Holland's Transport Problems
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Past and Future
A Survey of Conditions in the Netherlands &fore the Invasion—Threads That Will Have to be Picked Up Again By LOUIS VAN VEEN, M.S.1.A. READERS will realize that the invasion of the Low Countries put a practical end to the activities of the motor trade and to motor legislation in the Netherlands. Accordingly, most of what follows is, in fact, history.
Before May 10 Holland possessed a soundly developed road-transport industry which, although almost entirely dependent on imports, had grown into a prominent economic factor, providing employment for more than 100,000 people. The structure of the Dutch commercial-vehicle market was rather, peculiar. Almost every bus and lorry make in the world was represented through the medium of sole agents, possessing in many cases small assembly plants.
One popular American passengervehicle manufacturer had headquarters and works in Amsterdam, whilst the outstanding competitor of this concern imported's, large number of machines via its assembly plant in Antwerp.
Low Import Duties .
These mass imports were possible because import tariffs were low, as the Dutch Government always remained in favour of a free-trade policy. Total import duties on a built-up truck were about 21 per cent., ad valorem, It is not passible to give accurate figures relating to the proportioning of the market, because, due to the present upheaval, statistics are not available in London. From memory I can state that the greatest number of commercial-motor sales in Holland went to material of American origin, that German vehicles came second, Whilst the remaining small percentage was English, French and Italian.
Subsidy Versus Quality Although it is not my intention to criticize any trade policy, it should be mentioned that Germany succeeded in importing a rather large quantity of vehicles — mainly oil-powered — on account of its export-allowance policy. It has never been possible to make the sale of English machines, although of superior quality, a remunerative proposition in Holland, Whether or not the German export allowances permitted at the same time a Fifth Column organization to be kept up does not fall within the scope of this article. .
In spite of these imports, industrialists in Holland were making a serious effort to establish a national lorry, or rather, bus manufacturing industry. Legislation affecting buses being very severe, it was sometimes difficult for the importers to comply with regulations of a purely local nature. Krornhout N.V., the wellknown Amsterdam manufacturer of marine engines and maker under licence of Gardner vehicle engines, decided, a few years ago, to develop a chassis building department. Although dependent on imported components, such as gearboxes and rear-axle units, the concern succeeded in producing a number of excellent bus units, for which a market was readily found.
This market structure ties up with the economic and legislative aspects of the whole question in Holland.
The economic position is not without interest. For a number of years the Government had a scheme under consideration for the co-ordination of transport in the Netherlands, but it was soon discovered that transport which had been unrestricted until 1938 could not be moulded into administrative shape overnight, so instead of tackling the complete problem the Government undertook to regulate bus traffic.
Uncontrolled Bus Services Previous to this first attempt at co-ordination anybody in Holland could operate a bus service anywhere. This resulted in a rather chaotic state of affairs. Between the big cities-Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam —so-called " wild " buses operated, bringing the people to their destination at less than half the price of the corre sponding railway fare. These buses did not run to time-tables, but the moment all the, seats were sold the driver received word to leave.
It was a most irregular system. For a small tip the driver, when he arrived at a destination, would drive around a couple of blocks in order to pick up somebody's sweetheart or deposit a lady with plenty of luggage in front of her house. Seating arrangements were primitive and the word " comfort" was non-existent in the " wild " bus operator's vocabulary.
This abnormal practice was expanding rapidly, because it proved, despite the low fares, to be remunerative. First, the n.overnment -tried to cut it short by applying the bus technical inspection rules to the letter, but did not succeed, The " wild " operators arranged for their buses to be 100 per cent, in line with legal requirements.
Then a new law, known as R.A.P. (Regulation of Passenger Transport by Automobile), was introduced and will forever be famous in the legislative history of the Netherlands. Although there were several flaws in it which gave birth to a number of warmly discussed lawsuits, the Government's point of view finally dominated and transport by bus became the subject of a Government licence, The " wild " buses were thus ruled off the road, with a consequent drop in bus-chassis sales of the lower-price class (American and German).
The Govetriment went even a step farther. It favoured the formation of provincial bus companies, subsidized by the national, provincial and municipal administrations, which obtained the majority of transport licences granted under the R.A.P. Act. Thus road transport became an indirect monopoly.
A move towards complete transport monopoly. was made when the Stateowned railway company was encouraged to buy controlling interests in the bus companies, and had just started to do so when the invader put an end to co-ordination and practically all else.
Strict Regulations Enforced From the preceding paragraphs it will have been seen that there existed in Holland a severe bus inspection. Although, at the start, the Government commissioned a private body to enforce this inspection, these activities were later taken over by a Government institution called the R.V.I. (Government Traffic Inspection), which operated in close collaboration with the bus licence bureau. The inspectors were competent and the regulations as to brakes, axles and weights were very severe.
On the other hand, no regulations or restrictions whatsoever existed for goods vehicles. For some years various associations had discussed the co-ordination of goods traffic and the establishment of an inspection system, but up to the fatal date, which temporarily ended the activities at home of the Dutch Government, no definite steps had been taken.
Defining Lorry Ratings Plans were in the snaking for the assignment of such an inspection to an Independent body, supervised by the transport associations and the Government. A committee had already assumed the task of preparing a set of regulations, but considerable discussion was going on as to the acceptable method of defining lorry ratings. Everybody in the industry knows how intangible a thing this is, but during my last stay in Holland early in May, some members of this committee told me that they were well on the way to finding a solution to this problem. Inspiration had come from the United States, where the Society of Automotive Engineers had just published a truck-ability formula.
Little is known now as to the whereabouts of the people involved in all this. However, some of them may 1)o able to employ to advantage the opportunity afforded by present conditions to consider a solution to the many problems of the past against the time when their country calls them to co-operate in a new start.