"Satisfy the Majority "—Sir J. Elliot
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A'public transport can never satisfy everyone, the operator's golden rule should be to satisfy the majority, according to Sir John Elliot, chairman of London Transport. He said last week that where a monopoly was held by an undertaking, services should be consistent as Ear as possible,
Sir John was delivering a paper, "Efficiency versus costs in public transport—what is the answer?" to the Northern Section of the Institute of Transport.
He said the problem which faced all public transport was that of losses on peak traffic, because large sums were tied up in equipment which was in use for only a short time. About a third of Londoo's 8,500 trolleybuses were in service only at peak hours.
By operating standards this was highly uneconomic, but rush-hour loads had to be carried, so it was a case of trying to keep the factor of "cost inefficiency" as low as possible. This was done by making the best use of crews and rolling stock in the off-peak hours—midday, evening and week-end.
"In recent years there has been virtually no decrease in the number of passengers travelling in the height of the peak, but traffic has been declining steadily at nearly all other times," he said. "Whilst we can trim our services to match reductions in off-peak demand, no major gavings can be made without touching the peak-hour service."
A certain amount of tight-rope walking had to be done if services were to be efficient and pay their way at the same time, so it was essential that undertakings should cost out all their services and try to put them on an economic basis. It was not feasible for the losing services to be withdrawn, which meant that management had to be skilful, determined and patient.
On the question of subsidies, Sir John said they opened the door for those providing the money to try to dominate the undertaking. Decisions were likely to be based on political or other motives, and the undertaking was open to pressure by every kind of crackpot, 'It is my belief that there is nothing as effective as the yardstick of income versus expenditure to ensure that an undertaking is run efficiently," Sir John added.