Progress in Transport Co-ordination
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A Precis of the Inaugural Address of the New President of the Institute of Transport, Sir Cyril Hurcomb, K.B.E., C.B., Which Constitutes a Remarkable • Survey of the Transport Situation
THE subject selected for his address as President of the Institute of Transport by Sir Cyril Hurcomb, K.B.E., C.B., was " Progress in the Co-ordination of Transport in Great Britain," which he delivered last Monday. He prefaced his remarks by mentioning that this was the third occasion on which a representative of the Ministry of Transport had been chosen to fill the post of President.
In his inaugural address, Sir Eric Geddes had reviewed the state of transport as it was left by the war. He found that " under pre-war conditions of revenue no single transport agency could continue to exist." It was, therefore, necessary for the State to revise the bargain with the railways, trams, canals or docks, the charges of which were limited, and to find means to enable them to meet their costs. It was only fair to ask the transport agencies on their side to give the public new guarantees as to the services to be provided and the charges to be levied, as well as adequate information as to the conduct of their , undertakings.
Post-war Legislation on Transport.
The railway situation called for drastic measures. The companies were amalgamated into four groups. The' old scheme of maximum rates was superseded, and a tribunal established to administer standard charges. The Railways Act of 1921 left aside the problem of London's transport and omitted authorizing railway companies to operate road services otherwise than for dealing with rail-borne traffic. The Act sought standard charges to which exceptional rates would be real exceptions, but it was confronted by road competition, coupled with periods of intense depression.
The Road Act, 1920, reaffirmed the principle of a special fund sustained by taxation of motor vehicles to meet highway expenditure, and extended the scope of the Minister's grant-making power to cover maintenance and not merely construction of roads and bridges. The power to contribute half the cost of the salaries of highway engineers and surveyors was used to increase the attraction of such posts, but the Act did not attempt to co-ordinate road and rail transport. The transport legislation of the past five years has largely been directed towards bringing about such co-ordination.
Here, as abroad, the rapid emergence of a new competitor with the railways forced into prominence the need for correcting a tendency which had been allowed to develop unchecked, and which was producing not only a critical situation on the railways, but chaotic conditions on the road. The true interests of traders will only be secured by wisely directed mitigation of the unrestrained warfare which tended to develop between rail and road.
First, the railway system was reorganized, then Parlia1336 ment required the regulation and, licensing of public passenger vehicles, and directed the licensing authorities to consider facilities provided by other means for transport. The passenger transport of London was soon consolidated. Last, came the licensing of goods motor vehicles, again with opportunity for co-ordination left to the discretion of licensing authorities.
The speaker then dealt with highway co-ordination. By the Local Government Act, 1929, rural district councils in England and Wales ceased to be highway authorities, their functions being transferred to the county councils, subject to a provision under which any urban district council or non-county borough with a population exceeding 20,000 could claim to carry out road maintenance, despite the financial responsibility resting with the county council. There are 93 county councils, and still 1,350 highway authorities in Great Britain. As an example, the maintenance and improvement of the Great North Road between London and Berwick is in the hands of no fewer than 27 authorities.
Policy Unaffected by State Ownership.
Whatever may have been the case elsewhere, policy in this country has not been deflecten by national ownership of particular means for transport. The few undertakings owned by the State are legacies from the past and largely white elephants which no one else could afford to stable.
In 1914, local authorities owned 60 per cent. of the route miles of tramway. This made it anomalous that the same bodies should license the coaches and buses of their competitors, and the transfer of this jurisdiction, effected by Road Traffic Act, 1930, became necessary.
Passenger transport by road is now established as one of our greatest public utilities. Its 90,000 drivers and 70,000 conductors offer an example of competence. The system 'has made an enormous difference to the lives of vast numbers of people whose geographical isolation is at an end. The country-bus and motor-coach services have done for them physically what the B.B.C. has done for them mentally. The number of vehicles owned by licensed operators at the end of 1934 was 45,000, and all have to conform to standards of fitness and submit to inspection. For journeys by stage carriages alone, apart from express or long-distance coaches, • the public is content to pay £1,000,000 per week: Growth of Passenger Capacity Since Control The reduction of 700 vehicles since the end of 1931 has been accompanied by an increase in average seating
capacity. Whilst in 1931, the vehicle-miles were 1,319 million, the number for 1034 was 1,346 million, the estimated seat miles rose from 42,125 million to 45,850 milli-n, and the receipts from £58,397,000 to £60,030,000.
The Commissioners reported that during 1933 and 1934 1,000 new operators had been granted licences. Many had been running excursions presumed not to require a licence, but it cannot be said that small operators are being squeezed out. There are services for which a man operating one or two vehicles cannot meet the public requirements, but there are numerous districts where the small operator fulfils a local function at least as well as a large concern. In some Of the more agricultural areas the proportion of concerns owning not more than four vehicles is high. In South Wales, the West of England, East Anglia and especially the North of Scotland, such operators represent 90 per cent, of the total and own 40 per cent. of the vehicles. .
At December 31, 1934, there were 2,471 operators with . erre vehicle, 1,095 with two, 729 with three and 380 with four.
The capital expenditure may be put at 280,000,000, of which that of local authorities and the undertakings transferred to the L.P.T.B. represent about one-third, and that of the four large groups (including an investment by the railways of about £10,000,000), rather more than one-third. These four large company groups embrace about 100 operating companies. There has been no drastic interference with the small man where he can ccnduct his services well or fulfil a useful economical function. Many have transferred their interests to larger concerns on terms involving no injustice, and not under the fear of uncontrolled competition. As services have been regularized and delimited, much coordination has been achieved.
The Commissioners' reports show the importance attached to the protection of the public, not only in respect of fares, but of adequacy of service. As monopolies grow they have to be watched. The Commissioners are armed with power to require the provision of unremunerative services by operators who enjoy the privilege of running on the fatter routes. The main object must be to give the public economical, efficient and developing services.. The stability of operators and the well-being of employees are essential elements in any public utility. In goods traffic, the trader can often supply himself with transport; no such expedient is open to the poorer classes of traveller.
Possibilities of Traffic-receipt Pools.
An important development is the formation of trafficreceipt pools. Many of the parties to such arrangements have become associated with the railways. The most recent is the Associated Motorways pool with its centre in Cheltenham.
The railways obtained by private Acts in 1928, powers to operate road-transport services. Two approached certain municipalities in the industrial north, and four joint committees were formed. Halifax offers a good example of such an arrangement, where practically the whole of the local services have been acquired and co-ordinated. Those operating outside the local boundary have been transferred to the joint committee, and those within to the Halifax Corporation. Agreements have been entered into under whi;:h the long-distance operators pay the committee a percentage of fares from passengers picked up or set down within the area, in return for a co-ordinated scheme of fares and time-tables. Five tramway services have been discontinued and replaced by buses, and two branch railways closed.
We may expect to see joint committees in which all three elements, municipal, railway and private are interested. There are the proposals put forward tentatively for a joint transport board over a large area in South East Lancashire; there are many areas suitable fur consolidated operation.
The Licensing of Goods Vehicles.
Meanwhile the state of transport of goods by road was causing acute corkem, rate-cutting was rife, and the hours of the men often excessive. Parliament decided in favour of importing greater flexibility into the system of railway charges and permitted the railways to fix fiat rates by agreement with traders. Simultaneously, some degree of regulation of road haulage was introduced. The omission of any control of rates from the Acts finds sufficient explanation in the recommendation of the Salter Conference that this question should be left for further examination, in consultation with the Central Advisory Committee.
At September 30 last, the position regarding the various classes of vehicle was : A licences, 100,000 vehicles, 25,000 holders ; B licences, 55,000 vehicles, 35,000 holders; C licences, 305,000 vehicles, 150,000 holders. The vehicles authorized include hired 'vehicles and trailers.
The' testing time will not come until A and Ti licences fall due for renewal, and the rights to claimed tonnage have expired; but the immediate effect has been to stabilize (without vetoing all expansion) the general quantum of road transport Carrying goods for hire or reward, so that during the first period the extent of public needs may be ascertained.
Principles enunciated by the Appeal Tribunal will serve as a guide in the administration of the licensing system. Amongst these will be found a series of decisions laying down with precision points upon which an applicant, particularly a newcomer,-may expect to have to satisfy the licensing authority before he receives a licence to which he has no express right. •
The Present Trend. in Organization.
Before anything in the nature of a complete or final solution can be reached a good deal of experience has to be gained, and it is essential to study in detail the different schemes of regulation as they are working out in practice.
The measures of Parliament have not been without relationship to one another; and none of them is likely to stand in the way of more thorough-going solutions if circumstances so require. We are still a long way from the unification of all means for tranSport. • pevelopment will probably take the form of regional consolidations with connecting links between road and rail intereSts through pool:. ing receipts, as in London, and Northern Ireland; where the bold step has been taken of placing both goods and passenger transport by road in the hands of the same public board_ There is little disposition in any country to seek escape from present difficulties by merging all means for transport into one vast monopoly to be operated or controlled by the State; on the other hand, there is no likelihood of reversion to the other extreme of unrestricted competition.
Abstaining from direct ownership, the State has been content to grant large powers and franchise to individual transport agencies, subject only to safeguards in such matters as safety and the keeping of adequate accounts.
Parliament has provided the Minister with an "after care" committee to assist him in looking after its legislative infants, and upon the Transport Advisory Council every form of transport, except aviation, is represented. The highways, also, through the local authorities, and, to some extent, consumers; as it includes representatives of trading interests, agriculture and ordinary road users.
The Position of the Ancillary User.
The ease with which the trader can acquire and operate his own vehicles is the best protection against possible abuses of any monopoly which might be developed. Although it is possible that the transfer of heavy traffics to the roads might, on national grounds, be held to be undesirable, whether carried by an ancillary user or not.
Subject to this contingency, interference with the ancil lary user seems unlikely, but as the services of the regular hauliers and railways are developed on a complementary basis, they may he found to offer a quality of service and a level of rates sufficiently attractive to induce some ancillary users to abandon operation.. Many people would say that the keystone of co-ordination within the industrY and between road and rail will only drop into place when a stable rates structure has been devised. Most will agree that before this question coula usefully he approached, difficulties of remuneration and conditions of service should first be overcome. This is being achieved by the general recognition of the recommendations made by the National joint Conciliation board, and compliance with the statutory conditions attached to every licence is due from the industry to the public and to the men.