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'Restore Free Competition to P.s.v. Operating' Resolution Withdrawn?

27th September 1963
Page 46
Page 46, 27th September 1963 — 'Restore Free Competition to P.s.v. Operating' Resolution Withdrawn?
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Keywords : Bus, Business / Finance

FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT

THE restoration of free competition in the bus industry by abandoning roadservice licensing and giving operators complete freedom to fix fares is proposed in a 25,000-word Hobart Paper published this week. Called "Transport for Passengers—A Study in Enterprise without Licence ", it is published by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Its author is John Hibbs, former managing director of a bus and coach business in Suffolk and a former member of the council of the P.V.O.A.; he is now one of Dr. Beeching's young men, a traffic survey officer in the headquarters organization of the Eastern Region of British Railways.

Several representatives of bus undertakings, as well as Mr. Ray Gunter, M.P., president of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, attended the reception in London to launch the booklet.

Mr. Hibbs' thesis is that the consumer should decide what service he wants and is prepared to pay for and that the price mechanism will see that he gets it. He denies that the bus industry is a "public service" or "utility "; if people were prepared to pay for it, public transport would be provided. If they were not, then there was at least a prima facie case for assuming it was not required.

Mr. Hibbs disagrees that the smaller operators—" the so-called pirates "—are irresponsible and anti-social; they could provide a service with very -low overhead costs and there was a case for the provision of bus services by anyone prepared to enter the market, letting each operator take his risk and back his judgment. Cross-subsidization is also attacked by Mr. Hibbs, who maintains that varying fare levels are desirable.

His main attack is on the road-service

licensing system: licence grants depended on opinions or turned upon misconceptions widely held when the 1930 Act was passed. The system was protectionist, conditions were weighted against the newcomer and operators supported the system at considerable expense because of the benefits they derived. The Act and its administration had discouraged development and introduced inertia into what had been a highly competitive and adaptable industry.

Licensing had helped to encourage other forms of transport and hindered the pruning of the railways, said Mr. Hibbs, who recommends that road-service licensing should be abolished over a twoyear transitional period; Traffic Commissioners and certifying officers should remain to enforce vehicle standards and ensure the fitness of operators, but there should be no facilities for objections to an application and it should be open to anyone to start a service once he had a licence.

Commenting on Mr. Hibbs' proposals. Mr. R. L. Howlett, P.T.A. secretary, said licensing abolition would lead to chaos. Popular routes would be flooded and unremunerative rural services neglected. The Thesiger Committee report in 1953 had said that licensing handsomely achieved its objectives.

Narrow Buses for Hastings

rmeet operating difficulties in the Hastings area, 10 new Harringtonbodied A.E.C. Reliances have been built to dimensions of 30 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in. The vehicles are designed for one-man operation, seat 42 passengers and are operated by Maidstone and District Motor Services Ltd.


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