Traders Do Not Want Transport Surplus
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TRADERS were not interested in cutthroat competition among transport operators or in the creation of a surplus of transport, Mr. J. W. Bannard, the new chairman of the Mansion House Association on Transport, said at their annual luncheon in London last Friday. He expretsed the Association's br.oad approval tor the Government's policy on transport and urged that there should be no renationalization.
This theme was taken up later by Maj.Gen. G. N. Russell, chairman of British Road Services, who said that he was certain that if the present balance between private and public transport were maintained, a suitable pattern would emerge.
Mr. Barnard said that the railway merchandise charges scheme was a great advance on anything in the past, and the railways should make courageous use of their new freedom. Traters were, however, waiting for a lead from the railways. He described as a "doctrine of despair" a recent statement by a railway official that traders who sent their main traffic by other means would find difficulty in consigning the:r small lots by rail.
He congratulated the London and Home Counties Division of the Traders Road Transport Association on their presentation to the Samuels Committee of the trader's case against the proposed ban on loading and unloading in London, Sir Gilmour Jenkins, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, said that the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee had not yet reached their conclusions on the Samuels report. He defended the right of vehicles to load and unload, but pointed out that many stationary vehicles left in the streets should not be there.
Gen. Russell, who described the prese,rit as a stimulating time for operators, said that America was little ahead of Britain in transport organization.
. ONE-MAN-BUS TRIALS
EXPERIMENTS with one-man buses I—. are now taking pface on several country routes served by the Burnley, Colne and Nelson Joint Transport Committee. They have asked the North Western Traffic Commissioners to permit similar trials on their Burnley—Holme route, through Turf Moor Estate.