The New "Square" Deal
Page 45
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AN illusion of scientific precision and method is given to the proposed principles for British Transport Commission charges by the ingenious choice of the national grid system to mark distances. The document, which is to be the subject of discussion with traders, explains the system courteously and gravely, rather as one would imagine Newton enumerating the variety and size of the apple before going on to propound the theory of gravity.
The national grid system, we are told, is "as adopted by the Ordnance Survey following the recommendations of the Davidson Committee in 1938." It divides the country into 10-kilometre squares, obligingly translated as "squares haVing sides of approximately 6:I miles."
Nat to make things too easy, the squares are called "groups," and the measured distance between one square (or group) and another is to be known as a " chargeable distance." This distance "will be based upon the measured mileage between a selected place near the centre of each group, using the shortest route by Class A and B roads, except at each end where lower classified roads may be used in order to reach the measuring point." Charges will be the same for transport from any place in one square to any place in another.
Many exceptions are bound to complicate this part of the B.T.C. scheme. Road and rail routes between the same two points sometimes differ considerably in distance. In such cases, either a compromise .;' chargeable distance" must be agreed for all forms of transport, or the difference will have to be recognized•in the rates.
Over the Border Where the two corners of two squares meet at a point, a trader just inside one square is bound to grumble if the transport of his goods for a few hundred .yards over the border be charged at the same rate as that applied to another trader who happens to want goods carried between The two extreme corners of the squares, a distance of 16 or 17 miles. • No indication is given that there will be any charge at all for a transport operation confined within the borders of a single square.
A trader making retail deliveries within a restricted 'radius should not for this reason hand over the work to the B.T.C. in the expectation that it would be done for nothing. No doubt the point will be covered at a later stage, unless the B.T C. has already decided that all traffic within squares will be left to independent hauliers!
For more than one reason, hauliers are bound to be interested in the new proposals and their progress. In recent years, much time and energy have been spent in the search for a universal code of rates. The Road and Rail Central Conference and its regional committees amassed lists containing thousands of rates actually being charged. The hope was that an analysis of these rates Would ultimately reveal certain common principles. The inquiry -proved as fruitless as the search by the alchemists for the philosopher's stone.
It is only fair to add that the work of the Central Conference was cut short by nationalization, and that, without this interruption, more .definite results might have been achieved. The B.T.C. gives-no sign of having made use of the information collected by the Confer
ence. Broadly speaking, exactly the opposite procedure is being followed. Instead of formulating theories from facts, the B.T.C. has chosen to.lay down the principles first, and let the facts (the actual rates) look after themselves.
Road haulage liaison is heir to the old road-rail machinery, and sooner or later it must grapple afresh with the problem of what it was once fashionable to call "correlation of rates." The opportunity is already there. The charges scheme ultimately produced by the B.T.C. will have to go to the Transport Tribunal, which has discretion to hear representations made by bodies representative of providers of services competing with those to which the scheme relates.
Logical Discussion The draft principles recently prepared by the B.T.C. are intended as a basis for discussions with "trading interests." It seems logical to expect that these interests should include any body likely to be heard by the Transport Tribunal. Discussion with hauliers, through road haulage liaison or any other means, would be logical.
Hauliers are not merely competitors of the B.T.C. Some of them use the nationalized service. The joint statement on liaison specifies sub-contracting as one of the probable subjects for discussion betwaten the two sides. Here is an additional reason for use of the liaison machinery to consider the Commission's proposals: The draft outline of principles is an eclectic document. It has taken tribute from practically every report or memorandum on transport rates published during the past quarter of a century, whether by Governmentappointed commissions and committees, by trade associations, or by separate transport agencies.
Has all the work on this subject of rates been worth while? Undoubtedly, the planners love it, and it must provide excellent practice for transport students.
If a member of the public thinks he is charged too much for electricity, coal or sugar, he can do little about it. He is not in a position economically to generate his own current, sink his own mine or grow and process his own beet. The trader who considers the cost of public transport too high can often give effect to his opinion by putting his own vehicles on the road.
Thoughtful Provision
Nearly 100,000 C.-licensed vehicles came into use last year. This year the rate of increase may go up. So long as the trader has this safeguard it is difficult to see how any standard scheme of charges is to be maintained. The effective principle must continue to be to some extent what the traffic can bear, or what the carrier can get, however much time the B.T.C. spends in poring over the squares so thoughtfully 'provided by the Davidson Committee.
The Commission, of course, has no option. It is compelled by the Transport Act to continue the search for the philosopher's stone, and to prepare charges schemes relating to all its transport services and facilities. The ability of the trader to upset the best-laid schemes must make the work of the B.T.C. in this direction appear at times as pointless, even if as interesting, as any other game played on squares.