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THE ROAD AND RAIL

23rd August 1932, Page 42
23rd August 1932
Page 42
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Page 42, 23rd August 1932 — THE ROAD AND RAIL
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

CONFERENCE REPORT

DART I opens with preliminary comments upon the scope

of the task and the character of the Conference. It points out that the questions to be considered are :—(a) the incidence of highway costs in relation to the contributions of the different classes of ,mechanically• propelled vehicle; (b) the nature and extent of the regulations which should be applied to goods transport by road and rail; (c) measures which may assist the two to tarry out their functions under equitable conditions which will adequately safeguard the interests of trade -and industry.

The Conference states that the whole object of its work has been the establishment of a "fair basis of competition" such as will tend to secure a better division of function between rail and road. Apart from the interests directly represented, the Conference had the advantage of receiving written statements from various associations and from many individuals; in particular, it found of especial value the communication from the Road Haulage Association, which was a full and careful examination of the whole problem.

Before the arrival of the internal-combustion engine the road system of the country was, with the exception of a few toll gates and licence fees paid for road locomotives, presented freely, at the expense of the community, to all who used it. At the beginning of the century, construction and maintenance amounted to about 112,000,000 a year. This fell upon the public revenues and almost entirely upon that portion raised in the form of rates. The alternative means for transport, the railways and the canals, contributed to the rates, but enjoyed no . subsidy from public revenues. The problem of unfair competition did not arise, because the railways and canals then had a natural advantage over any other form of transport for the classes of traffic for which they were suitable, which no free use of the roads by horsed traffic could substantially impair.

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• The situation has now been completely transformed. The. roads are predominantly used by motor vehicles ; all other use is secondary. There are 1,000,000 private cars, 627,000 motorcycles, 364,000 goods vehicles, and 87,000 takicabs, buses and coaches.

• The internal-combustion engine has placed a mechanized horse at the service of each person in the country, for the conveyance of himself and his goods. These new vehicles give facilities of transport never before enjoyed by trade and industry. They have brought into existence new communities attached to the road, as the railways did last century along their tracks. They have enormously increased the opportunity of the citizen to see his country, and the habit of inland travel, but have diverted ranch existing traffic from the railways. In some cases this is because the road is intrinsically more suitable, is preferred for its convenience, or is really cheaper when every allowance for full cost is made; but it is obvious that, so far as the new means for transport on the road do not pay a fair share of the road cost, corresponding to the charges falling upon the railways in respect of their permanent way, or are unfairly free of restrictive regulations analogous to those under which the railways operate and serve the trader, some of this diversion may be economically unsound and socially undesirable.

The road system of the country has been transformed to meet this new class of traffic. Road expenditure is 160,000,000 a year, although in comparing this with the afore-mentioned 112,000,000, the change in costs and prices must be taken into account.

There are now 176,791 miles of road in Great Britain, of which 42,995 are classified. Many, both classified and unclassified, are suitable, without undue wear and tear, for all, or nearly all, classes of the permitted traffic which utilizes them. Many others, however, have been incom pletely adapted, and it seems clear that in the future there must be either a very substantial adaptation of a large proportion of the roads, or some classes of traffic must he excluded from certain of them, or—more probably—a policy based on a combination of both these considerations must be anticipated.

That part of the road system used to a substantial extent by the heavier classes of motor traffic has been transformed to be reasonably suitable for such traffic. Much capital expenditure on the provision of by-passes, strengthening of bridges, elimination of railway crossings, widening at dangerous points and improvement of access to docks, is still to be anticipated. In particular, the Commission considers it highly desirable that the by-passes already begun should be rapidly completed, and that steps should be taken with regard to the strengthening of weak bridges.

The railways constructed their permanent ways out of loan capital, which constitutes about one-third of -their liabilities, and by share capital, the dividends on which have disappeared or been materially reduced. They bear the full cost of their maintenance. Track costs are given as:— interest on capital, .£36,000,000; maintenance and renewal, £18,000,000 ; signal men, £6,00,000; rates, £3,500,000 ; totaI. £134,000,000. • The interest on the capital required to construct their permanent way constitutes .the principal difference between their situation and that of the road-transport industry. Goods road transport utilizes as its permanent way the general road system constructed, transformed and maintained by public revenues.

By itself, however, such a statement would be misleading and unjust. Road users, in addition to being, like those interested in railways, both taxpayers and to some extent ratepayers, pay special taxes in the form of licence duties and petrol duty, which, if aggregated, are equal to current expenditure on the roads. Commercial road transport by itself is far from paying this total cost, but it would he unjust that it should, for it is not in the same position as if it had constructed a road system designed and reserved for its exclusive use. The roads are not adapted solely to its requirements, and their use by others involves speed restrictions, extra insurance against accidents end many other disabilities, it is, however, unreasonable to argue that if contributions from all sources connected with motoring cover the road cost, a fair basis of contribution is necessarily secured.

If a certain class of user, such as private-car owners, pays more than its proportionate share, it may be just either that the charges should be diminished or, if Parliament considers the class a proper subject of sumptuary taxation, that surplus should go in aid of general State revenues, and there is no reason why such surplus should operate as a relief to the burden of charges upon users of commercial motors who are in competition with other forms of transport, which must be fairly assessed and imposed, if the basis of competition is to be equitable and the division of function economically sound.

The Conference considers that the relative contributions need correction, and especially for certain classes of commercial goods vehicle they need to be increased; but extravagdnt expectations must not be entertained as to the effect of such increased taxation or of this combined with such additional regulation as the Commission conceives to be in the public interest, in forcing back traffic to the railways and so restoring their fortunes.

Certain services of the railways, essential in the past Century, are no longer indispensable, and it would be undesirable to attempt, by taxation beyond what rePresents a fair share of road cost, or by regulations beyond what is in the public

interest, to divert traffic back from the roads and deprive trade and industry of the convenience of the new form of transport. The railways' position is in part due to the general depression, and, so far as this is so, there is no remedy except from general recovery. The railways must look to their share of a generally increasing total of trade as economic activity expands with population and higher standards of living, and to the new facilities they can offer

to the public by co-ordinating railway transport with road transport, whether their own or not ; and for the rest must deal with their losses in the appropriate manner.

The. Conference can offer only an alleviation by dealing with any existing unfairness in the incidence of highway costs and inadequacy of the regulations to protect the public and otherS against undesirable forms of road traffic by goods vehicles. Even when the incidence of highway costs has been Corrected, the broad question remains whether it be possible to retain in .perfect equilibrium two systems, the economic cost of service being the guiding principle of charge. for one set of industries, and " what the traffic will hear" for the other. Some industries, the goods of which are carried by the railways on the latter principle and have whole communities dependent upon them, would be seriously affected if they were charged the full proportionate cost of service.

The Allocation of Road Costs.

"DART II deals with the incidence of highway costs. The 1 members of the Conference are in full agreement as to the main principles which should govern the determination of the charges upon road transport.

The railway representatives ask no more than that road transport should pay its fair share of the cost of the roads. They do not ask that either by taxation beyond this point or by restrictive regulation not required in the public interest, traffic, which they are not able to carry so conveniently or so cheaply, should be forced back to the railways.

The road representatives do not ask that road transport should pay less than its fair share, or should by so doing,

attain any other development than that which is economic and in the public interest. They accept the principle that when those previously accustomed to use horsed traffic turn to road motors and so compete with the railways, they should pay their full share of the cost without deduction in respect of the right of untaxed use which they enjoyed when employing horses.

A substantial allowance in the cost of the road must be made for "community uses," such as by pedestrians, cyclists, horsed traffic (which, incidentally, is the real factor in congestion in many areas), also the State uses the roads for troops, many public and semi-public services use them, the telegraph and telephone poles run by the side, and there are water pipes, drainage pipes, gas pipes and electric cables, and tramways run along them. It is clear that if motor traffic had a monopoly of its permanent way, it could go faster without danger and would be relieved of part of its

insurance charges ; if there were no motor traffic, the community would still need roads and would incur a substantial

expense in maintaining them. The only fair. principle is to consider the total annual the total contribution from all classes of mechanically propelled vehicle, whether in the form of licence duty or petrol duty, should be equal to the current expenditure on the roads, without considering the other two items.

The Conference considered that the net figure of road cost could be• taken as 160,000,000 per annum. Consideration was given to three principal systems for allocating the cost. The first of these combined a "speed tonnage" factor with the automatic incidence of the petrol duty, the index figure for the duty being obtained by multiplying the tonnage of the vehicle by its normal speed per hour, but this did not in itself give a satisfactory solution.

A Taxation Proposal Not Adopted.

Another system proposed was one based mainly upon petrol consumption and the petrol duties. It was suggested that 80 per cent. of the total contribution required could be obtained bY means of a is. duty per gallon on petrol, other factors being allowed for to produce the remaining 20 per cent., but this is considered to be a defective measure not adequately corrected by the reservation of 20 per cent, for graded licence duties.

This is largely because the skill of the engineer has succeeded in securing mach more work from the heavier vehicles in relation to their petrol consumption.

A third basis which was considered was ton-mileage, and

it is considered that ton-mileage must certainly be an important factor in a just criterion of allocation, but not in itself sufficient. Some allowance must be made for speed, for differences in range and character of road use and, in certain cases, for wear and tear on the one band not adequately measured by ton-mileage alone, although, on the other hand, lessened by the use of pneumatic tyres and additional axles and wheels.

It was tentatively estimated, -with the aid of expert evidence from the Ministry of Transport, that if there were no vehicles over four tons unladen either for passenger or goods traffic, the annual road expenditure might be reduced by between 2 and 3 per cent. If this be true of the class as a whole, it may be taken to be increasingly so with each rise of weight within the class, but for transport, for example, from docks through congested streets to a factory in the same town, it is probably better, from every point of view, that a given weight should go in large units.

It was concluded that a system of allocation based equally on ton-mileage and on petrol consumption would be the best general formula for the purpose, although subject to qualification in the case of the heaviest class of vehicle, and a further conclusion was that another correction was required, and that a greater allowance should be made for speed and unlimited franchise of the road at one end of the scale, than for the extra wear and tear caused by the heavy vehicles, of which a considerable portion, but by no means all, is to be found amongst the goods vehicles at the other end.

Therefore, the contributions have been allotted to the various road users in proportion to their use and wear and B28

tear of the roads, no distinction being made between use of the roads for pleasare or for business. The allocation then becomes 123,500,000 to commercial goods vehicles, and £36,500,000 to all other mechanically propelled vehicles. This is about £2,500,000 more than the present yield of the licence and petrol duties from commercial goods vehicles, and tile total sum involves considerable increases in the contributions to be made by certain classes of vehicle.

More than half the contributions made by owners of motor vehicles is now through the 8d. per gallon petrol duty. Steam, electric and oil-fuel vehicles entirely escape this duty. This is an. anomaly, not serious when the duty was small, but which now clearly needs correction.

Another anomaly is that the scale, although increasing with the tonnage, at present stops at 5 tons unladen weight. A 10-ton vehicle pays no more in licence than a 5-touner, end this gives a preferential advantage to a type which involves disproportionately high road expenditure.

The schedule of new licence duties recommended includes striking increases, as compared with the present duties, for vehicles using other motive power than that given by petrol, and which thus escape the petrol duty. This is a reflection of the fact that at present they enjoy a large concealed. subsidy.

The Conference does not consider that the rates prepared for the heaviest classes of vehicle are suitable for the specialized and limited categories of transport, such as is required in port areas for the conveyance of goods from the docks to warehouses, etc., in the immediate vicinity, and it in undesirable that for this work large vehicles should be replaced by smaller lorries or by horsed transport. It is, therefore, recommended that a vehicle exceeding 4 tons in unladen weight, if exclusively employed within an immediate port area to be defined by the Minister of Transport, should receive a rebate of 25 per cent. on the normal recommended duty: each such vehicle would, however, be required to carry a distinguishing licence plate showing the area concerned.

The proposed licence duties have been worked out on the assumption that the present petrol duty is continued. The effect is that, within each class, individual vehicles pay more or less of the total, according to the distance actually run, to the extent to which petrol duty makes up the total; as regards the balance, raised by licence duty, the vehicle which does more than the average of its elass gains, and the vehicle which does less, loses.

The Petrol Duty to be Permanent?

In these circumstances it is considered that it is importaut that the proportion to be obtained by means of the petrol duty should remain as high as it is at present.

If the Government considers that some classes,..e.g., private cars, should pay more than has been indicated, it is considered that any excess payment should not be used to relieve the charges falling on commercial vehicles. On the other band, it is not considered that any 811111 derived from licence duties or petrol duties which may be utilized for general purposes of the State should have the effect of reducing the

allocation from any class of motorist towards road expenditure, or of increasing the charges upon commercial vehicles beyond that indicated as • their fair share.

The proposed allocation is considered as a fair basis of contribution for a period of five years, although actual road expenditure may vary from year to year.

If the annual expenditure on the roads should again increase substantially beyond the figure given, it does not follow that the system of contribution will need to • be varied, for it is anticipated that such an increase would be attended by a larger number of vehicles, which would bring in additional revenue.

Only if there should he a substantial difference between the change in road expenditure On the one hand and the bumbers of motor vehicles on theother, would a change in the rates of contribution be necessary ; doubtless this time will come, but -it is suggested that no new review of the situation need be undertaken for five years, and that it should be based. on the definite principles in the report.

No attempt has been made to deal with such technical questions as determination of the weight of chassis in the ease of composite vehicles,such as tank wagons, or the proper classification of -articulated vehicles, and minor adjusthaents of grading will be required.

In view of the substantial increases in licence duty, it is suggested that the Minister of Transport might give con

sideration to the . conditions under which short-period licences are obtainable, and the payment of yearly licences by instalments.

It is considered that the present legal obligation on the railways to maintain the road surf-aces of bridges carrying highways over railways is anomalous and inequitable, and it recommends that the road authorities should henceforth assume this responsibility. It is also considered that the railways should be relieved of their obligation to publish rates in regard to their regular road-transport services, se long as no similar obligation rests upon hauliers in general.

Haulage Regulation and Licensing p"DART III concerns regulation and licensing. The rani ways are subject to an extensive, and often meticulous, system of regulation and supervision. As common carriers they are, under obligation to carry goods at rates which do not discriminate between one person and another. Similarly, the arrangements as to wages and conditions of service give effective protection of the interests of the employees, and it is agreed that the conditions upon which competition should take place ought to be more equal.

The Conference had to consider whether it should proceed in the direction of asking for greater liberty for the railways or recommending certain public safeguards to be extended to the operation of motor vehicles.

Where a service, whether by rail or road;must be regarded as partaking of the character of a common-carrier service, the necessity of public safeguards arises. In addition, it is agreed that the public has a right to be assured that the vehicles using the public roads should be-and should be maintained-in a state of fitness. This is recognized in the case of public service vehicles, but the need also exists in the case -of goods transport, although the method of meeting it can be somewhat different., It is considered that SOIlla regulation of goods motor vehicles is necessary, that it can be enforced only through a licensing system and that all such vehicles s.houid be -required to have licences which are conditional, not only upon the payment of the annual road costs, but upon the observance of proper conditions as to fair Wages and conditions of service, and the maintenance of the vehicles in a state of fitness.

The Evils of Unbridled Competition

It is clear that evils exist through overcrowding and unbridled competition. Any individual has an unlimited right to enter the haulage industry without regard to the pressure on the roads or any existing excess of transport facilities. He can purchase his vehicle on the instalment system, and is often tempted to force his way in by offering

rates which are completely unremunerative and lead to bankruptcy. This unrestricted liberty is fatal to the organization of the industry in a form suitable to a carrier service. On the other hand, the Conference is equally hapressed with the evil of any system which would prevent trade and industry ft-urn securing the form of transport best suited to its ever-changing needs and at the lowest practicable cost.

In these circumstances it has agreed upon this scheme (A) That all owners of goods motor vehicles, both hauliers and ancillary users, shall hold an operating licence, and no charge should be made for this licence beyond what is required of him in the form of his ordinary revenue licence and tile petrol duty.

(B) The licence shall be conditional upon payment of reasonable wages and the observance of proper conditions of service in respect of the driver, and upon an undertaking by the owner that the vehicles employed under the licence will be maintained in a proper condition of fitness. If any vehicle be found to be not so maintained, the licence may be at once suspended in respect of such vehicle, It is contemplated that the proposed local licensing authorities will ascertain and publish the local standards of wages, etc., and will be prepared to consider evidence that the rates and conditions applied by a particular applicant are below the standard in deciding whether to grant or renew the licence.


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