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Time Limits for Loading and Unloading.

19th June 1928, Page 43
19th June 1928
Page 43
Page 44
Page 43, 19th June 1928 — Time Limits for Loading and Unloading.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A S an experimental measute the Minister of "-Transport has instituted • regulations under Section, 10 of the London Traffic Act, 1924; respecting the loading and unloading of vehicles in the neighbourhood . of Piccadilly Circus, the area concerned being bounded by Denman Street, Rupert' Street, Jermyn Street, 'Air Street and the junction between Glasshouse Street and 'Sherwood Street,. where between the hours of 4.30 p.m. and 7 p.m., on weekdays other than Saturday, no vehicles may stand, for the purpose of loading or unloading, for more than 15 minutes or such less time as may be necessary for these purposes. The regulations also prohibit the obstruction of the footway or carriageway by the depositing thereon of goods, the passing of goods from hand to hand, or the use of ropes, chains, etc.

The regulations came into force on ;June 11th and will continue for a period of three months, and it will depend upon the success of this scheme as to whether it will be continued.

The point of chief importance to users of commercial vehicles and the business houses concerned in respect of the delivery and expedition of goods is that if the improvement effected in the reduction of traffic congestion be considerable it is quite possible that not only will the area over which the restrictions operate be extended, but the scope of the regulations, so far as the hours during which they are in force, may also be increased, in which case all those affected will have to exercise their minds as to methods by which the time factorin loading and unloading can be reduced.

With many classes of goods 15 minutes should be quite sufficient time to load or unload, providing that everything be ready for reception of the goods or for their despatch, but it would be as well to be prepared, for time losses are always of importance, as they greatly increase the cost of transport and, if reduced to the minimum, do much to increase efficiency. Therefore, no harm can be done if every person concerned gives his diligent attention to this matter.

• There should belittle..difficulty in the case of light vans carrying loads occupying compara

tively small space. It is really only with the heavier classes of transport media that trouble may be experienced. It is not only the vehicle, -however, or the type of body, which is responsible for the time taken in loading or unloading, particularly in view of the fact that it will not be permissible to dump goods on the road or pavement. It is often in the methods of dealing with goods in the premises from which they are being removed or to which they are taken. In many the arrangements in the despatch and reception departments are most antiquated, and the handling of big loads rapidly would be quite impossible to them, and here we see considerable scope for the greater employment of suitable hoists, runways, rapidly working lifts, power-propelled trucks and the like. It would appear that not very much can be done with the vehicle itself. For some reason or other the many devices which have been placed on the market for facilitating 'loading and unloading have, with few exceptions, come to naught, although some were quite promising. The chief difficulty is that, to fit them, it -is necessary to incur capital expenditure which does not appeal to the vehicle buyer, whilst the results obtained were not always up to expectations.

There are, however, certainpromising arrangements, such as sliding tilts, which should do much to enable more rapid handling of the goods. The means tor access to the load on a vehicle are often unsatisfactory, and unless the separate items constituting the load be most carefully arranged beforehand the removal of certain of them when the whole does not have to be delivered sometimes involves loss of time.

Larger slides between the cab and the interior of the body, doors at the sides, as are used on many vehicles employed by commercial travellers, or the employment of roller-shutter slides, may contribute to the reduction of the time factor.

Another point is in connection with the men employed for the work. If the driver, or driver and -boy, only be available, the time must. necessarily be increased, but if further assist

ance can be -obtained at the points of delivery or reception, this will naturally do much to expedite matters.

Derating Equally Desirable for Road Transport.

NOWthat there is a better appreciation cf the terms of Mr. Churchill's Rating and Valuation (Apportionment) Bill, the omission of commercial road transport from the category of freight transport under the derating proposals is inciting more and more protest, expression to which has been given in the House of Commons by Mr. Arthur Greenwood, who was Secretary to the Ministry of Health under the Labour Government. As he remarked, it is curious that, on the one hand, public money should be spent on the roads and, on the other, the users of the roads should be penalized. Road transport has grown up to be an important, vital and indispensable facility, and to deprive it of rate relief is to favour its commercial rivals, whilst to tax the fuel used by road transport for the purpose of giving relief to those rivals and to industrial enterprize will be doubly unfair.

The importance of securing reductions in rates of freight on goods is quite as great as that of assisting manufacture. Equally it is important to secure some substantial reduction of passenger fares, the high level of which must act in restraint of trade. What has yet to be grasped is the fact that distribution of people and goods is as vital an element as manufacture. As Mr. Greenwood said, the country needs a co-ordinated system of transport, yet the Bill leaves the railways to regard road transport as a much-cow for the purpose of providing them with greater trade. He is right in his assertion that the trade of the country depends on the available purchasing power of the public, and if that purchasing power be increased by the reduction of passenger fares it would be as great an economic service as to reduce the charges on iron, steel and coal.


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