapped, for undoubtedly they provide essential means for communication. But unprofitable branch lines, which employ large numbers of workmen to little effect, and to whom pensions have to be paid when they retire, continue to be the subject of much discussion.
Road Transport Takes Over
Before the war, certain of these lines were closed to passenger traffic, although goods traffic was continued. Thus, few, if any, of the surplus employees were displaced, an excusable evil, because the railway unions are even more powerful in France. than in Britain. Now, however, some lines are being closed down completely and their traffics taken over by road vehicles.
To ensure the continued existence ot the railways, co-ordination measures have been introduced (as, for example, in 1934) which restricted the competition offered by the road vehicles. In November, 1949, a new co-ordination scheme was prepared, which has not yet been put into effect.
This proposed the co-ordination and integration of road and rail transport. Not a nationalization measure, this plan, which in the past 18 months has made scarcely any progress, was intended to tighten control over road transport, although somewhat obvious attempts to pacify the road transport industry are seen in the provisions controlling the railways. At the moment, therefore, the situation remains as it has been since 1934. It is worth recall'ing, at this juncture, that the railway plight is far worse in France than in Britain. Since 946, no less than £265m. has been granted to the P.N.C.F. in the way of subsidies, the last one having • een granted at the time of the Budget in April. This ias a sum of £98m., the deficit of the S.N.C.F. now mounting to no less than 40 per cent. of its capital, 4eanwhile, only £66m. has been spent on the roads ince 1946, compared with the £224m. spent on the roads I this country between 1946 and 1948. Even the latter gure is clearly insufficient to meet the needs of presentay road transport in Britain.
Furthermore, there have been repeated attempts by le supporters of the railways to increase road-vehicle ocation in France. Taxation based on tonnage has een threatened from time to time, the most recent roposals, formulated in 1949, suggesting a tax which ould have amounted to £930 a year on a 15-tonner. bese have been resisted to good effect, but the threat I such action remains.
One of the features of the co-ordination plan ublished in 1949, was the intention to prepare overall lane for both passenger and goods transport. In Idition, it was proposed to prepare a charges scheme fr the railways, worked out by a specially constituted lational Road Committee and the S.N.C.F.
Excluded Traffic
Briefly, the measures suggested in the plan cover the ffiowing points : Traders' own vehicles (C-licensed) ere to be excluded from the co-ordination plan, though it was proposed that they would have to abide future by statutory requirements concerning records sch as are required in this country for commercial !hides. Indivisible loads, bulk liquids, furniture Pmovals, live animals and carcase meat were traffics ;eluded from the measure.
Municipal passenger transport services were also ;eluded, but additional powers were proposed for such tdertakings; in particular, the granting of permission prohibit other operators in the undertaking's area. inally, co-operative societies operating transport were :eluded.
As far as passenger services were concerned, the am n points of the plan were that such services must s registered and fitted into a transport scheme which uld be drawn up for each administrative district rtement). Each ddpartement would have a technical Prnmittee charged with drawing up the plan, which
would be related with that of the neighbouring departements. Both rail and road services, other than those run by one vehicle operators, were to be included.
A basic national charges scheme for road passenger services was to be drawn up and agreement was to be reached between rail and road operators regarding time-tables and fares. An appeal tribunal was to be set up to settle points of dissension. Compensation would be paid to road operators whose services became redundant as a result of the co-ordination.
In the case of goods transport, the proposed regulations were obviously intended to have the same effect —to ensure that the railways were able to obtain the 'maximum amount of traffic. Investigations were to be made to show where road services could take over from the railways and reduce costs. Three types of operation (similar in many Ways to those set up in 1934) were defined.
These were long-distance services, departemental operation (covering a range of 60-90 miles, from the capital of the departement) and local haulage, covering a radius of operation of 25 miles. All hauliers were to be registered—a new departure for French operators
Progressive Additions Each operator would be granted authority to maintain a certain tonnage of vehicles; this authority would be reviewed annually, progressive additions to the total local tonnage being permitted in such a way that new operators could commence operations provided that the Transport Authority—a central body under the Minister of Transport—would recommend the increase. •
In each departement, control of road transport would be vested in the chief engineer of the roads and bridges department. Another important feature of the plan was that provision was made for the control of vehicle hirers, who would register as such in the list kept by the technical committees of the clipartement.
Despite the restrictive nature of such schemes—if they ever come into effect—French operators admit the need for co-ordination. France is a large country, not over-populated with its 40m. inhabitants, and there are undoubtedly adequate opportunities for both road and rail transport. Cot. Gallienne, president of the Union Routiere de France and one of the leading figures in road transport, told me that there was no large-scale competition between the various means for transport in France. What the road transport industry wanted was the opportunity to carry out the work at which it excelled.
He put the whole problem of road transport, not only in France, but in the rest of the world, in the following way: The charges levied for each means for transport should be related to the net costs incurred. Each typo of transport should be allowed to do the work for which it was designed; the railways should carry heavy
or long-distance traffic. The road transport industry should be entrusted with the distribution and rapid carriage of goods with the minimum of handling. Co-ordination should be intended, not to preserve a railway status quo at all costs, but to relate transport taking into account the effect of progress.
To achieve this, Col. Gallienne said, the public authorities should reduce their intervention. Government interference was intended to increase the revenue of one means for transport by artificial means, thereby raising the cost of living, and to set up obstacles against road transport.
The various methods of transporting passengers and goods were capable of existing side by side, said Col. Gallienne. New techniques in transport had produced a profound transformation in the economy of the world in the past 50 years But as the railways were completed over 50 years ago, and as they were still necessary, it was time to re-examine the railway problem.
"This problem is, unfortunately, complicated by political activity. The more employees a railway requires, the more powerful this influence is," he said.
Clearly, the situation in France to-day has its parallels with that in Britain, except that political pressure is less direct and the hauliers are less given to compromise. Bearing in mind the almost domestic nature of the haulage induslry, wlich is, apparently, devoid of the empire-building tendencies so much in evidence in this country before the war, it is surprising to what an extent hauliers have been able to continue and even expand.
Nevertheless, with factory output at its present rate, expansion is slow. Progress, it would appear, is restricted to the efficiency with which operators must conduct their affairs in order to keep going as. they do, rather than the rapid growth and extension of road transport services. With political threats overshadowing the industry, internal economic difficulties still far from conquered, and the burden of an armament programme, French road transport can look forward to still further troubled times in which rapid advances can scarcely be expected.
Complete freedom for all hauliers, public and private, is the goal at which road transport organizations in France aim. The need for some degree of co-ordination appears to be unavoidable, as must be the case where there is a desire to make full use of capital equipment and natural resources owned by a country.
Furthermore, France, as a country in close community with its neighbours, is aware that joint operation between even rival factions is sometimes necessary in the common good. The trans-Continental goods and passenger services which exist at the moment have taught this lesson.
So far, the fruits of co-ordination between rail and road transport appear to be few. There has been a tendency towards the standardization of containers and certain types of trailer which can be used on both rail wagons and road vehicles. Railway rates have been reviewed, bearing in mind the hauliers' complaints about existing tariffs.
Perhaps the new Chamber of Deputies, in the enthusiasm of its first few months of life, will take a step which will decide whether French road transport will stagnate or blossom.