PTA concept repeats
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USerrors BY THOMAS LENTHALL
AFTER meeting bus and coach operators from all sections of the industry, as well as many councillors and local government officers, I have found nothing to make me change my views on Passenger Transport Authorities. In general, my worst fears have been confirmed. It seems that the justification for PTAs is to relieve British Railways of losses on suburban rail services and to bring about the integration of bus services (most of which are already integrated).
A Minister and an MP have claimed that British PTAs, while "on the lines" of Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, will avoid Boston's mistakes. One explanation led me to ask if the British Parliament had been abolished—because we cannot ignore the strong, even dominant, influence of central government on PTAs. In fact, the differences between PTAs (as provided for in the Transport Bill) and the MBTA (which I have lived with for several years) are of little or no practical importance.
Railway reorganization
I have already stressed the significance of railway reorganization in the PTA concept, but the control of this reorganization is beyond the technical competence of local councillors (as in Boston). From my discussions with representatives from urban districts in the "core area", as well as rural district councillors, it was apparent that, at this level, the local authorities concerned have virtually no knowledge or understanding of what a PTA will mean to them. The lady chairman of Whitefield UDC aptly demonstrated this when she spoke of the inability of local authorities in her area to deal with BR on the operation of the Manchester /Bury line.
It is significant that BR has refused to disclose the true facts regarding the financial standing of any line in the four conurbations and how it computes its costs. This factor is a major complaint of local councillors in all proposed PTA areas, as, without this knowledge, they are unable to compute the effects of railway subsidies on the rates.
The municipalities will, anyway, be unable to challenge BR's costs unless they engage expert staff. The same will apply to their relations with the operating Executives. While many municipalities now have transport departments, these will no longer be available to them, as the PTAs will absorb this managerial expertise.
What will happen if the Manchester and Salford undertakings are combined? Already these provide basically integrated operations (and services by the independent operator, A. Mayne and Son Ltd., are also integrated with Manchester Corporation), yet the Salford undertaking seems to be the more efficiently The takeover of the small private and municipal bus undertakings whose operations do not affect the trunk bus lines in the conurbations will only lead to inefficiency and poor service, as well as irritated passengers. One result: more cars bought for passengers' own private transport.
The Government intends to steal the municipal undertakings, but its protection of the proposed National Bus Company also seems to create a problem. The NBC will have the statutory obligation to co-operate with the PTAs and operate services under agreements with them. At the same time, the PTAs must not damage the viability of NBC subsidiaries. What then will happen if the PTA in awarding a contract insists, following normal commercial procedure, upon taking a percentage of the revenue?
In Newcastle, for example, it would probably be impossible for Northern General or United Automobile Services to continue to provide their remaining services without full revenue from those within the conurbation. Is it the Government's intention to give up its investment in these companies solely to get control of Newcastle's 300 buses? The same problem would arise for NBC subsidiaries in all the other PTA areas.
Integration
The PTAs are to introduce a major reform -integration of bus services. Presumably the THC purchased the BET undertaking for this purpose. If anyone had examined the Birmingham area, he would have found that the services of the Birmingham Corporation, the other municipalities and Midland Red have already been integrated, so far as practical.
In Birmingham, Cllr. Gilroy Bevan, vicechairman of the City's transport committee, calculated that the effect of the PTA on the Birmingham rates would be an increase of 2s in the C.
If a PTA now existed in Liverpool, they would still be experiencing the present lengthy strike, but it would cover a much larger area and every bus would be affected. As the chairman of the Wallasey Transport Committee pointed out to me, strikes cause a permanent loss of passengers and revenue.
One Liverpool councillor, whose son-in-law is on the Harvard University faculty in Massachusetts and who has himself been there, said he was familiar with the PTA set-up of the M BTA and that "it stinks".
Consumer Groups also have a vital interest in the PTA and their reaction may be to become more outspoken following the comments of an official of the Manchester Group. At our meeting in that city he said he had thought PTAs could only lead to improvements in public transport. He had, however, been convinced that the new system would mean -jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
The main thought after the Tyneside meeting is that, of the four areas, this is the least feasible as a PTA. Newcastle Corporation already operates services in six other nearby municipalities and has integrated them with those of the THC undertakings. The only other municipal operator in the area--South Shields —has no physical connection with Newcastle.
Tyneside not ideal for PTA
Newcastle—population only 250,000—is not the focus of a large conurbation with dormitory suburbs. Passenger traffic movement is not concentrated on roads into the city centre, but to a thin strip of industrial development along the Tyne. For practical purposes, this strip, with Newcastle almost at one end, provides the numerous destinations of local traffic movement: not an ideal situation for setting up a rapid transit system and providing the passenger traffic needed to support it.
The PTA also creates a problem for the independent operators, who may face new competition from it. The PTAs would have complete control over the stage carriage lines within the conurbation. It could also compete on excursions, possibly tours and private hire.
PTA competition
If the PTA purchased an operator whose business included excursions and tours in addition to stage carriage and/or express work, the remaining independents in the area might find the PTA competing for this work, both within and outside the conurbation. As minimum charges for private hire are not prescribed in Britain, a PTA could use its strength to compete with other operators, possibly to establish its own monopoly.
The removal of the Traffic Commissioners' neutral regulation of bus services will make a PTA its own judge and jury.
The PTA operation of a large, inefficient and probably uneconomic bus undertaking is bound to lead to precepts on the rates. One reaction could be, as in Massachusetts, greater demand for local municipal control—and such a demand is to some extent already felt in Newcastle, the PTA conurbation most distant from London. After a few years operation, it seems certain that Bills would be introduced into Parliament to put PTAs on a commercial footing and, possibly, also to reduce their operating territory—as in the case of London Transport.
Logically, the PTAs should not be created as operating agencies and the question of local transport should be left for local government units to be set up after the Royal Commission report.
Regional planning of many public utilities and services is needed, but it is not sensible to treat transport on an ad hoc basis without regard to land use, town planning, traffic management and other problems to be handled by some sort of elected administration.