Po tical Commentary
Page 69
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Fare Question
HAT is it that occupies space but has no substance; disappears the moment it is provided; has a fixed price but no fixed value; varies according to placc. time and distance; and becomes less popular as it becomes mor popular?
e answer is the passenger-mile, or the seat-mile, and the arions definitions have all been taken or derived from the eflections of the three experts. who took part in the sym osium on road, rail and air fares arranged by the fusti ute of Transport. On the road side the speaker was Mr. F. R. Carling, an executive of the British Electric Trac ion Co., Ltd.; on the rail side Mr. A. W. Tait. assis ant general manager, Eastern Region of British Rail'way ; and on the air side Mr. I. L. Grumbridge, general corn ercial manager, British European Airways.
Al hough it is hardly possible to draw conclusions from the t nee-dimensional survey, at least it brought into focus the asic problem of fares and rates, which, because they buy °thing tangible, are abnormally sensitive to outside pres,ures. All kinds of reasons were put forward for (feel ing what a fare ought to -be. Some fares are designed to at ract passengers, others apparently to keep them away.
Se son-ticket rates were introduced, said Mr. Tait, beca se "one of the first objects of a transport operator is to minimize the handicap of distance." Also from Mr. Tait came the opinion that there were bus fares which wer "depressed for historical and social reasons."
It was, perhaps, just as well .that,Mr..Grumbridge was matt r-of-fact enough to point out also that the ultimate obje tive of running a transport service is to make it oper te without loss, He was speaking about what is still to any people a novel form of transport, with a strong likel I ood of considerable expansion, but he was forced to c nclude that it was a possibility rather than a certainty that the airlines would ultimately be able to provide "an acce table public service at fares which ordinary people can ay, without losses being incurred." For both road and all operators there is the spectre of declining traffic, whic their best efforts seem unable to regain.
No Defined Relation T e most positive contribution to the symposium was mad by Mr. Carling. He suggested a more generous interpretation by the Traffic Commissionersof the words "no unreasonable in Section 72 of the 1930 Act, which refer to fares conditions attached to road service licences, and he avoidance of wasteful competition. There is much fore in his argument. As he pointed out, almost every road fare is fixed exactly, whereas it should be possible to h ve for a particular journey a range of fares, all of whic would be "not unreasonable."
W thin reason, Mr. Carling wanted operators to have the ght to reduce any of their scheduled fares for experimen al periods. After perhaps a year, a substantive applicant would be needed to bring the reduction within the sche uled fares. There should also be limited powers to raise fares, subject to the Commissioners being satisfied that there was a prima facie case. The new and higher fares would have to be made the subject of an application with-n, say, three months of their introduction.
e complaint on the road side of lack of flexibility finds d and probably fortuitous commentary in Mr. Tait's on behalf of the railways. Most of the fares on the provincial rail services, said Mr. Tait, no longer bore
an o nape local
any defined relation to the rest of the structure, "but are determined by the level of the local bus fares," The railways appear to have some of the flexibility that Mr. Carling woad like, but it is subject to a maximum equal to the road fares fixed by the Traffic Commissioners." Mr. Tait might think his difficulties are being unfairly aggravated if the road rates do not remain rigid.
After reading what the road and rail experts have to say on the subject of controlled fares, it-is surprising to find from Mr. Grumbridge that B.E.A. have "'voluntarily abjured " the freedom they are allowed bylaw, to charge what rates they like. They have agreed to seek the approval of' the Minister of Aviation, and not merely his views, when they wish to change any of their domestic fares. Other operators on. domestic air routes have the fares they must charge set out in their licences, and must agree any change with the Minister.
Completely Unrestricied
None Of the three papers in the symposium contained the suggestion that there should be a free market in passenger transport. Obviously, the man in the bus, train or aeroplane is thought to need more protection than the trader or manufacturer. The maximum charges for the carriage of goods by rail are rarely attained in the actual rates, and the haulier is completely• unrestricted. Subject to one or two legal checks that have never been invoked, he is entitled to charge as much or as little as he likes. He would be only too willing to have the fixed schedules that the passenger operators find so irksome, if only they brought an end. to rate-cutting.
Mr. Carling proposed what he regarded as a new interpretation rather than a change in the law. In the present state of the passenger transport industry, there might be a case for more drastic relaxations. There seems little likelihood that, even if they were given complete freedom, operators would overcharge, when all three papers read before the Institute stress the need to attract more custom. To judge from Mr. Tait's remarks, competition between road and rail on local services, where it is most common; is reasonably well balanced, even if mainly on the basis of road fares, so there is little danger of one side gaining a monopoly, or of the railways being ruined.
At least Mr. Carling's limited experiment might be tried, and, if it succeeded, could be followed by further moves in the same direction. He had plenty of ideas for following up even his original proposal. Cheap return fares would help to fill empty seats in the evening, and encourage the use of more distant shopping centres during the day_ Special excursion rates would improve the loading on journeys to and from resorts ih-,out-of-season week-ends.
An example of something new in passenger fares was given by Mr. Grumbridge. Services are provided by B.E.A.
to the holiday islands refund Britain. The fares vary widely according to the season and other factors. There is a special winter return fare from the islands to the mainland. The price is equivalent to the normal single fare, and the return journey must be made within two or three days. The intention is to persuade the people on the islands who provide, holidays during the summerto taste the" amusements of town life during their own slack season. The idea that the price hould vary according to direction is far more familiar to hauliers than to passenger Operators.