AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

COMPETITION IN THE HAULAGE INDUSTRY.

26th August 1924
Page 9
Page 9, 26th August 1924 — COMPETITION IN THE HAULAGE INDUSTRY.
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The Circumstances that Tend to Unprofitable Exploitation of Road Transport. The Need for Developing the Industry on Sound Lines.

/F IT be correct that the wealth of a. country is proportionate to the transport facilities available, then mechanical road transport can claim to have rendered yeoman service to the human race. The fact that it has received so poor a reward in return is largely due to ignorance on the part of the public and of those who operate it. The directness and comparative simplicity of its means of operation, as compared with alternative methods, have led to the belief that no particular skill or methods need be considered in

its operation. .

As a result of this, a multitude of vehicles have been placed on the roads by persons and firms who know nothing about them, and make no provision for their proper working. At the same time, innumerable individuals with no special knowledge whatever have bought vehicles and set up as .public carriers, Neither class of user has the least idea of the real costs of operation, nor has he any interest in the road transport industry beyond the personal advantage he hopes to derive from it.

In such circumstances, it is not unnatural that chaos should arise and that those who are in the industry with the intention of developing it on scientific lines find the ground constantly being cut from under their feet.

From the public point of view, this is creating a serious position. Mechanical road transport offers possibilities of increasing the transport facilities of the country to an even greater extent than did the introduction of railways, owing to its extreme mobility. It is clear, however, that if it is subject to unlimited exploitation by unscrupulous persons, who neither care nor desire to aid in its scientific development, road transport will fail to reach its fullest limits of utility to the public. The matter is already exercising the minds of manufacturers, who feel that the inherent advantages which their machines possess for rendering high service to the public are being frittered away through bad administration and futile competition and, in consequence, their order books are not being replenished as they should be. Providing suitable means can be devised, manufacturers have indicated their desire to give preferential terms to those who will give the scientific treatment to their vehicles in operation whigh they deserve.

Traders who employ road transport are finding that unlimited rate-cutting and slovenly service are by no means unmixed blessings. No sooner do they com

plete their transport arrangements than they discover that a competitor has obtained a cut rate, which necessitates their again entering the transport markets for better quotations. . The transporter finds that, no matter how excellent the service he renders, his connection is liable to violent fluctuation. This unfortunate condition of affairs is to be found equallyanarked in the passengercarrying side of the industry as in that of the goodscarrying, with the exception that few, if any, traders allow their vehicles to carry passengers. The effects in this branch of the industry are even more serious, as the loads carried are human freights. Public coaches should not be licensed to ply for public hire until the authorities are satisfied that the owners have made suitable arrangements for their regular inspection and overhaul. An annual inspection is not sufficient. The important factor is the arrangement provided for their regular maintenance, which can only be ascertained by examining the system adopted by the owner. Public vehicles found running under conditions which are clearly dangerous to the users, such as the absence of a second brake, should have their licence cancelled and the owner should be severely punished. If local authorities became stricter on such matters, public coaches would rapidly pass into the hands, of only such responsible persons as were prepared to make, and were capable of making, suitable arrangements for their maintenance and running.

Another section of the public who are injured by the indiscriminate use of mechanical road transport are the wage-earners engaged in the industry. No one understands better than they the possibilities, which road transport offers to the public, of improved transport facilities and, either rightly or wrongly, regard the slovenliness with which the industry is conducted in many cases as,..an injury to themselves. A driver who knows he is delivering goods quicker and better than can be done layany other means of transport expects to command a reasonable wage. He is conscious that he has done a good piece of work and concludes that his employer will receive a corresponding return. Experience will eventually educate both the transporter and freighter as to the relative values of such factors as reliability and cost. For the present, the industry must be content to mark time in its development, with the assurance that eventually its inherent qualities will be recognized by the public it serves and appraised at their

true value. C. LE M. GOSSELIN.

Tags


comments powered by Disqus