The Social and Economic Side of Transport
Page 39
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
This Week the Public Service Transport Association is Holding Its Annual Congress at Blackpool and To-day Will Visit the Preston Works of the English Electric Co., Ltd.
0 N Thursday, the chairman of the council of the Public Service Transport Association, Mr. T. E. Thomas, opened the business of the Conference, and 1-mullioned that the credit balance was now He referred to the resignation of Mr. de Turckheim and the selection of Mr. Eric D. Croft as secretary.
As to the work done during the year, the committee had produced a report embodying the results of im'estinations on the •illumination of: public-service vehicles, which will be available at 5s. per copy. With the co-operation of the Municipal Passenger Transport Association, representations had been made m the Treasury and the Ministry of Transport, asking that the present system of taxation, based on big steps in seating capacity, should he amended and the scale graduated in steps of single seats. The effort was not successful, but increases in the taxation scale had been prevented.
It was also requested that revenue licences should be issued at dates roughly one week apart, instead of at intervals of one month. This suggestion will be repeated.
A number of points has been put forward to ensure that the new standard forms for contract carriage records and work tickets should he of types most convenient to operators. These are receiving the attention of the Ministry.
The association has agreed to co-operate in the setting up of a joint committee to investigate the use of alternative fuels.
• New Scheme of Informal Meetings •
The council has been considering the question of holding informal meetings during the winter to exchange views upon matters of interest to members. For this purpose, it has been decided to engage the Alliance flail. Palmer Street, Westminster, London, on Noveinber 8, 1939, and January 10 and March 13, 1940, when papers will be read on aspects of passenger transport. Suggestions for topics and speakers will be welcomed.
We cordially welcome this move on the part of the Association; meetings of committees arc all very well, but the "rank and file" cannot learn much from them, whereas the reading , of papers and the discussions on these promote continued interest.
THE first of the two papers read at the Blackpool Conference of the Public Service Transport Association was that by Mr. W. Eufl, General Manager. Blackpool, entitled "The Place and Function of Transport in the Sotial And Economic System."
The author states that the introduction of electric traction spread the population from congested centres to rural districts with •beneficial effects upon health, comfort and convenience, and the extension of bus services has caused a minor revolution in the habits of millions. Money and energy employed in transport have always shown a substantial dividend in happiness. It is difficult to think of any activity which can render greater communal service than that of providing transport for man and merchandise. Improved transport services have contributed more to the well being of mankind than any other human activity.
Of insured males between 16 and 64, totalling over 10,000,000, more than 400,000 are engaged in the construction and repair of vehicles, and 860,000 in transport and communications.
• Bus Workers Have Healthy Lite •
Communal street transport provides for workers many advantages—open-air life, no monotony, and a call for skill, judgment and initiative. Responsibility develops character, and there is reasonable security of tenure. Superannuation and holidays with pay are common. Hours of work are regulated and the pay is as high as that of skilled craftsmen in other industries. The personal-accident risk is low, uniform is provided. also free transport to and from work.
Disadvantages are that mealtimes are somewhat irregular and, because of the varying requirements of the travelling public and shift work, a transport man cannot enter fully into the social life and activities of the community.
Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act was intended to protect the public against risks through drivers suffering from excessive fatigue, but a strict interpretation may defeat its object. Split duties and long spread-overs are not uncommon, and as traffic wages are the largest single item of cost, it behoves everybody to investigate this section to see whether it does not cause hardship to the mar and increased cost to the public.
The conductor must be at least 18 and the driver 21. The raising of the school-leaving age to 15 is not much use, as for three years a boy must enter a blind-alley job, where, usually, discipline is uncommon.
There are more openings for conductors. Many cones cerns promote conductors to drivers, and a man who " gets on " benefits himself as well as the community, because of his superior services.
The recruitment of labour is of intense local importance, but there is no well-understood form of examination or test for entrants. Owing to their age, vocational guidance, as advocated for school children, cannot well be applied. An examination in general or special subjects is not with. out ita dangers, and it would be preferable to substitute a form of intelligence test. It may be that entrants will be examined by trained psychologists. On the Continent, tests for drivers have been devised on the following lines:— Appreciation of speed and distance; ability under night conditions and dazzle; practical field of vision: reaction time; muscular fatigue; diffused attetrtion: emotions; intelligence and memory.
• Training for Staff and Passengers • Undertakings can, and do, run training schools equipped with various appliances, but the smaller cannot afford this. It would be good if larger training schools were made available for inspectional staffs of other undertakings. There is a need for training passengers. Many accidents could be avoided and services expedited if the public could he educated to proper travel habits.
Over 12,900 women are engaged on passenger-transport services in England. There are reasons to think that conducting would be suitable for women in peaetatime, were it possible to employ males more effectively in other direations. Women possess suitable inherent qualifications; youths and men must acquire them by training and experie Ii CC.
A certain degree of discipline must be maintained, but there is no code for dealing with breaches. Records are kept, discipline being meted Out in various ways, often by suspension. The penalty for a breach of the regulations as to the conduct of drivers and conductors is a fine not exceeding £5, but there are not many instances where operators have summoned their own men for such offences as smoking on vehicles, speaking to drivers, or failing to take reasonable precautions.
The travelling public does not realize the remediea conferred on it by the Road Traffic Act. Even employees do not appear to know that they can be summoned by any common informer and that their licences, issued by the Commissioners, can be endorsed.
Road vehicles may be more comfortable and artistic than formerly, but much remains to be done by makers and operators. Little public service is, the author suggests, done by tyre makers in supplying tyres to run 150,000 miles before retreading unless they also give more comfort to passengers. Suspension should be looked at from tin' angle of comfort as well as maintenance.
• Important to Prevent Travel Fatigue • in industnal fatigue, condit'ons to be fought against are the most serious. This applies also to traffic.. If seats be too high, too low, too soft, or too hard, the mind, as well as the body, registers .protest. A jolting bus may be good ,or j0Me illnesses, but it creates antagonism.
la would be an advantage if makers of chassis, bodies, engines, motors, tyres, springs, windows, furnishings, etc., were to have a conference of their own detated to the one subject of how to make a vehicle safer, more altraclive, noiseless and comfortable.
Apart from revenue, there do not appear to he sound social reasons for displaying trade advertisements. It is clifficu l,.toot impossible, to show that an undertaking permitting advertisements is better off financially or gives grearee public ieevice. It is not mutt use atttnipting to paserve roadside beauty if efforts he not made to take away discordant features.
Fermi the Ministry's reports 'there are 01,115' passenger iincluding 8,875 crams, 2,585 trolley:buses and 49,655 puolic-service venicles. The vital is ihu .mall compared with toe numbei of other vehicles on the road. comparaively short journeys on public-service vehicles ar• necessary for the well being of the community, and it passe:. the ..iompri hension of those engaged in the industry that distinct preference should not be exercised in favour of vehicles of the communal type in town work.
As regards costs, it may be calculated that an average speed of 12 m.p.h. should result in working expenses, without depreciation, of 8d, to 9d. per mile for municipalities. Speed reduction adds considerably to cost.
There is apparently only one cure for congestion—not to attempt to make traffic fit the streets, but to make streets fit the traffic. This may be a costly business, but there is growing realization of the urgent need of new town planning. Time and money losses through transport delays are enormous.
The growth in cabs running at cheaper fares and the increased use of private-hire cars are menaces to the operation of communal vehicles. They add to congestion, and often set up unnecessary duplication. Communal vehicles are being crowded out by individual transport.
The number of seats provided in all trams, trolleybuses and buses is 2,444,000, but the number of passengers per mile is only eight, as against an average capacity of 40.
The Government may, perhaps, devise A.R.P. shelters which could be used in peace-time for passengers, and grant powers to erect these on footpaths and private property. It appears that the public requires protection on both sides of the road at the spacing of 16 per mile. At an average cost of £100 this would amount to £8,000,000.
• Municipal Investment in Passenger Transport • Municipalities have invested £80,000,000 in transport and other operators £56,000,000, so that, omitting London, there is a total of £136,000,000 invested, the larger part on the security, of local rates.
In March, municipalities regard transport as trading undertakings, and attempt to take surpluses for rate relief ; for the other II months it is regarded in a similar way to the social services, and various districts seek to obtain preferential services and fares.
The only revenue obtained is from passengers, so that they subsidize every sectional interest which has preferential fares and services, and in many instances a good cause is made the excuse for an uneconomic deed.
With services to housing estates, a case Can sometimes be made out for uneconomic fares, but the burden is heavy if placed entirely upon passengers in other parts. Some grant from other local funds should be made for such services, and rebate allowed on licence duties.
There is no reason to suggest that municipal operators are everything desirable. and that company operators should be harassed and crushed out of existence. Many of the latter have, in the past, performed a public service which could not have been done by any particular municipality as the law. then existed, and it is well to remember that they were the people who commenced transport systems which now circle the world.
• Company operators usually run through less densely populated areas, and although their charges are higher, the total revenue per mile, compared with that obtained by municipalities, is lower in the proportion of 9.77d. to 12.86(1. On the other hand, company operators have lower expenses, owing to higher speeds, lower wages, and a greater proportion of excursion, tour and contract work, corresponding expenses being 8.313d. and 11.57d.
The company manager has a small commitee of technical men, who, because of their intimate knowledge, can keep him tuned to concert pitch. A municipal manager, unless imbued with a high sense of public duty, can easily lose sight of the true essentials and economies of transport.
• Why Transport Boards are Deprecated •
With every increase in the size of a concern, there appears a more than proportionate increase in the difficulty of management and organization, and, usually, more waste limn in the smaller type. A particular weakness is the tendency to routine. Experience of the two large transport hoards has enabled the opinion to be formed that, so far, the objects of the promoters, in the way of efficiency, greater profit and safety, and less congestion have not 'been achieved.
The author makes some valuable suggestions as to causes of accidents and how they car. he avoided, but space will not permit these to be treated in detail.