THE COMMON ROOM
Page 48
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By George Wilmot
Lecturer in Transport Studies, University of London
WHAT TO READ: Reports on Road Transport
IN addition to the regular annual reports of public and private organization in road transport, there is a steady stream of reports from committees intermittently called up by the Government to give advice.
Since 1961 various committees have deliberated over almost the whole spectrum of road transport. Students should certainly be aware of some of these reports, particularly those.preparing for the more advanced transport examinations. The difficulty comes in selecting the really relevant reports amid the seemingly endless pile.
Regular reading of the transport Press will throw a good deal of light on the most apposite reports, but this can only be a general guide for students. I believe that a skeleton selection of the most recent reports will be helpful. This is certainly a skeleton list, but it does try to cater for as wide an examination range as possible.
In road passenger transport the two reports on rural bus services are well worth consulting—Rural Bus Services (HMSO, 1961, 4s. 6d.) and Transport Services in the Highlands and Islands (HMSO, 1963, 4s.), but this year's survey, Rural Bus Services—Report of Local Inquiries (HMSO, 3s. 6d.), although giving interesting examples, was disappointing and added little real knowledge to this intractable problem.
A thoughtful appraisal is contained in a private series on rural sociology—The Rural Transport Problem, by D. St. John Thomas (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, 25s.) —a book to be looked at by those who want to dig deeper into the problem.
The urban bus is well catered for in the context of town planning reports and surveys on the containment of the car. Colin Buchanan's group report in 1963, Traffic in Towns, is the chief Government report which is now published as a shortened version by Penguin for 10s. One of the most interesting documents published by local authorities is the City of Leicester Plan (October, 1964).
The report of the Geddes Committee on Carriers' Licensing (HMSO, 1965, 8s.) plus the July report of the Prices and Incomes Board on road haulage rates are the most significant recent documents in road haulage. While the publication of both reports raised a great deal of controversy, both have very definite and lucidly expressed views.
A favourite examination question of the moment concerns congestion at the ports and, from the road point of view, the most succinct analysis is Chapter 20 of the Rochdale Committee on the Major Ports of Great Britain (HMSO, 1962, 15s.).
Even though this list is so abbreviated, I am not advocating cover-to-cover reading of these reports. By their very nature, committee reports are not light reading and one searches in vain for shafts of humour in their pages. But invariably they are written in clear English and keep to the point. They are. well indexed with clearly defined sections and paragraphs, making the task of picking the main threads of an argument much easier. At the same time more concentrated reading can be made of particular aspects.
I have spent some time on reports of all kinds, largely because they are invaluable tools of study which too often are overlooked. Above all else, because of their current material, reports are some answer to the justifiable cry of students that so many transport books recommended for study are out of date.