AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Everybody's Business

13th March 1953, Page 25
13th March 1953
Page 25
Page 26
Page 25, 13th March 1953 — Everybody's Business
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

DESPITE the activities of co-ordinating Om mittees of various kinds, there is insufficient understanding between the users and providers of transport. A tradition of excellent service has caused the public to take for granted the availability, of transport facilities whenever and wherever they are required, and by their dependability, operators have made a rod for their own backs.

Transport is, as has often been said, the servant of industry, but even a servant is entitled to reasonable consideration. Unfortunately, the transport operator does hot always receive it. Apart from the dislocation caused to routine, the quality of service suffers and its cost is inevitably increased by immoderate demands.

Poor Support The failure of the campaign for the staggering of working hours is an outstanding example of industry's unreasonable attitude towards transport. Excessive peaks of traffic cause inconvenience to both users and operators and raise the cost of travel. Often, only a slight adjustment of working hours would ease the situation and increase comfort for everyone, but either labour or management is intractable and the bus operator is left to find his own way out of the difficulty.

One of the results is the multiplication of spread-over duties: in transport. These, in their turn, discourage recruitment in the industry and aggravate the problem of turning out a sufficient number of vehicles to deal with peaks. A • little more consideration by the public for the interests of bus operators would enable costs to be reduced, service to be improved and the working conditions of those engaged in transport to be made more attractive.

There is a similar absence of understanding between the two sides in some parts of the country with regard to the Coronation. General agreement is lacking on the question whether the Whitson • holidays are to be combined with the Coronation national holiday, and bus operators are unable to prepare in good time the duty rosters for crews. Consequently, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., has had to issue an appeal to manufacturers and traders in the Midands to make up their minds quickly.

Some industrialists are keeping their businesses open at Whitson and granting an extra holiday in Coronation week, and, therefore, require normal services at Whitsun. Whether this arrangement will be widely adopted is not yet known, but bus operators are anxious to obtain an early decision. Closer co-operation is required between industry and hauliers in the development of the use of pallets. Some big C-licensees have evolved their own systems, but, otherwise, research into the external use of pallets has generally been left to the railways and the Road Haulage Executive, although the trader stands to gain as much as the transport operator by the improvement of handling methods. The newly-formed Institute of Materials Handling and the Mechanical Handling Engineers' Association have before them valuable opportunities of bringing together hauliers and users, locally and nationally, to foster modern technique.

Keeping it Dark Both users and operator g are responsible for a growing reluctance, lest competitors should benefit, to share information that will promote national transport efficiency. The fresh air that has been let into British industry by the study of American systems of production and transport should have stimulated the exchange of information in this country, but, instead, there is a tendency towards greater insularity. Nobody has a, monopoly of good ideas and free discussion of methods of increasing industrial efficiency and hastening Britain's economic recovery will benefit everyone.

The efforts of commercial-vehicle manufacturers to impress upon the Government the need for a complete overhaul of the Construction and Use Regulations might have met with greater success if they had been strongly backed by industry. The 3-ton restriction associated with the 30 m.p.h. speed limit is an anachronism which has forced upon manufacturers undesirable practices in weight reduction. In the long run, these are reflected in increased maintenance costs, which industry has to bear. Admittedly, the associations of manufacturers and traders have done gocid work in pressing for the removal of the 20 m.p.h. ped limit on heavy goods vehicles. Its repeal would automatically solve the problems of weight paring in vehicles, but there would remain a number of restrictions on construction, the relaxation of which would benefit users generally. The great industrial bodies should, therefore, join commercial-vehicle manufacturers in urging the early re-casting of the Construction and Use Regulations.

The participation of six trade unions in an approach by bus operators to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a reduction in fuel tax was welcome, and pointed the way to closer cooperation between workers and management in promoting the national interest. It is, however, regrettable that the unions have been less farsighted in the matter of the speed limit on heavy goods vehicles and have so far successfully pre vented changes in the law that would improve vehicle design, increase the possibilities of export trade and quite probably reduce the cost of road transport.

Representations for a reduction in fuel tax have been left mainly to organizations of transport cpaators and workers, although others, such as the Federation of British Industries, are equally concerned. This is another instance in which joint action by all interests is vital, but has been neglected.

The time has come to impress on every organization of manufacturers, traders and individuals its dependence on efficient road transport. Any effort that is initiated to reduce the cost of carriage and promote the most effective employment of the country's road transport resources merits everyone's support, morally and practically. The machinery is available by which joint action can be taken: it merely awaits proper use.


comments powered by Disqus