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Council transport on commercial basis

6th June 1975, Page 61
6th June 1975
Page 61
Page 62
Page 61, 6th June 1975 — Council transport on commercial basis
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Basildon District Council has organised its vehicle fleet so that its transport using departments bear a proper cost of fleet provision. Implicit in this arrangement is reliability and economic operation.

by Johnny Johnson

DEMANDS on local authorities to curb spending and the reduction in the rate support grant from Central Government have highlighted the need for the adoption by councils of a commercial approach to the provision of services.

In a previous article about waste disposal (CM February 7) I suggested that this activity might well be undertaken by private specialist organisations in a package deal where such companies could do the job more cheaply. However, there is no reason why this work, and any other involving transport or plant, should not be undertaken by the council's own organisation provided it is done on a purely commercial basis and a proper charge levied by the transport department against the user.

The inference is obvious. Not only must a system of regular vehicle costing be available but there must also be a reliable supply of vehicles and plant.

Flexible costing

A regular and flexible costing system will allow comparison to be made with the cost of hiring in transport and a properly organised maintenance and inspection system will serve the double purpose of ensuring that the legal requirements are complied with and guarantee the supply of a vehicle or piece of equipment when the using department demands it.

Operating just such a vehicle and plant supply system in a widespread urban area with problems different from those of the more densely populated heavily built-up conurbations is Basildon, in Essex.

Following the imposition of more stringent legal maintenance requirements by the 1968 Act the council realised that it had not only to improve the condition of its fleet but also to continue to maintain that improvement. In taking steps to bring about conditions under which the provisions of the Act could be complied with, the opportunity was taken to put the council's transport activity on a commercial footing.

The present fleet comprises some 100 commercial vehich of which about 50 are smi vans and the rest specialist ai heavy goods vehicles, al about 400 items of plant. Costing data at Basildon is ocessed by computer. Unlike any other councils using a ,mputer for this type of data ocessing, Basildon makes e of the information obined. Regular monthly checks the data are made to known d budgeted norms. Any imrtant deviation from that rm is further investigated d an explanation obtained.

Vehicles which show signant cost variations are monied for the following months ensure that there is not a astant excess of expendi.e. Continuing variation will ,e rise very quickly to con.eration of whether the -Ude is the most suitable for intended purpose, should it disposed of and replaced :h a similar type or should be disposed of and not reced.

klso monitored monthly is : cost to the using division I an assessment made of the Wye cost of hiring in a iilar vehicle.

:onstant attention is paid the utilisation of the unit. council work, there are riously units which must be tined despite the low utili ,on achieved; gritting ides, for instance, are used y when required in frosty tther. The majority of the ncil's vehicles are just as subject to utilisation criteria as any other commercially operated vehicle.

Intensive use

Thus, if the using division is achieving only a low utilisation standard, Charles Farrow, in charge of transport at Basildon, will call the attention of the division to this and discuss with the appropriate officer the prospects of more intensive use of disposal and hiring as required.

On the other side of the coin, the maintenance to achieve reliable availability, there might be nothing unusual about the A, B, C and D services at one, two, three and six-monthly intervals adopted by the council. There are a couple of unusual features about the maintenance procedure, however.

For instance, before the monthly inspection each unit is water-pressure washed so that proper inspection of the chassis and running gear can be carried out. This monthly cleaning eliminates the need for steam cleaning before the annual MoT test before which, incidentally, the chassis is silver painted.

The result is that maintenance is not only done but, like justice, it is also seen to be done and the neat and clean image presented by the vehicles cannot fail to impress DoE examiners. Moreover, it undoubtedly imbues the drivers with a pride in the vehicle leading to sympathetic driving.

To facilitate the underbody cleaning a special ramp has been constructed on which the vehicle is positioned. For remedial work, the workshop is used.

Another unusual feature of the maintenance procedure is the measurement of smoke emission from each vehicle on a regular monthly basis.

So that a degree of continuity is achieved, one member of the 24-operative-strong workshop staff is charged with testing smoke emission with a Dunedin smoke meter. This is usually undertaken on a Saturday as an extra shift.

The measuring device, which produces a paper disc permeated by the exhaust smoke engendered, is attached to the exhaust pipe of each vehicle in turn and the exhaust gases are passed through it. The equipment has the advantage that it can be operated from the cab by the driver when the vehicle is in motion if this is required.

The paper disc which results is inserted in a measuring device and the density reading recorded. The disc is then care fully filed away so that it can be produced for inspection by a vehicle examiner or other authorised person to verify the date of inspection and the density of the smoke then being emitted.

Agency work

With a workshop operating a two-shift system—the late shift works from 1500 hours to 2400 hours—and three spare units as replacements for those undergoing maintenance, all the council's own work can be undertaken together with some agency work for other authorities. To ensure that vehicles are kept up to standard, the council's driving instructor also doubles as a traffic inspector able to conduct his own spot checks on vehicles on the road.

As a widespread urban area, Basildon might have some problems that are peculiar to districts of this nature. For instance there are 1,300 dwellings which are on unmade roads necessitating the use of two ex-WD four-wheel-drive vehicles for refuse collection, However, most of the operation is comparable to and common to other local authorities, and the concept of a commercial approach could be adopted by other authorities with advantage.


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