G.P.O. Wilt Carry Their Own Increased Road Traffic
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FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT COMMERCIAL vehicle operators whp saw a chance of increased business in the Post Office's decision to consider using more road transport will be disappointed to learn that the G.P.O. expect to be able to cover the increase with their own vehicles.
It was in March that Mr. Reginald Bevins, the Postmaster General, announced that a large-scale experiment was to be carried out in East Anglia.
The aims, said a White Paper, were to find out how the parcel post service could be improved, and costs cut, by concentrating mails at suitable centres and dispatching, them in bulk between these centres, "making increased use of road transport for their conveyance, especially over short distances.
I learnt this week that the experiment is not expected to begin until next year. By then, its success might be imperative in the -light of Dr. Beeching's expected decision to close down many local branch railway lines.
At the moment, the Post Office pay about £21 million in mail-carrying contracts and the great majority of this goes to the railways.
It is intended that the railways shall continue to be the main long-distance carriers of mail and parcels. But where the Post Office hope to increase efficiency and reduce costs is between principal railway stations and the eventual destination of the goods.
Some £3 million worth of business may be at stake here, but at present the Post Office are intending to see in their experiment whether their own vans—which would merely be used for longer distances than at present—can cope with the longer journeys.
12-Seat Land-Rover
THE Rover Company announce that there is now available a 12-seater, fotA-wheel-drive Land-Rover, with the 21-litre petrol or diesel engine. The 12-seater is not subject to purchase tax and the prices are: petrol-engined version. £950; diesel-engined version, £1,060.
LORRY ROUTE PROTESTS
THE works committee of Islington Borough Council have now added their voice to those people who are protesting at the proposed London lorry route. The committee are asking the council to express to the Minister of Transport the strongest possible opposition, chiefly on the grounds that the scheme will bring heavy traffic from MI and Al through the heart of the borough and cause congestion and danger.
Novel Seddon Bogie Now Standard
THE high articulation, two spring bogie with only two leaves to each spring, introduced by Seddon Diesel Vehicles, Ltd.,• at last year's Scottish Motor Show on their Mk. 15/10 (Series 2) six-wheeler, is to become standard equipment on Seddon light and heavy duty sixand eight-wheeled chassis.
Announcing this on Wednesday, the company stated that the new bogie suspension will be exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show at Earls Court next September.
When The Commercial Motor roadtested a prototype Seddon six-wheeler in March, it was found that a difference of 11 in. could be measured between the heights of the two near-side hubs whilst successfully reversing up a short, grasscovered slope.
U.S. TRUCK TRAFFIC TO DOUBLE IN 20 YEARS, HE SAYS
QPEAK1NG to members of the 1,-.) Columbus (Ohio) Chamber of Commerce, Mr. C. A. Kelley, president of American Trucking Associations, predicted that inter-city ton-miles would be up by 131 per cent. by 1980. According to freight statistics produced by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, he said, total use of all forms of road transport would be doubled in 20 years' time.