It's hack-door nationalization, says operator at IOTA conference as ...
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MINISTRY MAN TELLS OF PLANS FOR CONTROL BY THE PTAs
C0-ORDINATION of passenger services required full integration and this was to be accomplished by the introduction of Passenger Transport Authorities which could own or control the main passenger transport facilities in their areas and the appointment of Passenger Transport Co-ordinating Committees to persuade operators to undertake voluntary integration.
Mr. C. N. Tebay, assistant secretary, regional development division, Ministry of Transport, told the annual conference of the Institute of Traffic Administration this in Morecambe on Saturday when he spoke on the subject of "Transport policy in relation to regional planning".
The first PTAs—Merseyside, South-East Lancashire and North-East Cheshire, the West Midlands and Tyneside—would have a two-fold organization with a policy board of local authority representatives and a professional executive for their operation.
"Exactly how they will operate remains to be seen, but one possibility might be to assume ownership of the organizations (mainly municipal) providing the core services with a control through agency arrangements of the suburban rail services and the company bus services running into the conurbation", he said.
Mr. Tebay said it was appreciated how much co-ordination was already going on. The coordinating committees would, however, keep the Economic Planning Councils in close touch with their work.
Urban transport was an essential factor in regional planning, he said. He quoted the Minister as saying recently that urban transport was "the area where the gulf between technological efficiency and administrative failure yawns widest". The big change in thinking came with the Buchanan report, and they were now aiming for a planned combination of policies with better urban roads, better passenger transport and better traffic management.
Consultation with the regions also played a part in railway policy which must meet the country's overall transport needs, social and economic. A new policy was envisaged whereby the finances of commercial unviable passenger services would be isolated and receive special grants. The remainder would operate as a normal business with a realistic profit and loss account.
With regard to public transport, powers were being sought to make capital grants to improve facilities, and in the operating field experiments, such as special traffic lanes and travel against the normal stream in one-way streets for buses, were being undertaken. An expansion in research was to be aimed at widening the choice of transport systems, and co-ordination of passenger services was to be undertaken.
During the discussion, Mr. F. K. Flight, Birmingham centre, speaking as an independent coach operator, said it appeared that crosssubsidization for PTAs would have to be borne by the ratepayer and not from taxation. Should not the public be told of this and as the Authorities grew in size would they not inevitably lose money as had the London Transport Board?
If they were going to abstract the remunerative services from independent operators for integration within the cities, what was to become of rural services? Mr. Flight felt company pride was an important factor which would be lost by the formation of these Authorities.
Challenging one of Mr. Tebay's statements, Mr. Flight said: "Consultation is what you require, you say, but nobody has consulted me". The Minister was consulting with big operators behind locked doors but no information was to be released.
"This is fatal if you are going to alter the movements of millions of people", he contended, and he felt that the public should be told before the Minister took the Bill to Parliament. Coach firms and bus operators would be compulsorily purchased. "This is back-door nationalization and I don't like it", concluded Mr. Flight.
Mr. Tebay said that the public could express its views via the papers and television.
Mr. A. Cusick, Manchester, asked Mr. Tebay if anything was being done to communicate these co-ordination plans to the public, to the people who would determine whether the schemes were a success or not. Mr. Tebay said that Mrs. Castle, and Mr. Marples before her, were both acutely conscious of the need to get this across to the public.
Referring to vehicle standardization, Mr. P. Ellis felt that this would be impractical since needs varied extensively. His undertaking at Morecambe and Heysham had old people to consider and Halifax had steep gradients to negotiate.
The previous evening, Mr. C. J. Parker, a vice-president of the association and a member of the education committee, had read a paper prepared by Mr. H. N. Putman, chairman of his committee on "The Institute's examination scheme".
He said the Institute was committed to having the examination scheme operative in 1968 and outlined the syllabi. "We do not seek to educate young men into scholarly academic theorists, but rather to meet the modern challenge in industry and produce technicians for transport", he said.
A correspondence .course had been arranged with Pitmans Transport College, Godalming, and he urged all centres to arrange courses at their local technical colleges, calling on their own members to act as lecturers in transport subjects. Every effort must be made, he said, to launch the education scheme to raise the Institute to its rightful position in the forefront of transport education bodies.
Mr. G. Baker, Birmingham, said it would be difficult to encourage young men to take their examinations until the Institute had NALGO recognition. National chairman, Mr. J. A. Broster, said that recognition could only follow after the examinations had been established.
Speaking at the annual banquet, Mr. F. N. White, deputy president, said they felt they had produced syllabi for this day and age. Their Institute encompassed all forms of transport and there was more co-ordination in transport than ever before. "We are on the march and we intend to get to the top", he said.
BELFAST LOOKS AHEAD
REORGANIZATION of Belfast bus services is likely to follow a detailed study being carried out by the Corporation transport department and the city's traffic consultants. Meanwhile the Corporation is negotiating with Ulsterbus about services on the periphery of the city.
Buses for Handicapped Children: Hackney Borough Council health committee recommends acceptance of a quotation from Steels Garages (London) Ltd. for the supply of six Bedford J2 chassis at a total cost of £4,111 and six Duple service bus bodies at a cost of £9.808 for the transport of mentally handicapped young people.