Traffic Co-ordination Over 10 Years
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Points from An Interesting Commemorative Address _ Read Last Week before the Institute of Transport by Sir Cyril Hureornb, KCB., K.B.E., Director General, M.O.W.T.
THE occasion of the reading of a commemorative address, entitled 'The Co-ordination of Transport in Great Britain during the Years 19351944," by Sir Cyril Hurcomb, a pastpresident, before the Institute of Transport, was the 25th anniversary of the first public meeting of the Institute, the president, Mr. R. Kelso, being in the chair.
Sir Cyril mentioned that the first president, Sir Erie Ge.ddes, found it necessary to comment upon the general lack of consciousness of its dependence upon transport which the public showed prior to 1914-18. There is no such lack to-day, and this would still be true even if a second world war had not brought home to everyone the:vital importance of transport by land aS well as by sea. There is hardly a country in Europe in which it is not being said, or soon will be said, that restoration of transport is the primary need and the chief hope of averting chaos.
The Institute had played a leading part in education in this connection. Its membership now exceeds 6,000, and the list of foundation members shows how many associate-members of that day have come to occupy important positions in transport.
In 1919 the scattered functions relating to inland transport were collected together in the Ministry of Transport. In 1941 those relating to shipping were combined with them in the new Ministry of War Transport. Inland transport has an interest in knowing what ships are loaded and sent abroad with the greatest practicable regard to the situation at the receiving end and the ultimate destination of the goods, so that unnecessary internal hauls by rail or road may be avoided. He ventured to predict that the functions relating to shipping and inland transport having once been joined together will not be severed._ Little Linking of Bus Concerns In public passenger transport by road there was no such startling innovation between 1935 and 1939 as the establishment of the London • Passenger
Transport Board in 1933. Tentative proposals for regional boards have failed to take shape. Some additional agreements have been concluded between company and municipally owned undertakings for the combined operation of „routes of mutual interest. Special interest also attaches to the action of the Bristol Corporation, which purchased the tramways of the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd., and then made an agreement with the company, under which the trams were abandoned and bus services, operated in conjunction with the COM.: pann's existing services, substituted. Most of the arrangements for the co-ordination of services since the outbreak of war have been in the nature of a waiving of protective conditions, and are temporary. The outstanding exception is Plymouth, where-the Corporation and the Western National
Omnibus Co., Ltd., have agreed on the co-ordination of _services and &ailing of receipts on all routes in the city and a specified area outside.
The record of the four years to 1939 was one of steady progress in carrying Out the intentions of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, the administration of which, under the Area Traffic Commissioners, gave practical meaning to the conception of co-ordination. Particular attention was paid to the closer, integration of rail and road services and their time-tables, vehicles owned, and the
average seating capacity. The seatmiles run in 1937 rose by nearly 28 per cent, over those in 1931, and operators secured a steadily increasing receipt per vehicle-mile.
Small Operators SOH Numerous At the same time there was a continuous diminution in. the number of operators, but the small man was far from being exterminaIed. In 1931 there were some 6,500 operators, and in 1937, 4,800, of whom about 3,370 owned three vehicles or less, and 1,850 only one.
.During the war it has been essential to discourage unnecessary-journeys and the use of transport for shopping during rush hours, whilst staggering of working hours, to flatten morning and evening peaks, has been encouraged; 2,100 single-deckers have been converted to carry additional standing passengers, whilst large blocks of traffic have been transferred from road to rail, with feeder-bus services to and from railheads where necessary. Schemes of prioritt travel for workers have been introduced, bus queues organized, and stopping places—fixed and reduced in number to about one every 490 yds. Some of these.expedients,may point the way to. a permanent easing of the peak loads; others are temporary and the public and industry will be glad to see their end: The licensing powers tinder. the two Acts have temporarily given way to a more flexible system of permits, and immediately the war came the Chairmen of the Area Traffic Commissioners, who are also the licensing authorities for goods vehicles, bechine officers of the Ministry, with the title of Regional Transport Commissioners, their Areas being arnended to correspond with the Civil Defence Regions. They also became responsible for the rationing of fuel for goods and .public . passenger vehicles.
Control of the highly organized passenger-transport industry has not required very elaborate machinery and has been exercised direct from the regional offices, whereas . control of goods transport had to be further decentralized.
One point stand b out clearly. Whatever may have been the effects of the Road and pail Traffic Act, 1933, any expectations that the licensing system would lead to the coalescence of hauliers ',into bigger groups were not realized. 'There has been some tendency Intlarger undertakings to purchase othersto attain. econonaies in management and equipment, and the benefits of bulk buying, but, on the whnle, the individual haulier has avoided financial tie-up with other units and has manifested a strong desire to maintain a separate existence.
Sir Cyril then dealt with the different types of vehicle in the various classes of licence. In giving these, the first figure denotes the number of licences and the second the vehicles. In 1938 they were:— A: 23,872,83,749; A Contract: 5,430, 9,467; B: 34,767, 54,906; C:'178,586, 365,025. Total: 242,655, 513,147. In addition, there' were 13,319 goods vehicles in the agricultural class. It is pointed Out that the number of C-licensed vehicles was probably swollen by the failure of some licence holders to report changes and
vehicles removed from licences. Included in these figures there were 363 railway licences ciavering 10.145 vehicles.
A licences and vehicles decreased between 1936 and 1938; this may have represented adjustments to other forms of 'licence (A Contract or B), and in part surrenders. Probably the decrease did not represent one in carrying capacity. There was a marked increase in A Contract licences and vehicles. In some cases, carriers have preferred this licence, even where application' for the A type could have been justified. They are largely alternative to C licences, for some 'traders prefer to employ a carrier whole time rather than run their own vehicles.
The great majority of B licences is held by coal merchants, builders' merchants, furniture removers, and concerns with other businesses not primarily concerned with haulage.
Big Increase in Ancillary Users
C licences and vehicles have increased far more than any other class. This tendency is significant and must be taken into account in' forming any estimate of the future prospects of all public hauliers of goods.
A number of carrier§ holds several licences of the same class in different ateaS, and some of all three classes. bur , the number is not great. The number ; of vehicles per licence in 1938 were — A, 3.5 A Contract, 1.7; B, 1.6; C,-2.0; -average, 2.1, but if licences and vehicles of the railwaysbe taken out, this would reduce the figures for A licences to 3.1.
• Much interest ittaches to the structure of the goods side. Even the 350 largest concerus could produce only some 10,000 vehicles. Of these, about half was engaged in hauls of under, 60 miles. No single haulage entity is believed to control even .75 of 1 per cent, or to own and control more than some 1;000 vehicles.
As to the types of haulage, the following guesses,maY not be wide of the Mark. Before the war about 20,000 vehicles hauled 70 miles and over, 50,000 betwegn 20 and" 70 miles. and the remaining 80,000 were on local work within a radius of some 20 miles. Of the long-distance classes, about 1,000 were insulated vans, a similar number tankers and other specialized types, whilst the third thousand was mainly used for " smalls."
It would not be unfair to describe as " sketchy " the costing records maintained by the majority of hauliers. but the vehicles are ably and keenly operated, and road haulage has made full use of its mobility—a quality which has proved so valuable to the country during the war—and of its privilege of selecting its traffics and the districts or routes which it will serve.'
In 1919 long-distance road traffic was carried either on a 10-ton vehicle and trailer at a speed of 4 m.p.h., or on a 5-tonner averaging 8 m.p.h., at a cost of perhaps 5c1. per ton-mile. In 1939 it was said an oil-engined 15-tormer will run at a speed of 17 m.p.h. at a cost, under favourable conditions, of not much over id. per ton-milt, but these are private guesses, not official figures.
From the point of view of the longdistance haulier and older forms of transport, no problem is created by the great majority of ancillary operators engaged solely in -retail distribution within a modest radius, involving no competition or overlapping of function with public carriers. It is not known, however, what proportion of C-licensed vehicles belongs to large concerns, the activities of which extend beyond ordinary retail distribution over moderate distances. It is probably small, yet enough to constitute an important factor in any scheme of co-ordinated transport, for these vehicles may abstract traffic which, if retained, would contribute to the overheads of the public carrier by road, rail or water, ald, if lost, might unbalance their loads. The ancillary operator, Moreover, still expects to fall back, when he likes, upon the public system of transport.
Growth of Government Haulage
Sir Cyril then dealt -with, first, the combined haulage scheme with a chartered fleet and the Hauliers National Traffic Pool, which was in force from February, 1942, to the end of that year, but the chartered fleet, originally intended tell be some 2,500 vehicles, never reached 500, whichwas insuffi• cient to deal with a major emergeney. It was also hot :found practicable to introduce any effective degree of -collaboratien between. the' haulier members to Secure 'econornies. In the meantime the supply of rubber and fuel deterivated, and the present Road
A22 Haulage Organization was brought into being. This consists of controlled undertakings, which put the whole' of their resources at the disposal of the Minister and provide the reporting points and the office and accounting facilities needed, and of operators who hire their vehicles to the Minister.
The former are paid on the basis of a guarantee of the net profit for the average of two accounting years selected within a defined pre-war period, with adjustments for variation in the capital value of the assets, tlie approved expenses of running the undertaking being met by the Ministry.
The hired operators are paid a weekly rate for their vehicles, covering overhead charges and an element for profit, whilst the actual wages, cost of fuel, insurance and tyres are reimbursed by the Ministry. In addition, a rate per mile is paid to cover other necessary expenses, maintenance, etc. Both classes retain ownership of their vehicles. This started in March, 1943, and the scheme was virtually applied by the end of October of that year The Road Haulage Organization There are 12 Divisions, co-extensive with the 12 civil regions, each in charge of a Divisional Road Haulage Officer. The Divisions are divided into 52 areas, each under an Area Road Officer, whilst in each area there is a number of branch offices known as unit centres. Each centre is the base of a group of vehicles comprising those of the controlled undertaking and hired vehicles attached to it for operational purposes. There are 267 of these units, each in charge of a Unit Controller, who is responsible for accepting controlled traffic for distaaces of 60 or more miles. also for arranging the movement of that traffic in vehicles which belong to his unit or have unloaded in his territory.
The vehicles in the general side of the R.H.O. total over 14,000 long-distance, both controlled and hired, whilst there are nearly 5,760 short-distance vehicles belonging to controlled undertakings. For long-distance traffic accepted, each unit controller employs foreign-based vehicles unloaded in his territory and which have reported to him, in preference to initiating journeys with his own vehicles. A system of balancing vehicles and traffic runs throughout the Organization at every level up to central control. Eery day each Unit Controller reports his traffic and vehicle position to his area office, the officer there effects such inter-unit balancing as he can, and reports the net position to the Divisions, and so on.
Long-distance general traffic, whether on Government or commercial account, is, throughout most of the country, handled through units, whilst area offices -deal with practically all shortdistance traffic on Government account. The latter is passed out to carriers whether controlled or otherwise, but on an equitable basis according to the available resources in the area. • This clearing-house function has been useful in avoiding competition : between different departments at peak periods and in obtaining economy.
The speaker then dealt with the oldest part of the R.H.O., the " Meat Section," largely founded on the Meat' Pool set up by hauliers and taken over
by the Ministry in April, 1941. It included about 1,500 vehicles on wholetime charter and about 9,500 on a casual basis.
During 1944 the total tonnage handled by R.H.O. was nearly 54,000,000, the proportions in millions being approximately:—Long-distance (including Government traffic), IL other Government traffic, general, 16.2; opencast coal, 8; meat, 3.6; other commercial traffic, .15. In addition, 4,685,489 head of livestock were carried.
Dealing with highways, the author said that the Government had announced its intention of introducing legislation approximately to double the mileage of trunk roads. The Minister is directly responsible for some 4,500 miles of these, representing 21per cent. of the total road mileage and 16 per cent. of that of classified roads.
Concerning rates, , those for road haulage were not subject to regulation before the war, and it has been possible to regulate them only on very broad lines. An Order of 1942 provides that, in the absence of proof to the contrary, no road-haulage or hire charge shall exceed by more than 7i per cent, the fair and reasonable charge in October, 1940. This is determinable by the R.T.C. on application by the person upon whom the charge falls.
Even under the R.H.O. it has been found impracticable to apply any general scale of charges for commercial traffic. Careful thought was given to the possibility of assimilating the charges to railway exceptional charges; but the proposal proved not to be capable of application, and it was necessary to continue the commercial, rates and charging practices in force at the time of control, except where these were obviously uneconomic or complaints of overcharging were found to he justified. The average increase in rates during the war may be between .30 and 40 per cent., or possibly more. The general level of roadhaulage rates has probably risen to nearer that of rail rates than it was before the war, whilst between particular points road rates may be below or above those of rail by varying percentages.
Setting the Post-war Course Following the enforced co-ordination of transport during the war, it has been necessary to consider What course should be steered after it. Before the war the course was set by the Transport Advisory Council, as a result of its inquiry into services and rates, and examination of the railways " Square
Deal" proposals. The then Government had promised legislation without committing itself to any precise scope. The recommendations favoured coordination and aimed at giving the tsader adequate alternative facilities:and freedom to select the transport . he desires, the resultant competition to be on fair terms, They also aimed at relieving the railways of some of the major
featrtes of the control over their freight charges, but the proposals were of a stop-gap nature, even then intended to cover only five years.
The war has strikingly demonstrated the capacity of the railways to deal with greatly increased traffic, and the disproportionate extent to which net revenue varies with traffic volume, also the mobility of road transport, which has been of special value in dealing with emergencies. It cannot be claimed that war experience has anywhere revealed a clear functional division in transport.
Some interesting suggestions have been made by tho road-transport industry as to the manner in which the licensing system should be
re-established and its provisions adjusted to new circumstances. These are being carefully 'examined, but any amendments in the present system will require legislation, for the Minister has no power to give general directions to, the Licensing Authorities in relation to goods vehicles such as he possesses in the case of road-passenger services.
War has ma:de it clear that all forms of transport are essential to the life of
the country. Without a well-maintained railway system our economy could not go on, but we also require a similar and developing road system.
In road haulage, the most difficult field of all, the varying schemes of organization initiated by the Ministry have brought about a new local habit of co-operation amongst groups Or units which should have permanent value. The recent federation of roadtransport associations is an encouraging sign. It was worth noting that on the passenger side, ever since 1930, undesirable competition has disappeared over a wide field, with advantage to the public and to the operators.
The habit of co-operation in times of stress, added to the knowledge and experience gained, will surely be found to have contributed much. With all forms of transport conducted under the baton of a Minister charged with the responsibility for all surface transport, greater agreement on both principles and methods may well be secured.