Transport Needs Must Be Met
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Trade and Industry and the Travelling Public Must Receive More By Consideration in Respect of Road Transport Facilities "Tantalus" TIERE is neither evidence nor indicatiOn that the muddle of road transport—goods and passenger—is likely to disappear in the near future. In endeavouring to Meet the needs of the community the inadequacies of both 'services become increasingly apparent. In the matter of the railways, notwithstanding the fact that additional trains have been provided, the service still falls far short, of meeting requirements. The companies are, in fact, unable to furnish adequate accoMmodation for the travelling public. At the various stations queues of holiday, makers are as long as ever, and travel discomfort has become accepted as a necessary although painful experience. It is sufficient to witness only the scenes depicted on the departure platforms for long-distance trains. There is a mad scramble for seats, whilst all standards of decent beha.viour appear to have gone with the wind. It is a case of eVery man for himself and the devil take the weakest. • Those persons who are not fortunate in obtaining a seat consider themselves lucky if they can squeeze into the corridor without even having room to sit on a suitcase. Cattle are carried under far better conditions for, at least, the number permitted to he packed into a truck is governed by regulation. The position regarding passenger traffic can be described only as chaotic.
-There Is No Shortage of
Drivers or Motor-coach Fleets
It is impossible to abandon the feeling that the foregoing state of affairs is now unnecessary to the degree prevailing. Relief from the irksome conditions could be afforded in a far greater measure if there existed real desire, and determination to that end. This is evident when considering the transport facilities which have been provided for men engaged on the repair of bomb-damaged property in the London region. A plentiful supply of motor coaches—fleets of them—is available. The coaches pick up the men at their respective hostels, set them down at various sites and collect them at the end of the day's work. Any official excuse, therefore, that shertage of coaches prevents a wider use of the passenger services is dispelled.
In a previous article it was suggested that an investigation should be undertaken immediately in an effort to discover the number of coaches which could be made available for the service of the public. In these days the community as a whole is not concerned with the spit and polish so much admired formerly. It is waiting patiently for bettet travel facilities and the right to exercise freedom of choice as to the mode of transit. People are tired of being regimented and ordered about after the fashion of a barracks square. It may be that in the smugness of their official environment the bureaucrats are out of touch with public opinion in these matters. If so, it is the duty af the F'.V.O.A. to educate them in 'no uncgrtain manner in the shortest possible time. No one is in a better position to supply essential information than the p.s.v. operator. He knows only too well what has happened in his own district or lotality and, therefore, is able to estimate the needs and to advise accordingly. Thus an opportunity is presented to the P.V.O.A.,-through the N.R.T.F., to strike a progressive note, and this not from a selfish motive, but in the national interest. In pursuing such a course the Association would be fortified by the knowledge that public opinion is completely behind it.
There are signs of increasing resentment at the obvious lack of appreciation of the conditions -under which the public is compelled to travel and the failure to introduce remedial measures. Action must be prompt if any appreciable degree of relief is to be experienced before the end of the holiday season, the peak of which still has to be face.d. . The P.V.O.A, should press with unrelenting vigour and determination for these claims to be mot. The recent slight relaxation in respect of pleasure trips by coach is
nothing like adequate and does not affect the main problem.
Regarding road haulage, there are signs and tokens of restrictions being relaxed. The removal of the ban which previously prohibited plums being carried by rpad, together with the mileage restriction for furniture removals, affords a glimmer of hope. Whilst, however, these small measures are not to be scoffed at, they are so small in relation to the whole field of restricticin that the effect upon the overall position is hardly noticeable. A far wider conception is needed in the rehabilitation of the road-haulage industry in order that it may resume its pre-war position. More active imagination and realism are required if the needs of the traders areto be satisfied in the period of reconstructiou which lies ahead. In this connection, adequate, .efficient and economical supply is vital. No longer will the manufacturers enjoy a guaranteed payment by a Government Department; they will be thrown back into a competitive world for both the home market and export trade. If they be deprived of those services• which, before the war, were at their.disposal, together with freedom of choice of transport, the balance of costs in relation to production will become an important factor. This alone is sufficient to justify the -free operation of commercial vehicles. subject to conditions which prevailed in the pre-war era.
During a war such as this country has endured recently most progress inevitably is suspended. The demands of the Services and the man-power position prevent the development and expansion of social services. . Houses cannot be built; food, clothing and most iterns which contribute to a higher standard of life are in short supply. This being so, never was there greater, need for vigorous measures in a progressive sense than there is at the-present time. In all these matters transport is undoubtedly the corner-stone..
Prosperity Depends Upon a .
Free Road-transport System
Possibly the claim may, be made that road transport, operating under Government control, has fulfilled all demands made upon it in meeting national needs and, therefore, is proved to be suitable, as a permanent feature of the future. Assuming that the national 'needs have been met officially—although this view is often contested— what has been the cost in administration, delays, 'wasteful mileage and the sending of empty vehicles for long distances? It is not an understatement to say that the costs are on a scale far beyond the bearing capacity of industry engaged in a competitive market. -Industry cannot attain a full measure of prosperity if it be subjected to a restricted road transport system.
Then, again, it is essential that the-filling-in of innumerable forms shall come to an end; that petty regulations be withdrawn and that the power of officials to instruct manufacturers how and what to do in matters of transport shall cease. These restrictions have been loyally and patiently borne in the cause of freedom; but the country now is sick and tired of them. All regulations that put a brake on progressive activities and no longer are necessary should be cancelled immediately.
The power of bureaucracy over the road-transport industry must be broken if freedom of operation and freedom of choice are to flourish once more. As one writer has put it:—" . . Bureaucracy is not merely a term of impatience or protest provoked by the creakings of the official machine or the Gordian Knots of red tape. It means government by offices and officials. Once the bureau ceases to. be an instrument and becomes the real, though masked, governor, it not only presents a constitutional Contradiction. but is liable to grow into a tyranny of a peculiarly soulless kind." This being so, those engaged in the industry must fight for free enterprise and to be released from the shackles of monopoly power and bureaucratic
control, .