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Flexible hours ease peak problems
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Load spreading plans studied by Newcastle University symposium: modern fare-collection equipment speeds passenger flow
• Effects on passenger transport of intensified staggering of hours in industry were described by Prof Robert White, Department of Civil Engineering, Newcastle upon Tyne University, at this week's symposium run by the University. Prof White presented the paper which had been prepared by Mr Norman Morton, senior research officer in the Division of Transport Engineering, whose death had occurred a few days before the symposium.
Particular attention was given to the German concept of Gleitende Arbeitszeit, sliding working times or flexible hours which, it was stated, had proved to have a strong psychological appeal as well as practical advantages to the transport opertaors.
Demand for traffic space in urban districts normally exceeded capacity only during relaively short morning and evening peaks, said Prof White, there being an excess of highway space during the rest of the 24 hours. A quite minor movement of working times, say 15-45 minutes, could transform this situation.
In 1957 Sunderland Corporation Transport (of which Mr Morton was then general manager) had obtained agreement of unions and employers' associations to a farreaching plan for the staggering of working hours. Punctuality was improved because drivers had more time between each work jotirney, and long queues largely disappeared.
The extra time available enabled the transport department to set up a scheme for direct bus journeys between the works areas. These were real works-to-home routes, as many as eight housing areas being served from one place of employment. Many buses were rerouted to avoid the town centre, so relieving congestion and producing quicker journey times. Despite the growth in car useage most of these buses were still being operated.
The German plan of flexible hours applied especially to administrative staff and therefore had a tremendous potential in the congested central areas. There were over half million while-coolar workers following this practice in Germany. The principle was that they were all on duty between, say, 9 am and 3 pm, but could choose their own times for starting before or finishing after these fixed hours.
From the employees' side they could take a half-day off without prior arrangement, could make appointments with doctor or dentist without interfering with work, could choose their own shopping times or for the time when a man could take his wife to work. Whilst strict punctuality had been abandoned it had been found that timekeeping was improved.
Morale boost
Employers reported a rise in staff morale, improved recruitment and better work performance. There was overall advantage but the transport operator obtained particular benefit.
From North America several cities had indicated an interest in the growth of the four-day week, based on four 10-hour days, which would automatically lengthen the period of the peaks, but the speaker doubted whether this was a remedy. Certainly, he felt, in Britain a move to a four-day week would be on the basis of reduced working hours which would make no contribution to the problem being considered. The speaker quoted cases of improvements being achieved by staggering of hours in Berlin, Bremen, Munich and Stuttgart, the last-mentioned being one of the German leaders in adopting tilt Gleitende Arbeitszeit principle; also Manhattan, Atlanta and Washington DC.
All members of the staffs concerned ir the German plan registered their dail3 working times on a standard record car( which produced their total weekly hours Clearly this system would be impracticahlt for factories on flow-line production o where the work force in effect operated as single highly integrated team during thi whole period of a shift, as in many larg plants today. On the other hand there wen many areas of industry where such con straints would not apply. This was especiall; true of the white collar section which, as , percentage, tended to increase and, further more, was largely located in city centre where congestion had the greatest effect 0. transport.
There would be immense possibilities fc radical changes in the hours of she opening. During a census taken in Sundei land in 1964 the branch manager of one the largest national chain stores stated thr 50 per cent of their business was done o Saturday, 20 per cent on Friday and onl 30 per cent spread over the remainin four days. Some shops already had measure of internal staggering but t1 London Report of 1958 said that despi this fact 71 per cent of the staff still finish during the peak period. This was a fie requiring much wider investigation.
The relationship between the o-m uble-decker and modern fare systems s examined by John Rostron, HuddersId Passenger Transport general manager, o said the biggest single problem in the aintenance of existing journey schedules s the time taken by the individual pasnger in boarding and alighting. With the rmal rear entrance bus this was of the der of 1-2 sec. but with early o-m-o erating this had extended to 4-5 sec. He as sure there would be a tendency toards a coarsening of the fare scales in -der to reduce the number of values and to iced up handling.
are collection problems
Season tickets could save much time ice the cash was pre-collected but they eded to offer a financial incentive and to ve a separate selling and accounting ganization. In most cases payment was ide on boarding which at least meant that• 3 complete evasion of payment of fares a virtually non-esistent. Two distinct ssenger flows is a single vehicle had been ablished in many instances, one serviced the driver and the other paying through f-service machines. Every effort ought to made to ensure that passengers had the Text fare and, if possible, the cash should t actually be handled by the driver. ige public relations exercises were :essary to convince passengers of the xl to have the right money ready.
fhe coinbox was beoming a widely used lure and one that should be encouraged. )arate driver accounting was minimized ilst bulk collection and counting of cash id take place. This method could be d without tickets and he regarded it as of the first steps for the future reanization of ticket and cash systems. kmong other subsidiaries the Hamburg nsport Authority had its own building ipany, said Hans Becker, HTA director, sking on labour relations. This provided f dwelling accommodation on a nonfit 'making basis, and it reduced staff lover, being a help in the present housshortage. Accommodation was generally he immediate vicinity of the working es so as to avoid loss of leisure time mgh long journeys. Rents were reason able because of interest-free loans from the Authority and loans at advantageous rates from the company's pension fund.
Discussing competition from cars, K. 0. Palsson, technical manager of AS Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, said some drivers used their cars for town journeys because they had free parking available. Employees in Government departments in Stockholm previously used to have it free but they were now compelled to pay, a fact that gave them a fresh interest in public transport. Transport people had to make transfer of one mode of travel to another as convenient for the passenger as possible. Kurt Elmberg, Gothenburg Transport Authorities director of planning, commented that the use of buses as feeders to rail or to a rapid transit system was accepted in his city since this method has been employed from 1939 onwards to save oil fuel.
Dr T. M. Ridley, director-general of Tyneside PTE, observed that the solution to current problems seemed to lie in a combination of different means of moving people. Future development of offices and shops in central Newcastle imposed a particular problem. The consultants had recommended a rapid transit system for Tyneside but the passenger transport authority were to adopt other methods as well, so giving a balanced mix of functions. While there needed to be restrictions on the use of the car, any move in that direction would be futile without a great improve ment in travel facilities.
The Works Council, described by H. Becker, director of Hamburg Transport Authority, in a paper on labour relations in Germany, seemed to deal with disciplinary matters that in the United Kingdom were the responsibility of management. R. H. Roberts, traffic manager of Maidstone and District Motor Services Ltd, wanted to know how effective the works council was.
Dr Lippacher, of Hamburg Transport Authority, who presented Herr Becker's, paper replied that the management could not act in personnel and disciplinary matters without their works council who also dealt with such questions as rationalization programmes. In the case of dismissals, the council must agree but in general they were ready to act in the interest of the organization and for the benefit of all concerned. Theoretically, it was possible for the works council to be anti-company, but in fact such opposition was unlikely to arise.
Answering further questions, Dr Lippacher said they had a payment by results plan in the repair department. This section was organized as a public workshop with its own accounting and was therefore on a competitive basis, performing work on cars, commercially owned lorries, municipal vehicles and so on. One of the most important things was to set up an efficient method of time and work study.