. Important Northern Operators Object Strongly to Being Used as "Guinea Pigs"
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OPPOSITION to the British Transport Commission's proposed scheme for the co-ordination of passenger road transport in Northumberland, Durham and most of the North Riding of Yorkshire continues to develop.
The dominant note throughout the area is that it refuses to submit meekly to experiments of an ideological nature, the possible advantages of which do not appear to be impressive.
Mr. G. W Hayter, general manager and chief engineer of one c)f the largest operators in the North-east, Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., and four associated companies, has revealed himself as one of the staunchest opponents of • the scheme, In a widely reported statement, Mr. Hayter had many • pointed remarks to make concerning the provisions of the plan. He said that " Northern " and its associated companies would fight the plan through all the stages of the procedure laid down by the Transport Act. "The Act says in terms that every area must be judged individually," he said, "and great importance is attached to the views of local authorities and operators. If the Commission is really to try and ' bulldoze ' this scheme through, in the teeth of almost universal opposition, I.do not envy the Commission its job.
It will have a hard row to plough." • ' He further declared that he was amazed to find in the scheme, after all the talk and assurances that went on in the early months of this year, that the proposed Area Board, which was supposed to be a strong, more or less autonomous local body representing local interest, is apparently nothing more than a cypher.
For all the power the Board will exercise after subtracting the matters in which the Commission is expressly but (to quote the precis) " not exhaustively interested," the members of the Board may as well stay away altogether. In Mr. Hayter's opinion, the Area Board would be a cOmbination of a rubber stamp, a scapegoat and a cushion.
As regards the background of the plan, his view was that cheap travel and contact with the travelling public would be jeopardized for the sake of an ideology of doubtful merit. His company had not raised its fares since its establishment 36 years ago. However, the Ministry of Transport thinks bus fares are "out of scale" and Sir Cyril Hurcomb, Chairman of the Commission, has said that a nationalized undertaking has an obligation to treat all its customers on the same footing.
This implication', coupled with the statement in the précis of the plan that sub-district consultative committees (whose minutes will be sent to the district committees) will enable the public to have a voice in the running of the system, met with much criticism from Mr. Hayter.
"Is it not really rather easier for someone to ring up my traffic manager if he has a grouse?" he asked. "And if we cannot give satisfaction, he can go direct to the Licensing Authority—his well-tried guardian."
Further Co-ordination Unwanted
The paragraph dealing with road and rail co-ordination was described by a number of the objectors as "windowdressing." "It is 'difficult to see if any further co-ordination can be achieved beyond that which has already been attained by the Standing Joint Road/Rail Committee," said Mr. R. Erskine Hill, secretary of the Omnibus Passengers' Protection Association.
Co-ordination, it would appear, refers in particular to road and rail fares, and ondoubtedly to the detriment of the former. In this matter it is worth referring again to Mr. Hayter's statement, in which he points out that the bulk of Northern General Transport fares are at a rate of id. a mile or less, compared with a railway rate of over l id. a mile.
Another opponent, Mr. I. S. Wills, managing director of the British Electric Traction Co.. Ltd.; also makes acidulous comment on what he terms: "this so-called 'scheme'."
"No reason is given," he savs. " for the compulsory
acquisition of all transport undertakings belonging to private entp-prise or for the confiscation of similar municipal undertakings." It would appear that a top-heavy form of administrative machine would be set up which would only pay lip-service to various forms of consultation with committees whose advice may be completely disregarded. Eight persons or bodies would share the responsibility apart frOrn
the district and sub-district consultative committees. , "It is difficult to see," he said, " what use the Area Coard
is to. be, except as a letterbox. Its .establishment would• appear to have been conceived purely to salve the feelings of local councillors whose buses are being taken over without compensation, by trying to make nationalization look more like socialization," Municipal reaction reveals that opinion is sharply divided. Possibly a Clearer picture of the general feeling will come from the meeting of representatives of the county boroughs concerned in the scheme, held at Gateshead-on-Tyne on September 7. Similar meetings of delegates from. municipal transport departments take place at Stockton-on-Tees on September 8.
Confiscating E3,000,000
.Ald. R. Mould-Graham, chairman of Newcastle Transport and Electricity Department, hoped that his committee would continue its opposition. The corporation wanted to retain its transport services—an opinion which was echoed by representatives of other municipal departments. Newcastle Council has already expressed opposition to a scheme of nationalization, and looked with dismay on any prospect of having the £3,000,000 undertaking confiscated without compensation. "Speaking for myself and my colleagues of the Progressive Party," said Ald. Mould-Graham, " we strongly deprecate nationalization. We have seen a bit of it, and it does not work."
Exceptions to the general feeling are Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Stockton. At Middlesbrough, the Town Council, which has a Labour majority, has agreed in principal to accept nationalization of the transport under
taking. Bitter opposition • to , this view was, however, expressed by the non-Socialist minority, which rightly points out that the undertaking is one of the council's most profitable sources of income. Profits last year amounted to £58,608, and even more striking is the fact that this profit was achieved despite the fact that two years ago fares were reduced in the town. Profits have been used in the past to keep down the rates, so that an increase in the rate is likely, should the buses be taken over.
South Shields Town Council issued a statement expressing satisfaction that a case exists for unification of road passenger transport services. This view does not appear to find much support locally, for a shrewd point is made in •a South Shields newspaper editorial, which expresses the suspicion that " de-centralized centralization" is too much of a contradiction in words. The writer wisely queries the possibility of a district committee, meeting at most twice a year, paying much attention to routes of a purely local nature—" from Chichester Crossing to South Shields Market Place, or from Marsden to the Bede Estate." What interest would such a committee have in local conditions and requirements?
Clearly then, the people of the North, whose transport services are in danger of passing out of their control, are able to see in the scheme only a potential cause of confusion and of financial discomfiture. Local interests will play a secondary role in the administration of a transport system which serves many thousands of people. The administrators will have no financial incentive and little personal interest in the running of undertakings whose efficiency in the past has called for little comment, unless laudatory. The peonie feel that financial losses and administrative inefficiency can only come from proceeding with the plan. The fact that no improvements in services and fares can be foreseen does not add attractions to an unattractive scheme.