The Ministry survey should lave sounded the death knell integration . .
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bITTLE that was not already known or guessed has emerged from the first published results of the survey of road goods transport made by the Ministry of ransport during a week in April, 1962. Estimates based n traffic counts since the last survey in 1958 have erred y about 1 per cent per annurn, so that the actual increase I road goods transport over the four years, measured 1 terms of ton-mileage, was 26 per cent instead of the rovisional figure of 22 per cent, but this might well have een anticipated in view of the growing proportion of eavier lorries, which would not be revealed in a count mited to vehicles.
Differences in the contribution of each type of licence older towards the general increase of 26 per cent are rgely accounted for by variations already known in the rowth of vehicle fleets in each category. The number f vehicles on A licence was roughly the same in 1962 as t 1958, and the increase in ton mileage was only 7 per cent. 'chides on A contract went up by 40 per cent and the affic by 65 per cent. The figures for B licences were 11 id 40 per cent, and for C licences 15 and 32 per cent. rom such a comparison, the operators on A contract light be regarded as the least successful, although their on-mileage increase was 21 times the average.
Not too much emphasis should be placed on these gures. What is important is that the increase in traffic as spread throughout the road transport industry. Almost cactly half of the total ton-mileage of 674 m. in a week as carried by public haulage operators. This is less than le proportion of 531 per cent in 1958, but above the gure of 46 per cent in 1952, when the number of vehicles Fl C licence was only two-thirds of the present total, .hereas the number of road haulage vehicles was only ) per cent less than it is today.
HE RELATIVE SHARES The decline of the railways inevitably shows up more rongly in contrast. The relative share of each form of ansport in the total volume of goods carried is now nearly ) per cent by road and just over 30 per cent by rail. In )58 the proportions were about 60 per cent and 40 per cent, id only a decade ago, in 1952, the railways were still redominant with 54 per cent of ton-mileage as against per cent by road. The survey ettphasizes the fallacy f supposing, on the strength of these figures, that there as been a large-scale transfer of traffic from rail to road. he railways still carry about the same volume of general terchandise as in 1958. The decline of 12 per cent in teir ton-mileage is attributed largely to the fall in coal affic and to the fact that activity in the iron and steel tdustry has not increased greatly over the past four years. he more rapid growth of road transport, says the report, appears to arise as much from growth in activities which vend on the services of road transport as from actual witches of traffic from rail to road ".
This is.perhaps the most important sentence in the doculent. It should be read with especial care by those people, lainIy in the Labour Party, who continue to believe that the two main forms of transport are locked in a wasteful and useless struggle for the same business. The Ministry survey should have sounded the death knell of integration-or even reintegration, which is the latest O.K. word for Socialists who are understandably reluctant to talk about nationalization. The new facts and figures make obvious what has previously been something of a guess—that the economic life of Britain depends mainly on the roads rather than the railways, and that, although the railways will continue to be used for some types of traffic, they cannot be protected beyond a certain point without causing harm to the community.
NO LONGER TENABLE To most people who use the word, integration has always involved grouping the nation's transport resources round the railways. Such a theory should no longer even be tenable after a proper reading of the report. This does not mean, unfortunately, that the Labour Party and other interests such as the railway unions will not continue to repeat what they have been saying for many years. They may even use some sections of the report as ammunition. Their success should be negligible if the road transport interests examine the report carefully and bring to public attention the pattern that it reveals.
One may suppose that the Ministry itself has not produced the report merely as food for controversy. Sooner or later, a serious study will have to be made of road transport to see whether its resources are being properly used under the present system. Such restrictions as are imposed on operators were primarily intended to help the railways, although there may have been other reasons. The theory was that competition existed, and would continue, throughout the whole gamut of traffic. If much of the traffic now arises because road transport is there, the railways no longer need their privilege, and the elaborate machinery in which it is enshrined could well be modified to meet the altered circumstances.
Presumably, the ultimate aim must be, by restriction or encouragement, to see that the most efficient operators have the best chance to expand. One of many ways of measuring efficiency is by the extent to which vehicles are used. Whether this is assessed according to mileage or ton-mileage, the report appears to show that vehicles on A licence are well ahead of the rest, and that "the smallest proportion of empty running was done by vehicles employed on A licence work ". The A licence fleet alone, however, has not increased substantially over the past few years. There are at least grounds here for considering whether a greater increase should not be promoted, assuming that the same standards of efficiency can be maintained.
Other factors would have to be taken into consideration. Much of the evidence required is to be found in the survey and there is no doubt even more in the records of the Ministry. At least some examination of the structure of the road goods transport industry should at last be possible without the distractions caused by the claim of the railways and the fancies of politicians.