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Mr. Hilditch wonders aloud about the elusive benefits of one-man operation, the potential chaos of PTAs, the restrictive effects of standard bus grants
AN appeal for the complete elimination of everything that is truly non-productive and which forms a charge upon municipal bus undertakings, and the chance as trading concerns of being allowed to do just that in a non-restrictive manner, was made by Mr. G. G. Hilditch, at the annual conference of the Municipal Passenger Transport Association in Brighton on Wednesday.
Mr. Hilditch, who is general manager and engineer of the Halifax Passenger Transport undertaking, pulled no punches in a paper entitled "I wonder . . ." which embraced many of the subjects in the minds of municipal bus managers today. He talked about the "experts" into whose hands they appeared to have fallen, the use of computers, which he openly questioned. consultants—"another fashionable device"—and co-ordination.
Of co-ordination, Mr. Hilditch said that the Regional Transport Co-ordinating Committees would seem to be yet another waste of time and effort. "Just what are they going to co-ordinate?", he asked. It would be difficult to co-ordinate British Rail services with local bus routes as there were few local stations left and fewer services. Or were they going to co-ordinate municipal services with those of the companies? "Perhaps, but only over my dead body if there is any suggestion that my undertaking should lose any of its traffic in the process", he commented.
Mr. Hilditch said that he must be fair and that the experts he had mentioned so far had one saving grace—their advice was, as yet, open to acceptance or rejection. Then he asked: "But what of the other and more virulent forms—the Compulsive Planners, and what they propose to involve us in? I wonder if we are not going to have new structures thrust upon us which have been conjured up by people who have had no practical transport management experience whatsoever. So let us take a look at these wonders of the age—the PTAs."
The official line
Dealing with the proposed Manchetter PTA, he said that the official line was that it wanted doing. There were far too many operators in too small a space. Let us have a big one . . . splendid . . but then what would
happen? -I will take even money here and now" remarked Mr. Hilditch. First, let no one imagine that anything would be saved. There were some undertakings in the Manchester area that had an excellent record both from a service and financial aspect. Stockport, Salford and Ashton were just three, he said. "I wonder, does anyone seriously imagine that the exercise is going to result in the creation of a number of startling economies that will make the whole area completely viable and self-supporting? Not in this assembly, I dare bet."
In any event how could a PTA help the travelling public of the area? It might, he continued, if each separate authority confined operations to within its own area, but co-ordination had been a part of the Manchester transport scene for years, and all the main roads were served by a network of joint services that were offered on a generous scale. It would be said that the new Authority would be able to bring the railways back into greater use, but he ventured to suggest that if there was a need for those services, they would be used by the public. Apparently the population had elected to use other means of travel.
The PTA might make sense, continued Mr. Hilditch, if the routes of the Companies were to be included but this, it seemed, was not to be the case and this led to a rather surprising point. The Tilling Group, which he greatly admired, had been nationalized for 20 years, yet in outlook it still was, if anything, more commercially minded and apparently up to now less inclined to indulge in co-ordination than ever the BET was in its heyday.
The results, financially at least, had justified this outl000k with a profit in 1967 of £3.7m from Tilling and £3.2m from the Scottish Bus Group. He suspected that this businesslike attitude would rightly continue with the absorption of the BET so that the Company routes would continue as before while the "poor old municipalities" would be swept up without a penny compensation and their residents must suffer the consequences.
Mr. Hilditch wondered why the planners did not commence a PTA exercise in an area where one or two company concerns flourished, for example, around Bath and Bristol, or Swansea or the Potteries. Then no operating municipality would be hurt and yet the industry should have the chance of seeing just what chaos would result.
Turning to "the latest vague"—the extension of one-man operation—Mr. Hilditch had some strong remarks to make about both the Prices and Incomes Board Report No. 63 on the Pay of Municipal Busmen and the latest thoughts in bus design. He said "Surely from a management point of view we have looked at o-m-o as being a device which might let us save a little money, but more important still has allowed us to continue to run routes where traffic is thin on the ground. Thin traffic means thin takings, so can we afford a great deal of expense?
Paying lOs per week
-We are exhorted to start off by paying lOs per week to every man and woman for what we have done and /or paid for in the past, despite the fact that these economies have been swallowed up long since. Then up go the plus rates (but where is the dividing line between urban and rural? and I wonder here why the FIB report was ever published in the form in which it appeared."
Mr. Hilditch then said, assuming that one-man operation was the panacea for all our urban ills: "Consequently, being thoroughly modern managements, we buy a 33ft two-door double-decker, and perhaps it costs about £ 1 ,000 more than the sort of machine we used to employ in two-man days. To this we add the gadgets—a periscope, some automatic ticket-issuing equipment, a centre door interlock, and a counter to tell the driver when the top deck is full. We haven't any money to replace the existing fleet so we employ a loan and thus add interest charges, and because our bus weighs about 9 tons we know that the fuel and tyre bills must be higher.
"We know, too, that it must be slower in use, so either we reduce the frequencies or put in a bus or two extra. But wait . . . to some extent we can offset the time factor by cutting out all the intermediate fare values and offer, say, only 6d, 9d, and 1s tickets. In my younger days people used to tell me that it was the zonal fare system that put the various American systems in financial jeopardy, and now we seem to be trying to emulate their lead into the never-never land.
"Let us press on and assume that there is no passenger resistance and that everyone pays the proper rate, and turn to the savings we are told exist by virtue of the higher productivity that we shall gain. I wonder where it is?
"True, we eliminate the conductor but we are paying 10s per week extra to our men, and we have put up the plus rate to 22.5 per cent, or 20 per cent for single-deckers, and the staff have the promise of more cash as we make more savings. But I wonder who is pulling whose leg? The PlEl report No. 63 urges that we make some quick moves to convert to this form of operation, but surely by the time all these factors have been taken into account there are going to be no savings left, and it will become cheaper to revert back to two-man operation.
Tram influence
Mr. Hilditch then asked if the authors of the FIB report knew that the influence of the tram lingered because the trams ran on the main traffic arteries and those arteries, with very few exceptions, were still with us. Or that bus stops were at short intervals because the object of the exercise was to carry passengers and one did not do that if one did not let them get on and off.
"Next, I sometimes wonder about vehicles and my thoughts pursue several different lines," he continued. "For example, I wonder if the Government did not do the British motor industry a tremendous disservice when it permitted the Leyland /BMH merger to take place some months ago. Just think back a bit. AEC take in Crossley—and vanish the Crossley. At that time 119481 the fluid drive AEC Regent was undoubtedly Britain's best double-deck chassis, but where is AEC now in the double-deck market since it was amalgamated with Leyland?
-Those in authority may claim rationalization. I proclaim stagnation, and surely the only reason why British commercial vehicles are so good at the moment is because there has been an element of competition for our orders in the past. Alas, now no more. Are we, therefore, to watch the eclipse of Daimler?
"From here it is but a short step to that other beauty—the standard bus—all 13 of them. Once we have a standard bus, just what development latitude will be allowed? Will Mr, Edgley Cox, for example, have to obtain a licence in triplicate and forgo his subsidy if he wants to undertake one of those pioneering ventures which have in the past brought us all a great deal of benefit? I wonder."
Then Mr. Hilditch wondered about the 25 per cent subsidy. He had the unpleasant feeling that by the time the Ministry had added all its ideas about those refinements that no bus should be without—refinements which, incidentally, would have to be maintained and could well become the delight of their good friends, the area mechanical engineers. And when they were not, because of the lack of alternative sources of supply, able to obtain truly competitive tenders, they would find that they were parting with a good deal more cash than they were at the moment. "When I wonder about cash, I become agitated", continued Mr. Hilditch, "and then I think about that other confidence trick—the Road Transport Industry Training Board—and positively smoulder. I could write a book on this subject but time is short, so I will refer only to one sinall item among many others that affect our finances and will, at the present rate of empire building, affect them more in the future."
'Mote&
He referred to an advertisement which appeared on page 97 of Commercial Motor May 31 1968 headed "Motec", "our new language again", and when translated read "Multi Occupational Training and Education Centre". The advert was seeking training officers for, among other things, p.s.v. driving, at around £1,750 per annum. Each was to be responsible to the training manager for: Assistance with course programme arrangements; supervision of instructors; assessment of trainees; liaison with the Board's specialist staff.
"An impressive array" said Mr. Hilditch, who added that it did not stop there, for in the space below was yet another advert for five p.s.v. driving instructors at average salaries of around £1,400. -Not much money involved in total. Only about £10,000 per annum, but it is another £10,000 of our cash. I wonder why?"
He remarked that by far the greater proportion of p.s.v. drivers today were employed by the large companies or their own associated undertakings. Were they to suppose that because they trained their own men, and because their driving instructors were so bad, that they needed this additional burden?
About the Association Mr. Hilditch would say little, although he did often wonder why it was that the official minutes of another body could be received upon his desk far more promptly than those of his own, and, indeed, why the former seemed to be that amount more informative. Perhaps this comment would not go unnoticed in the appropriate quarter.
The other half
He added that "Our other half of the Siamese twin though, the Federation, is another matter. We do not seem to be doing too well, but then I wonder if this is because we are quite properly a democratic organization, and our thoughts and actions up to now at least have not been controlled from one central office?"
Perhaps, too, he continued, there was a good deal of merit in the suggestion that there should be one negotiating body for the whole of the industry, excepting the London Transport Board, for when all was said and done, as their trade union friends told them—"Unity is strength". "Despite what I said earlier, it will be to our advantage and the passengers if we can voluntarily draw closer to the companies and cut out what overlapping does now exist", conceded Mr. Hilditch.
He firmly believed that the industry would only stay afloat so long as there was some enthusiasm among them all, and it was here that they somehow had to convince their staff that in endeavouring to save passenger traffic and mileage, they were endeavouring to save jobs. -We want help, not hindrance", he said,
"but if we do receive the support of our men and women then we must in no way abuse their trust.
-We hear a good deal about how great a staff turnover we have. True, but if the PIB report did nothing else, it showed that we were no worse off than anyone else, and that a very high proportion of the traffic staff, as one example, stay on the job year after year because they either like the work or they like the pay, or they like both factors. Why, therefore, cannot we take advantage of this in-built loyalty? Most busmen I have ever met spend much of their time talking about buses, and so why should we allow a few disgruntled characters to destroy our industry?"
Appeal
It was then that Mr. Hilditch made his appeal for the complete elimination of everything that was non-productive, and the chance as trading concems of being allowed to do just that in a non-restrictive manner. "We need to make a profit and not be ashamed of the fact, provided that we plough the profit back for the good of the passenger. Let us show that we mean business and let us set an example."
This he followed with some interesting suggestions. First, he said, 'When we have a Conference next year let us spend our time, not in quite so many social activities but in having a look round one or two transport concerns, or any industrial plant that will give us a few Ideas. And let us not go to the seaside but somehwere where there are real traffic and transport problems that we can first look over and then discuss," Then he added: 'Why too should we not have a Municipal Bus Week with parades, a spot of television advertising, the opening of our works and garages to the public, and a few local exhibitions?" They would all have to join together to make the necessary impact upon the population and, dare he say it, on some politicians too.
INDUSTRIAL STABILIZATION ACT
On Thursday, Senator Carl A. Tull, chairman, Public Transport Service Corporation, Port-ofSpain, Trinidad, delivered a paper entitled "Industrial Stabilization Through Legislation". He described the industrial unrest and events which preceded the creation of Independence for Trinidad and Tobago in August, 1962.
During the five-year period 1960-1965 strikes in various industries and establisments involved a total of 61,285 workers, resulting in a loss of 662,795 man-days. A fresh outbreak of industrial strife, around the beginning of 1965, led the Goverment to enact in March, 1965, the Industrial Stabilization Act which sought to achieve nine legally defined objectives.
Senator Tull said that this piece of industrial legislation would no doubt appear rather frightful to us in Britain. Trinidad and Tobago had no alternative but to seek the pragmatic approach to rescue the community from the impending disaster, however. The success of the Act so far had fully vindicated the action taken by the Government, with the support of the people, for the establishment of industrial peace in the country and protecting and advancing the national economy, he concluded.