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A NewPhase of Transport Propaganda.

1st January 1924
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Page 1, 1st January 1924 — A NewPhase of Transport Propaganda.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE FACT, contained in an announcement issued last week, that Royal Academicians of the rank of Mr. Frank Brangwyn, Sir William Orpen, Mr. G. Clausen, Mr. Charles Sims, and Mr. D. Y. Cameron, and Associates of the class of Mr. Augustus John, and others, should have been commissioned to prepare posters for a campaign to be initiated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, must cause all those who are engaged in or concerned with the development of mechanical road transport to consider the need for active propaganda on behalf of their particular industry.

Evidently, the new campaign will first be directed towards attracting visitors, on holiday bent, to the lochs, mountains, sea and moor, and to draw attention to the advantages of sites near the railway for factories and othcr industrial centres. The campaign is bound to be a success and, unless met by counter propaganda, it must adversely affect motor coach proprietors. Later, the scheme is sure to be developed so that the railway as a means of goods transport will be presented in an attractive light. How can the necessary counter propaganda be instituted ? Here, the disadvantages of position will be felt. A vast entity such as the L.M. and S. Railway Co. can, obviously, by a quick decision attain an end out of reach of a number 44 dissociated persons or groups. But it does seem that, in the Commercial Motor Users Association, there exists the organization necessary and suitable for the conduct of an active campaign on behalf of the road. That which is necessary to be borne in mind is the class of the community it is required to reach. It includes the manufacturers, merchants, traders and shippers—quite a substa,ntia; portion of that community which, from its very size and its variety of trades, industries and interests, increases the difficulties to some extent.

The story to be told to these concerns the development of road transport, and the advantages of a mode of transport which takes the goods direct from door to door without transhipment, or with but a minimum thereof. Where there is an advantage in ' rate the point may be stressed, but, generally, the great advantage that can be shown is that of improved service—simpler packing, greater immunity from pilfering (because of the lack of opportunity and the possibility of fixing responsibility), quicker

delivery and better protection of the goods between the initial and final points of the journey.

Whether the poster lends itself to this kind of propaganda or a weekly circular ; whether the whole of the trading community be addressed or individual trades one at a time ; whether, in connection with each industry, a meeting or a dinner could be held at which it would be possible to advance the claims of road transport to be of benefit to that particular industry, are matters that require careful discussion. We are convinced; however, that the time has come for this discussion, to be followed later by action, because the competition between rail and road in the near future will be strenuous, and the need undoubtedly exists for immediate propaganda work, if the advantages which can be offered by road transpart are not to be obscured by the claims of the railways.

Tenders for the Transport of Mails.

AN important notice_ will he found in the advertisement pages of this issue of The Commercial Motor, in which the PostmasterGeneral announces that he will be prepared to receive,on or before the 21st of this month, tenders for the conveyance of letter and parcel mails by motor mail vans between different post offices in London (the districts mentioned being the northern, eastern, south-western, Paddington, north-western, and south-eaetern head and sub districts), and also between such offices and certain railway stations in London and certain near provincial towns. The printed form of tender gives full information on the whole subject, and is obtainable at the office of the Controller of the London Postal Service, King Edward's Building, Central Post Office, London, E. C. 1.

The tenders will not he accepted after 3 p.m. on the date mentioned, and we understand that they may be submitted for the whole of the services to which we have referred, or for any portion of them. The transport system of the Post Office has always been admirably conducted and motor vehicles have effected quite a revolution therein. And, when one comes to think of the service and the way in which it is conducted, one is brought to the realization of the fact that one never sees a broken-down or distressed mail van, or hears of any serious delay to the mails'through mechanical failure. The days when such things used to happen appear to have gone and, to-day, the horse plays but a very small part in a system which may be said to be the very life-blood of a civilized community.

Saving Time on Taxi Journeys. TIIERE IS, genuine need for the Public Carriage Department of Scotland Yard to consider the revision of the general instructions issued to drivers of taxicabs to take the shortest route between the point at which a fare is picked up and his destination. As a general instruction it is, of course, sound, tending towards the avoidance of -journeylengthening for country cousins ignorant of London, even if it may make for marked dissatisfaction on the part of the few who take a cab from Knightsbridge station to Hyde Park Hotel, or from the Midland Hotel, St. Pancras to King's Cross station.

The circumstances to-day are such that any proposal which will assist in the use of alternative routes should be adopted. Taking the shortest route between points almost Certainly, in .a very high percentage of journeys, involves the use of main traffic B113 arteries and the traversing of congested traffic junctions. There is not a great deal in the way of speed to be .gained by taking the routes alternative to the main arteries because they nearly always consist of narrower roads with many turnings to be made and many cross roads which have to be negotiated with excessive caution, because of the absence of traffic pointsmen at such junctions. But where a substantial gain in time can be effected is in the avoidance of the points where traffic is likely to be held up, by the block method employed by the London police, for two or three minutes (it always seems longer). Many of these) may be avoided by a man who knows

London. For example, Piccadilly Circus, the approaches to which are always heavily congested and crossing which invariably entails a substantial delay, is easily avoidable. Again, St. Giles' Circus at the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road is a terrible bottle-neck, but could always be skirted, if the taxi driver had the liberty of choice of

route. .

The matter is one which Chief Constable Bassom, the new Director of Traffic, might take in hand and make the basis of recommendations. The taxi driver might, for example, be urged, where he thinks that time could be saved byl taking a less direct route, to ask the fare which he prefers—the shortest route or

the quickest one. By giving a hint to a driver for avoiding a certain busy road junction we, the other day, saved nearly five minutes, although the distance worked out about 500 yards longer. When the avoid

ance of this one junction was suggested, the driver took the hint and avoided two others and could have avoided the only one remaining had he thought of it. It is now such a slow matter getting across or through London that it becomes important to reconsider old regulations and earlier habits and practices.

The Tendencies in Fuel Prices in 1924.

THERE ARE indications that., in 1924, there will be an extension of the oil war, with a possibility of lower prices for motor spirit. The output of oil in the United States of America is substantially in excess of demand, and there seems. to be no method that can be brought into effect to diminish output or to limit production. .With so excessive, an output of oil it has not been possible for any one group to secure sole control, with the result, as seen on this side of the Atlantic, that suppliers independent of the two great oil distributing concerns have de.veloped their resources and improved their methods to such an extent that they are becoming serious

rivals to the established organizations, .

The gradual vanishing of the two-gallon can and its replacement by the kerbside pump and underground storage tank are factors which are tending to tell against the perpetuation of the value of brands, particularly When, as seems to be the case, the best of the independent suppliers are taking extreme care to maintain a high standard of quality for their " No 1 Spirit," .and so are aiming to give satisfaction equal to that which has been given by the proprietors of the branded products.

There is a difficult time in front of road transport, with the revival of competition from railways, which, employing, as they do, steam and electric power for. their hiulage work, are; of course, virtually independent of the fuel oil supplier. Hence the latter must throw in his lot with the road transport man. more in the future than he has done in the past, and must aim to give him all the advantages of cheap fuel and of good service to enable him to hold up against the efforts of his principal riealtherailWay.


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