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Transporting London's Shifting Population

6th November 1936
Page 57
Page 57, 6th November 1936 — Transporting London's Shifting Population
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

AIGRATION of , population is 1V.Lereating big problems for London Transport. This subject is investigated at some length in the Board's third annual report for the year ended June 30 last, which was briefly referred to in last week's issue. 6

Between 1921 and 1935 the population of Greater London has increased by some 940,000 persons. The excess of births over deaths amounted to 560,000, so that 380,000 of the total increase is attributable to migration into the area. At the same time there has been a rapid outward transference of population from the county of London to new suburbs. Between 1921 and 1935, the population of the county area declined by nearly 340,000, despite an excess of births over deaths of 270,000.

The report comments that " it is a matter for speculation whether these tendencies will continue to operate at their present rate."

Travel Habit Grows.

Even during the short period for which the Board has been established, there has been a noticeable increase in the travel habit. In 1933-34 the average number of journeys made per head of population in the London Passenger Transport Area was 430. The following year it rose to 436 and last year a figure of 440 was returned. The growth of travel continues.

The Board's present programme of new works calls for an additional population of not fewer than 600,000 persons in those parts of the outer zone of London which will be served by the new facilities, if they are to be remunerative, The bicycle and private car are, of course, notable competitors of the passenger-transport operator. In London and Home Counties there were some 426,000 private cars in the September quarter of 1935, whilst it is estimated that there are some 2,000,000 cycles in use in the London Passenger Transport Area.

Increasing Use of Cars.

Apart from depriving the publicservice-vehicle operator of revenue, this competition naturally increases traffic congestion and makes the working of reliable road services more difficult. In this connection the Board's report comments :— 'This increasing use ot private means of transport, about which the Board are not entitled to complain, affects the Board adversely in two ways. On the one hand the difficulties of operating road transport services regularly and punctually are intensified, owing to the increased congestion of the streets by vehicles which perform a relatively small measure of service ;

on the other hand, the increased use of private cars and pedal cycles for purposes of business and pleasure deprives the Board of much traffics especially that of a casual character which mainly arises upon Sundays and during the slack hours of week days. The result is to accentuate the disparity which exists between the peak and slack hour traffics and to influence adversely the costs of the Board's operations."

(It is important to remember that by statute the Board must fix charges so that a loss is not incurred. Its prosperity might, therefore, influence any official action in restricting the use of private cars in the central area of London.) The Board is much concerned with the peak-traffic problem and advocates as a palliative the staggering of business hours to spread peak periods.

London Transport again cornplains of the severity of taxation, In the year under review it paid £557,776 by way of vehicle duty, licensing fees and for road service licences, and 21,506,542 in fuel duty. The Board doubts Whether urban public transport undertakings should bear such burdens, in view of the necessity of providing travel facilities at reasonable fares.

All Trams to Go.

London Transport is already the biggest operator of trolleybuses in the country, but when the trams are completely displaced in favour of the more modern type of vehicle, the trolleybus fleet and mileage will be enormous. At June 30 last 61 miles of trolleybus route were operated, 105 miles were being converted, whilst powers had been obtained to convert a further 51. miles, Although the mileage covered by the trolleybuses on the converted routes shows an advance of about 24 per cent. on that formerly run by the trams, receipts per vehicle-mile have risen by 5 per cent. The cost of operation has not yet been finally ascertained, Although the Board has taken over a large number of independent undertakings at a total cost of about £4,731,126 there is still (suite a large number of independent services working in the Metropolitan Area.

During the year under review the Board gave consent to the operation of 239 new services, of which 167 were tun on only one day. Consents were also issued for the continuation of operation of 95 services for a further 12 months. Permission to vary services was given in another 55 cases.

Consents issued by the Board during the three years of its operation, and which still remained effective at June 30 last, provided for the working of 1,346 services by 246 operators, compared with 1,415 and 262 respectively at June 30, 1935. These services were run mainly in connection with special events.

During the year huge new fleets of buses and coaches were ordered, 862 buses and 101 coaches having been commissioned for expansion and replacement purposes.

Five Lightning Strikes.

Five unofficial labour stoppages,. a form of demonstration against which public opinion is rapidly rising, occurred during the year. No notice of strike action was given .in any case and none was supported by the Transport and General Workers. Union. The Board now employs 78,966 persons.

The report contains a bewildering mass of statistics. The Board carried altogether some 3,647,962,600 passengers, buses and coaches accounting for 58 per cent. of the total, trams 27 per cent., railways 13 per cent, and trolleybuses 2 per cent.

The total traffic revenue amounted to about £29,724,700, an increase of £708,600 on the previous year's figure. Working -expenses aggregated £23,515,800, salaries and wages accounting for 66 per cent, of the total, and rates, taxes, licensing fees and duties 11 per cent. The net revenue available for appropriation was £5,174,039.

Costs Per Mile. • A comparison of the cost per vehiclemile of operating the various forms of transport employed by the Board is interesting. Obviously, the cost per carmile for the railways is by far the lowest, the figure being 5.7524. Next in the upward scale is the trolleybus, which costs 10.411d. per mile to run. Then come the coach and bus, which average 11.078d., followed closely by the tram at 11.1944.

During the year the passenger-vehicle mileage operated by the Board rose from 533,835,733 to 546,691,942. The buses and coaches covered a routemileage of 2,463, and the trolleybuses 61: the former fleet comprising 6,298 vehicles and the latter 300.

The Board has cultivated to a brie degree the art of reducing empty mileme. Of the 280,000,000 (approximate) miles covered by the buses and coaches, only about 1,000,000 were on light running. In the case of trolleybuses., the total mileage of some 6,885,000 included only 974 empty miles.

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Locations: London

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