A Basis for Transport Planning
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Eight Road Transport Personalities Issue a "Groundwork" and Add Their Opinions
AN interesting booklet entitled " The Road Carrying Industry and the Future" has been issued under the signatures of Messrs. Arthur Andrews, Isaac Barrie, J. W. Beresford, M.Inst.T., H. T. Dutfield, M.Inst.T., G. T. M. Fairclough, M.Inst.T., L. W. Gupwell, M.Inst.T., J. S. Nicholl; C.B.E., M.Inst.T., and J. F. E. Pye, J ,P., A.M.InSt.T. It is priced at 1 s ., and obtainable from Mr. J. S. Nicholl, 3, Bonhill Street, London, E.C.2, or any of the others named.
Designed to serve a dual purpose, first, it supplies a description of the salient features in the groundwork for any plan, and, secondly, gives the_ considered opinions of some experienced men in the 'industry as to how approach may best be made to such reorganization of the industry as may. be desirable, so that it may serVe the Nation with the utmost efficiency. It is pointed' out, however, that the only justification for new departures. must lie in the greater measure of 'true efficiency which may result. The authors believe that for an industry, as for an individual, the only road to real progress is by self-improvement.
The approach advocated aims at ensuring that those who pioneered the industry shall be afforded not merely opportunity, but every encouragement to grow and develop .with it. • . _ .
The following is a brief résumé of the booklet, Just before the war there were some 500,000 goods vehicles operation, about 70 per cent. by traders under C licences, and 145,000 owned by some 60,000 operators; of these, about 50,000 were run under B licences partly for hire and partly for carrying the owners' own goods, the remainder being .under A licences.
Within the ranks of the B licensees there existed widely_ varying conditions. Some were closely akin to the A class; with others the main activity" was in carrying their own goods.
Differences in Vehicles and Operators -Irs 1929 the person' s directly employed by public carriers, A and B, numbered about 220,000. The 145,000 vehicles ranged from the 5-cwt. van' to the heavily multi-wheeled machinery carrier; there were also many different types— from the general utility to specialized models, such as tippers, tankers, insulated vans, furniture vans, those constructed to carry cattle, horses, plate glass, motorcars and bodies, etc. Some of these types were tied to a single purpose, others had a wider range. An appreciable proportion were employed on the carriage of special loads, others transported a fairly narrow range of commodities. Many were unsuitable for anything beyond local work, an outstanding example of the latter being the " mechanical horse." Also included were some 10,000 goods vehicles owned and operated by the railways, mainly on local collection and delivery work. Thus it is important to avoid the assumption that what may apply to one applies to all. Just as the vehicles differ one from another, so also do the operators.
There is a number of old-established carriers who, origin. ally operated horsed transport, but extended their activities by introducing motor vehicles. By far the largest section, however, is comprised of those who entered the industry during the six or eight years following the war of 1914-18. Most of these started on a small scale, many as ownerdrivers, who continued thus, or, at the most, added one or two vehicles. The latter types, whilst providing a useful service to the trading community, often possessed little business knowledge or financial resources and tend to be exploited. Some would have been better rewarded had they been employed as drivers without the burden of ownership. Their existence was responsible for the appearance of a large number of clearing houses_ or _freight_ agencies.
• In theory, the latter serve a.•useful purpose, but in practice there were many unsound agencies.
Whilst the haulage industry includes a few undertakings each owning several hundred vehicles, and a certain number 50 to 100, there is a vast majority of the owner-driver or small-owner class; in fact, the number of vehicles per licence averages as little as two and a half,
In the passenger field, the railways bold a share interest in a very large section, which has smoothed the way to better relationship. In goods carriage, no similar .policy on a large scale could be achieved.
From Free to Controlled Industry Phases in the gradual transit from a free to a controlled industry are then detailed, It is pointed out that the most important regulation controlling carriers resulted from the Road Traffic Act, 1930, the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, and the Road Haulage Wages Act, 1938. By the last, a statutory Wages Board was set up, enforcing its agreements in respect of wages and conditions of work as affecting employees on Aor B-licensed vehicles.
• The outcome of the Road and Rail Traffic Act was the setting up of-the Transport Advisory Council. Unfortunately, up to 1939, few of the recommendations.made by it had been given effect, although an important exception was the extension of the period of licences for goods vehicles, which temporarily eased the critical situation which had developed in connection with renewal applications for A licences as the result of a railway policy of sweeping objections. It brought about a truce which made more friendly discussion possible. 'and from it emerged the Road and Rail Central Conference.
The various regulations make legal provision for safe operation and proper working conditions to be observed( but in practice imposed most stringent limits both ,upon the entry of new operators and upon any increase in the fleets of existing hauliers, and whilst, in particular, they conferred wide rights of objection upon operators of other forms of transport, there is no corresponding right to the road operator to object to a service by such other forms. There was no pre-war legislation providing for the regulation of road-transport charges, , although the Regional Transport Commissioners had a somewhat vague right to have regard to charges when considering licence or renewal applications and objections. A regulation imposed during the war merely limits the percentage of increase which hauliers are allowed to make upon their rates prevailing at a certain date.
As regards war-time control of haulage by the Government, the situation to be faced and the method or organization adopted, are entirely divorced from the requirements of normal peace-time transport. It is important that this should be appreciated, because there have been suggestions that the system could be adopted for post-war purposes. Slowness of action and loss of initiative have proved to be the concomitant equally of over-centralization and bureaucratic control.
In 1938 the railways claimed that under prevailing conditions a position was arising in which, so far from being a self-supporting asset to the Nation, they were likely to require considerable financial assistance from the State or to default in the performance of their national services. The road interests, realized that if, while they were endeavouring to correct the destructive elements arising from unfettered internal competition, they were to be expOsed to external competition intensified by a war of attrition, the outcome might well be that their transport would cease to pay and would be unable to attract the capital necessary for future development.
As a result there emerged the Road and Rail Central Conference mentioned previously, which has covered much useful ground in exploring the relationship of the respective goods rates and conditions of carriage, but this work has been mainly preparatory for the. time when the necessary legal provisions make further progress possible. The situa
tion, moreover, is likely to be influenced by more recent developments in Governmental and public views on the planning and development of .industry and trade, and the growing recognition that a fully efficient system of transport, embracing road, rail, inland water, sea and air, will be a prime essential nf post-war progress.
Space is then • given to some resent suggestions for reorganization, such as-those advocated by Lord Reith with Lord 'Brabazon's support, Lord ,Portal,. the Labour Party Conference, Mr. P. J: Noel-Baker, Mr. Herbert Morrison
and, finally, Mr, R. W. Sewill, whose hypothesis is that as rural industries must be encouraged, rural freight rates cannot be raised-bjyond. those holding for industrial areas, where the greater density of traffic makes possible lower freight charges per ton.
Sufficient has been said to indicate that haulage is a complex industry with wide differences between individual operators, their vehicles, their_ facilities, the goods they carry and the trades they serve. Therefore, any scheme which is. to stand fire must give due and fair considera tion to the interests of operators, their customers and the personnel employed by transport undertakings (including managements), other comPetitive transport services, and the less direct but all-important' interest of the community.
To anyone with a close knowledge of the factors it would seem that all the various schemes advocated stiffer, from the weakness of over-simplification. They seriously under estimate the chaos which the changes they advocate could cause iji the life of the Nation, unless based upon a care fully prepared process of evolution in which each step receives infinitely more consideration than appears to have been devoted to their entire plans. .
Some want a specialized rates structure, others free competition with charges based on cost of service. There are those who wish for a greater regularity of service, 'coupled with uniformity in cbnditions of carriage, etc. Opposed to these are others who wish to see the greatest possible elasticity to fit individual requirements, coupled with low chawes resulting from intense competition. Some aim at large centralized systems or a monopoly. Opposed to them are the claims of low . cost of service made possible by small ownership, by savings which arise from individual devotion to duty including that of a high degree of personal attention to business and quid adjustment of the needs of the moment.
• Some Advantages of Bigger Units The larger unit holds possibilities of full and accurate financial and statistical information. It can effect a
• pooling of both earnings and expenses covering different traffic conditions, and make possible a system of charging based on wide averaging. It also offers certain advantages, such as centralized buying, insurance, etc., but a changeover from numerous small owners to large would disrupt many existing channels of supply.
It is submitted that a change in ownership as such does not necessarily add to efficiency ; it may possibly detract from it, Nationalization, if applied to the whole industry. would be subject to all the disadvantages of the huge single undertaking and would cause serious repercussions affectbig the whole trade and agriculture of the Kingdom. On the other hand, nationalization applied to only a portion of the industry would cause grate difficulties of competition between nationally and privately owned-enterprise. It is the considered opinion of the authors that some measure of consolidation, some knitting together of the Very small operators is a first essential to progress in other directions, but this must be approached with cane. Many of the goods vehicles, are distributed over a large number of small buildings or yards, and whilst these facilities may sometimes be crude, their wide dispersal saves much waste empty running, whilst a small number of Centralized depots would cause an appreciable increase in the true cost of transport.
Because of the.high proportion of small businesses, where the owner combines the function of foreman and, often, clerk, and may be assisted by his wife and family, the number of sound administrative men available to handle larger-scale operations is almost negligible ; in fact, that suitable for even minor executive positions is very-limited. It will take time to train and test 'them, and •for large transport undertakings to be brought into existence so
quickly as to be greatly dependent upon the present raw material would be suicidal.
-This process of consolidation'andtraining can, however, he synchronized if achieved by evolution rather than-. by an .attempt. to leap from one extreme to artother. ', Such a gradual process -of consolidationwould set a poSsible pace for approaching questions of vehicles, premises and the
many other stibsidiary problems, but it would be erroneous to assume that the bestjesults will follow, a concentration into very largeatnits.
In this connection, there is much of value to learn front the passenger-transpOrt-side; in Which experience indicates that the greatest adva'ntages accrue to undertakingS not
sa large as to involve over-centralization or loss of touch with the ptiblic or workers. •
It would be extremely. foolish to contemplate spociat regulation of long-distance transportwhich would tend towards intensifying unregulated competition in local transport. The 5erieral objective of the authors is to assist in building up ahalflage industry Which, apart from such general guidance and controlas the Government may impose in the national interest, will be capable of a considerable degree of self-government and of negotiating agreements without any need for the' imposition. of'. an unwieldY, expensive and possibly ineffective system of sanctions. Sane development, '. it is subtnitted, lies not inthe direction of monopoly, but in encouraging evolution towards larger and more stable Units.' This may necessitate modification of -the Road and Rail Traffic Act,
Linking Hauliers by Simple Coercion
The suggestion is that the Minister concerned should apply to Parliament for powers necessary to allow him to withdraw from certain A and B licensees the right, at present implied •-in mostlicences-, to use their vehicles anywhere in the Kingdom.
Following this, the Minister should announce, that, after a certain date (giving reasonable time for a considerable degree of voluntary consolidation to be effected) all haulage concerns of under a stipulated size will be limited to local transport, probably to a Stipulated radius from the depot from which the vehicles customarily operate.
A suitable low limit; in the first place, might be 60 tons unladen weight, which would encourage the formation of concerns of a size likely to carry with them suitable stability and responsibility. Likewise, with local transport, the Licensing Authority should be in a position to encourage consolidation suited to the locality and circumstances involved. Thus a small owner averse to joining up would riaelf he forced to do so, but would have to reconcile himself to a limited range of operation. If, as a result, there be some transfer of operators from long-distance to local working, it is believed that the year or two following the war will will be a time when this -would be less likely to produce harmful results, as there will probably be a heavy demand.
As regards the basis for rates, it is submitted that any plan which aims at producing, on some entirely new basis, a national rates structure which would have to be complete before it could come into operatibn is hopelessly impracticable. • The practical solution of the rates problem lies rather within the lines indicated in the Transport Advisory Council's reports on " Rates and Services" and on the " Proposals of the Main Line Railway Companies."
There will have to be some means for legal enforcement of rates as and when agreed between road operators, .As agreement is. reached between them, it will place the indqtry in a position to enter into agreements with-the railways and others.
The authors are not in agreement with proposals which assume that to ensure the healthy existence of hauliers generally, the activities of the private trader-carrier must be restricted, so long as he observes standards of wages, _ working and operating conditions comparable with' those deemed proper for the public carrier.
The B licensee presents a more difficult problem, and it may prove desirable, later, to review and perhaps revise the dividing line between' A and '13 licensees on the one side and the B and C on the other.