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TRANSPORT and POLITICS

3rd April 1964, Page 81
3rd April 1964
Page 81
Page 82
Page 81, 3rd April 1964 — TRANSPORT and POLITICS
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By KIWI The outspoken views of a New Zealand operator on State intervention in transport

IN New Zealand we call a motor lorry a truck ". This probably arose from a greater early usage of Americanmade trucks because their power to weight ratio was more suited to our rather mountainous terrain. However, whether they were called trucks or lorries or by any other name, the beast would be just as harassing, just as challenging and the science of transport just as fascinating

a study subject. .

The immensity and complexity of transportation in all its forms, road, rail, sea and air, probably consumes more of western humanity's time, intelligence and money than any other enterprise. In N.Z. the cost is over 28 per cent of the gross national income.

Just how important a part does road transport play in our society?

If motorized transport were eliminated, many countries, particularly mine, would experience so grave a retardation as to revert to an agrarian economy not unlike that of the Victorian period. This, simply because food would remain on the farms and industry would wilt through lack of raw materials and the inability to distribute its products.

Communists and Socialists both believe in the nationalization or State control of the means of production, distribution and exchange. We who have tinkered with Socialism have become increasingly disenchanted with its performance in fulfilling any of the glowing promises. Yet some of the misconceptions stick and politicians nourish an egomaniac resolve to organize transport. They still speak in terms of road transport being "complementary " to the railway system as if it were some sort of Tom Jones handmaiden.

It demonstrates the ineptitude of politicians in evaluating logistics and their application to the needs of human society. They firmly believe, and perhaps British politicians too, that the railways are the prime mover and form the backbone of mechanical transport in the country. Of course, in both countries, the railways are State owned and the bulk of road transport services in private hands. As a consequence, the power of manipulation which we vest in our legislators is invoked to the aid of the service for which they feel a greater responsibility.

Does this do the country a disservice? And in what wayhave they misconstrued the part each service should play?

Firstly, I would define as a prime mover that agency able to pick up from the producer and deliver to the consumer, plus any movements of the commodities in between. Of the four main mediums of transport; road, rail, sea and air, only road can provide this comprehensive service. The helicopter has future but not present possibilities.

Thus all other services are complementary to road transport and will depend in thousands of instances upon the prime mover firstly delivering goods to rail siding, airport or wharf or, conversely, removing them for distribution. In small countries like Britain and New Zealand, road transport has no real need for these intermediary services. If their usage involves extra or multiple handling of the goods it can frequently waive any advantages of speed or cost the intermediate service may appear to offer, plus increasing the possibilities of loss, pillage and damage.

In my country, transport students say we have grown in 100 years of usage to accept the rail system without counting the cost or examining the alternatives. Politicians declare, if anomalies exist, their removal may emasculate the railway's economy. Are we like a man with a painful limp who refuses an operation because, he may lose his leg? Road enthusiasts maintain he will lose not his leg but the debilitating Iimp.

, In the meantime, flying buttresses of statutes and regulatory controls have been erected to prop up the State-owned transport edifice and the losses when plotted on a graph rise in a rapidly steepening gradient until, in about 1975 if not before, New Zealand will have to face its moment of truth.

Perhaps 13ritain is facing hers now? Why is this?

It all came about due to bad roads and the lack of rubber tyres when Stephenson built his Rocket. What had he to run it on at the speeds he visualized would become practicable? Little better than potholed coach and horse trails on which the iron-wheeled steam vehicle would destroy itself. He used the rail and cross-tie and achieved several notable ends in one fell swoop. Smoothness of motion; low resistance to the moment of inertia, elimination of steering and immense load hauling capacity over the easy gradients that relatively flat England made possible. A bright and shining vista with only one tiny, unnoticed cloud. Had it been mentioned, it would have been greeted with hoots of laughter.

The .horse dray was still the prime mover.

The era of the railway was ushered in with an immense enthusiasm. Money was spent like water. Lines spread over the country with astonishing celerity. Man was emancipated from the shackles of immobility.

• Before the turn of the century the internal combustion engine Was fitted to a horsedrawn vehicle. This insignificant moment was man's giant leap. The cloud was growing.

Technology is a self-winding clock that never stops. The solid tyre gave way to the pneumatic. Singles to twins (and now back?).. Two axles to three, four and five. Speeds jumped from 10 to 20. to 40 mph

The sensibility Of loading Cabbages from a dray onto a train at Staines for delivery in London was never questioned in the 19th century. In the early 20th it became a farce. Lorry ,them straight into market became the growing modus.operandi. Rising wages emphasized the need to reduce handling charges.

A primary law in transport economics was coined : "The handling and movement of goods adds to their cost but not to their value."

Truck routes spread out further as their radii of operating economy improved. Mass production made the motor vehicle available to both peer and peasant. Horses with their limitations of speed and muscle fatigue were exchanged for the tireless piston. Electors demanded better roads and their politicians taxed them to make it possible. Better roads improved vehicle operating costs by increasing speed and load capacity. Where economies favoured them," transport companies whittled away at the railway's freight business, the mainstay of their existence. Then in Britain, in a brilliantly misguided moment, a socialist government nationalized the multi-cornpanied railway structtire and private problems became public grief.

Where does Britannia stand today? I see her at a major crossroads; perplexed, undecided and not a little dismayed. Ah the motor vehicle. The cloud has grown very big now. The little man with the flag walking along in front has disappeared but the umbrage still remains. "Cars should be prohibited from central London. Ten bob a week to park your ear on the streets your own rates and taxes have Doctor Beeching says non-paying lines must be progressively closed. This transfers freight and passengers onto already inadequate roads. Critics cry havoc. Their bedlam can obscure the truth and politicians will move in the direction indicated by the loudest voices in the electorate. Transport is now becoming a mammoth science. If in its manipulation we ignore basic truths, time will exact a punishment. In New Zealand we have one car to every two and a half persons. When you have 20 million vehicles on the roads your ratio will match ours. Unless you provide for them, rigor mortis will have set in long before this, because, here, there is twenty times our population.

Planning should be as comprehensive as it was for the second front in the Second World War. Then you were preparing for the ominous present. Now you must think of the burgeoning future.

o24 What is the answer to all this? For war you spent, was it £2000 millions a year on military hardware that is nothing but rust and corruption today? Can you spend as much now? Because that is what it needs. But this time it will not amount to a mess of pottage but a smoothly functioning society with all your transport " T's " neatly crossed.

I am told that for perhaps two generations, motorists have paid their road taxes into the consolidated fund but other ministries have pressed their claims to much of it. Perhaps they believed the present chaos would never arise. The roads and railways would serve for another century. But time will not stand still; as wages go up, the railways will go down. You cannot avert the logic of logistics.

Politicians will fight against the tide. They will force a compromise situation. Curious laws that distort the truth will be framed. Look at this one. . . .

New Zealand built a new seaport in the Bay of Plenty to service a large timber and primary production area. Truck operators found the distance by road was more than a third less than the rail distance. This was a loophole in Regulation 29(2) that says trucks may not compete more than 40 miles against the state railways unless the rail distance be more than a third greater. Operators quickly, began to siphon off the freight. What did the government do? They just declared a section of the highway, for the purpose of the Act, to be a railway and the truck men were breaking the law by running along what came to be known as the Phantom Railway. This action forced the freight to travel about 50 per cent farther at about 50 per cent greater cost.

Two Sides to the Coin You may feel I am hypercritical towards our respective governments. There are two sides to the coin, I agree. For instance, several years ago a retired N.Z. truck operator entered politics and became minister of transport. He worked with dour determination and finally convinced his colleagues in cabinet that road taxes should really be spent on the roads. He submitted a blueprint that works today.

Elective District Roads Councils, representative (broadly speaking) of county areas, evaluate main highway work required in their respective areas and assess the cost. Their findings are placed before the National Roads Board which shapes them to fit policy and budget. This board comprises delegates. from the local bodies, central government, the Ministry of Works, the Automobile Association and the Industrial Transport Association (usually a prominent truck operator). These men have the sole responsibility for spending the road tax imposed upon gasoline; about Is. per gallon. (The main port price of gasoline is 3s. 4d. Imp. gal. for regular, 3s. 7d. for high octane.) This brings in about £25 million (per capita equivalent for G.13., £500 million) to be spent wholly on main highways with minor grants to local bodies, most of whose monies for county roads and borough streets is derived from rates.

This ensures to the delight of all road users that money collected for roading is spent on roading. The Board can forecast what it has to spend, contractors can assess their heavy plant requirements and payments for work done flow evenly throughout the year. For as the money rolls in, it short-circuits the Treasury and goes straight to N.R.B.

Ministries who previously had their hand in the till are chagrined, of course, but organizations such as the Road Transport Alliance are grimly determined that this status quo is going to remain into perpetuity, if possible.

Is this a formula you can use? If it is, them steel yourselves, nail down your M.P. and go to it.

The best of good luck to you!


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