Transport in Parliament
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O The Ministry of Transport knows of 11 local authorities which have special traffic lanes for buses, and many more are considering this move. Mr. Stephen Swingler, Minister of State, told the Commons this week after Mr. Geoffrey Wilson (Tory, Truro) urged more special bus lanes.
Mr. Swingler said he was sure this was a measure which would be increasingly adopted.
Between 5,000 and 8,000 letters dealing with the Transport Bill have been received by the Ministry of Transport. Mr. Neil Carmichael, the Parliamentary Secretary who gave this figure in the Commons noted that it would be difficult to estimate how many were for the measure, how many against and how many in the middle.
O Should I be so bold as to say "before 1973" wondered Mr. Swingler when he was asked to give a date for the completion of 1,000 miles of motorway. The reason for his boldness: by the end of 1970 over 700 miles should be completed, with, in addition, more than 200 miles under construction.
O Mr. Swingler made it plain in reply to questions that all goods vehicles over 30cwt unladen weight—unless they are exempted —will have to be fitted with tachographs.
The testing of goods vehicles will follow the original timetable despite the three months' delay in the start of the scheme, said Mr. Swingler. There had been recruitment difficulties but steady progress was being made in this respect and there was no intention to have any further postponement. The Minister expected the network of testing stations to be fully operational by October 1 in England and Wales and December 1 in Scotland.
0 The Channel tunnel could be finished by 1976. This tentative date—depending on a lot of ifs and buts—was given in the Commons this week by Mr. Richard Marsh who said he hoped to make a progress statement very soon.
El Warnings of redundancies among longdistance lorry drivers as a result of the Transport Bill were dismissed by a Government spokesman. Mr. Frederick Silvester (Tory, Walthamstow West), who raised the matter in the Commons, wanted public funds to be made available to provide compensation to drivers who did lose their jobs.
But Mr. Carmichael told him that the new licensing proposals were not expected to reduce the number of jobs in road haulage. It was believed, he said, that the industry would grow by something over 10 per cent until 1975.
Tory Transport leader Mr. Peter Walker disagreed with this while Labour back
bencher Mr. Leslie Huckfield (Nuneaton) spoke of long-distance drivers being transferred to shorter-distance work especially as a result of the Freightliners. Mr. Carmichael agreed that there might be a change of pattern on work.
El The salary of the chairman of the National Trade Corporation has not been decided, said Mr. Marsh.
El It was impossible to estimate whether there would be additional burdens on local rates because of the Passenger Transport Authority, said Mr. Swingler. The cost to the rates would depend on the policies of the Authorities themselves. It was a matter for them to decide whether they ran services at a loss, though the new forms of financial assistance in the Transport Bill would be available to them.
0 A call for vertical exhaust pipes on heavy commercial vehicles has again been turned down, this time in the Lords.
The Government spokesman, Lord Winterbottom, outlined the disadvantages of the vertical exhaust and said that the most practical positions for an exhaust pipe outlet seemed to be low down on the offside and pointing to the rear.
A Welsh language version of the application form (D.L IAN) for a driving licence will be available early next month at local taxation offices and at money order post offices in Wales and Monmouthshire.