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Slum-clearance Transport Problems
Page 110
Page 111
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AT the outset of his paper on the above topic, Mr. Vane Morland says that, since relatively few towns can rehouse their present slum dwellers in existing or adjacent locations, it follows that the great majority of these people will have to be removed to housing estates some miles away. The Government's Five-year Slum-clearance Plan represents an experiment without precedent in our social history. It still bristles with difficulties, not the least of which is that the future economic life of the vast army of dispossessed slum dwellers is largely dependent on the provision of exceptionally cheap transport facilities.
So far as Leeds is concerned, says the author, the Fiveyear Plan entails the demolition of 30,000 houses, at present sheltering some 110,000 people, at a cost of approximately £12,000,000, Housing experts advise that only a small proportion could be re-housed in the centre Of the city, and the construction of huge housing estates has already been decided upon. The transport department was called into consultation with a view to advising on transport matters, including the necessary layout of the roads required.
Difficulties of Providing Transport Facilities.
A preliminary survey of the proposed locations indicated the following primary difficulties in the way of providing the necessary transport facilities : —(a) Absence of adequate approach roads from the city centre ; (b) :Lark of suitable terminal accommodation in the city; (c) The problem of finance. Mr. Vane Morland points out that whilst most undertakings are in possession of reliable data as to the yield of fare-paying passengers per house in various districts, little or no information or experience is available which covers people removed from shim areas. It was decided, therefore, to carry out an occupational survey of the slum areas to be demolished, with the ultimate idea of being able to prepare a fairly accurate estimate of the daily yield of fare-paying passengers per house after their removal to the new estates.
This brought to light many curious occupations, and showed that the contrasts in the standards of slum life are startingIy vivid. Information already to hand shows that the future population of these estates may be roughly divided into three groups : —(1) Families with one or more engaged in the staple industries, or in comparatively regular employment; (2) Men and women who find occasional or day-to-day employment (these may turn out several times during the day or night on casual jobs); (3) Families which have no visible means for subsistence other than that derived from public funds.
Mr. Vane Morland makes it clear that transport operators generally are already acquainted with the daily ebb and flow and seasonal variations of the class of traffic coming within r)56 the first group. The universal adoption of the eight-hour day has resulted in morning and evening peaks being increasingly intensified. There are few systems which are not already feeling the strain of this class of traffic.
Each additional housing estate constructed has tended to weaken transport undertakings financially. They are really small towns in miniature with all the facilities for communal life. How does this affect the finances of the transport undertakings? is a question the author asks. He says that the daily traffic consists of morning and evening loads at workpeople's fares, whilst during the off-peak periods the ordinary-fare traffic becomes a mere trickle.
Housing-estate traffic necessitates a large number of passenger-vehicle crews working on the none-too-popular split shift system. Extra costs are incurred by additional signing on time and the dead mileage travelled by the vehicles to take up their morning and evening loads, to which must be added the standing charges on the large number of vehicles which is kept in the garage during the off-peak period. He says that many undertakings have already found it necessary to garage about 70 per cent, of their vehicles during the off-peak hours.
The problem of providing cheap transport for those coming in the second group is by no means easy, says Mr. Vane Morland. In many cases these people are employed for only an hour or two—at warehouses, wholesale markets, etc., and at varying times of the day. At first sight it would appear that the remedy is an unlimited daily-journey ticket, as already issued by several undertakings, but transport authorities generally have not exhibited any particular enthusiasm for this policy. Some, indeed, have gone so far as to ascribe many of their financial troubles to the use of daily or season tickets.
A Low Revenue Yield.
So far as the third group is concerned, Mr. Vane Morland says that it appears obvious that those coming withiii it will yield no appreciable traffic revenue until some scheme of reabsorbing these people -in industry is possible. Whatever the local circumstances, it can be concluded, says the author, that, in the majority of cases, it is doubtful whether the revenue yield from the new slum-clearance estate traffic will suffice to cover the bare working expenses, let alone provide any margin to meet standing charges.
There are a fortunate few which, in recent years, have been able to finance all capital expenditure out of revenue and which are in the happy position of being debt free. Such undertakings are annually increasing in number.
With the general disappearance of the tramcar, which is taking place, it is, perhaps, futile for the majority of operators to consider a purely tramway remedy.
At this point in his paper the author deals with some aspects of the problem as they affect the city of Leeds, and says that one of the reasons which has been advanced for retaining or even extending the use of trams is the ability to carry on during fog. The cheap fares which obtain on the tramways generally and the standing-load capacity during the peak periods are also advanced as further sound reasons for their continuance. Leeds people, he says, are still, in the main, warmly attached to rail transport, but the author appreciates that each transport authority will have its own slum-clearance problem, which can only be settled in the light of local conditions. Some may use the motorbus, whilst others may install the trolley-bus.
In Leeds, developments in the initial stages will, save • ,on one or two locations closely adjacent to main-line tramways, be carried out by oil-engined bus services. Whatever mode of transport may be installed to deal with the traffic to the shim-clearance estates, one is forced to the conclusion that the only hope of snaking ends meet lies in finding a means for substantially reducing the standing charges.
In dealing with the need for the lowest possible fares for the people living in these areas, Mr. Vane Morland points out that the question of segregating this traffic on a cheapfare basis, as compared with the higher-fare traffic to the more prosperous parts, will presumably mean obtaining a dispensation from the Traffic Commissioners. In the past, the policy has been to avoid giving any district advantages at the expense of the remainder. In a final note, he says that the evolution of the modern motorbus has provided the nation with the solution to a problem that has existed for centuries.