PERSONALITIES
Page 71
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LESS is heard nowadays of the idea that the railwaymen and the road transport men will one day be superseded by a new type with an extra dimension to his mind, a man who thinks in terms of transport and not of any particular: form of transport. The idea may have quietly faded away for lack of nourishment. The ground in which the new species was to be forced obviously lay within the precincts of the Ivory Tower, and there is no evidence that the British Transport Commission have even been able to make any improvement on the old patterns. What evidence there is, it is sometimes said, points in the opposite direction.
The theorists may have misjudged the trend, but they have been right to see their problem as essentially one of personalities. Now that the smoke has cleared away from the Jerry building by the Socialists and the demolition by the Conservatives, it is becoming more and more clear that the man at the wheel and the man in thc office are more significant, if not more important, in transport than in most other industries. As some operators are fond of saying, the good man in road transport is born, not made, and the structure of the industry reflects his character.
By no means ignoble in conception, the idea of the universal man of transport was predestined to remain no more than an idea. For fulfilment, it required the mingling of characteristics that were often incompatible. The good railwayman is cut to a different pattern from the good road ;ransport man, and if it comes to that, distinctions may well Oe drawn between the best man for handling goods and he best man for handling passengers.
Unsuitable Framework More than any other single reason for the failure of trans3ort nationalization was the unsuitability of the Ivory Tower
ftamework for the people who were required to fit into it, Ind especially into the road transport section. To the out;ide observer, the rules and regulations that were soon laid
lawn for operation within British .Road Services ware not oarticularly onerous; but they aroused deep and lasting intagonism, of which the evident political bias was a ;ymptom rather than a cause. The unfeigned relief when he chance came to return to free enterprise Was heightened )y the conviction that nationalized road transport was workng along the wrong lines.
The resurgence of B.R.S. may appear to contradict this. 'n fact, they are gradually moving away from the structure hey first assumed, and each step Makes them a little more ike an independent company or group of companies. Instead of nationalization setting an example to free enterrise, the process seems to be working the other way 'mind. The road passenger firms that were nationalized vith the railways were allowed to continue very much as )efore. and remain recognizably the same firms. Before ong. it might be possible to sustain the illusion that this s also what happened with B.R.S.
A: character study of the typical man in road haulage vill provide useful clues to the development of his indusry. He has, sometimes almost to a fault, a lack of interest n organization, especially when it is mainly for the sake )f organization. This does not mean that he runs his yusiness with no regard for order. Some organization here must be. especially if the business is of any size, but here seldom seems to be more than is strictly .necessary. Vhere there is less, the haulier may well be heading for rouble, and he would certainly benefit from more organ.; ration where it is a question, for example, of fixing rates.
His instinct to keep things simple explains his hesitant approach towards automation and to other elaborate methods of mechanical handling. He chides himself, without real conviction, as old-fashioned, but in fact knows clearly what he is doing. With so many different shapes and sizes of load, manpower may still be the most efficient means of sorting the items out and modernization is not justified unless it can pay for itself. This, incidentally, was one of the discoveries recently made by the House of Commons Select Committee on the nationalized industries when they were investigating the railways.
Organizers?
Not every haulier has the same attitude towards organization. It would also be misleading to suggest that all hauliers without exception take little interest in things and much more interest in movement; but this is certainly a very general characteristic that anybody may test for himself. The qualities that a haulier first sees in an object are those that make it easy or difficult to carry. He may very well have no further curiosity about it. The motion picture might almost have been invented for hauliers, and it may well be true that an unusually high proportion of them are interested in films and in film-making.
An interest in movement ale may seem superficial and narrow, but is largely the secret of the haulier's success. He is not dealing with a constant even when he carries the same kind of traffic day after day. Each journey has its own character and presents its own problems. The haulier must keep his eye continually on what is happening. He is seldom fortunate enough to have regular loads that keep his vehicles full and moving without effort on his part. He must usually work out afresh each day the problem of fitting the available traffic into the carrying capacity of his vehicles. His constant effort is to keep the vehicles supplied with payload and to keep them moving. He. more than anybody else, knows the significance of Kipling's unfor giving minute which has to be filled with " sixty seconds' worth of distance run."
Making an Impression
The task of getting new traffic requires the qualities of a salesman. The haulier must not only search out the prospective customer but must make a good impression on .him. Ability to do this is also useful in the haulier's drivers and other staff. Lack of the selling approach is one of the criticisms frequently levelled against some sections of the B.T.C., including the railways, and particularly London Transport. It may not be true that the bus driver and the bus conductor or conductress believe London Transport is run for their benefit alone. Unfortunately, this is the impression they leave on an increasing number of passengers. As a result more and more Londoners, exasperated by a long and unexplained wait in pouring rain, or stung by incivility, resolve to go to any lengths to avoid using public transport.
Whether they wish it or not, the majority of people engaged in road transport are in effect salesmen or outside representatives. This is another reason why it is important that they should be of the right type. If they are, there is no doubt that most of them will look no further for a job. They have found the industry that suits them. The railways are not the dnly form of transport that has been kept going through the efforts of dedicated men.