Minister Upholds Freedom
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IT is for the consumer to decide how he will send his freight, or what means of travel he will use," was how Mr.,. Ernest Marples, the Minister of Transport, put the Government's views on transport integration and co-ordination when he Spoke at the annual luncheon of the Institute of Transport in London on Tuesday.
People often spoke as though the Ministry of Transport was made up of a series of watertight and idea-tight boxes, one labelled " road " and another " railways ". The important thing was to
• achieve a properly balanced transport system which met the consumers' reasonable needs without extravagant use of the country's resources.
Words like " co-ordination " and " integration " sprang too readily to mind wherever inland transport was discussed. They had become almost incantations.
"I know what I mean by co-ordination, but do some of my critics? Let us have a detailed analysis of what they mean," Mr. Marples said, adding, "I do not see it as part of my job to fetter the consumer's choice."
Successful co-ordination was when the reasonable needs of the consumer, includ ing cost, speed and service, could be satisfactorily met by one or more of the several parts of the inland transport system on a competitive basis and without extravagant use of national resources.
How was this to be done he asked. To reach the right balance between -road and rail, a Minister of Transport had two main tools at his disposal. He could legislate as had been done in the recent• Transport Act, and he could spend money.
" We must also be sure not only that we are spending the right sums of. money, but spending them in the right places," Mr. Marples continued. To reach the right decision in this direction, factual information was needed. This the Ministry was getting through Dr. Beeching's traffic studies and through the efforts of his own Ministry. There was also a group, under Sir Robert Hall, which was working out the longer term demands for transport. The London Traffic Survey was calculating the future pattern of the capital's transport needs. "Arising out of the Jack Committee report," Mr. Marples continued, "we are about to make specialized studies of transport needs in rural areas."