RAILWAYS AND ROAD MOTOR SERVICES.
Page 12
Page 13
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Review of Important Evidence Given Before the Select Committee on Transport.
WB.EN ENDEAVOURING to obtain guidance as to the utility of road motor services in connection with the development of railway traffic and the service of rural districts, the Select Committee of the Rouse of Commons very rightly took the views of Mr. Frank Potter, the General Manager of the Great Western Railway.
This company has an unusually extensive experience in this particular direction. )The number of passenger cars in use by the G.W.R. is 110. These arc mainly used for dealing with such traffie as is ordinarily conveyed by passenger train. In some cases passenger's luggage, parcels, light goods and mails are conveyed. For this purpose, roofed vehicles are used, the super-structure being capable of carry ing about 'half a ton. The Great Western started road motor services 16 years ago, the majority being in Cornwall, Devon and Wales. Most of the ser vices connect small towns arid villages to the nearest railway station, and the length of the single journey varies from 31: to 21 miles. It is important to nete the purposes for which rail Ways use motor, vehicles, and the fact that railway motor services are, in the main, not in the nature Of menial commercial propositions. Routes are estab lished to develop districts where geographical difficulties stand in the way of the provision of railways ; as feelers to develqp traffic up to the light railway stage and, incidentally;' to deal with pleasure traffic ; and to serve places primarily of holiday, and touring interest previously served only by private agencies.
The governing idea throughout has been to encourage people to travel to and in remote districts capable of development. Li some cases as, fOr example, in the neighbourhood of the Lizard, the establishment of services his led to a big influx of visitors. s • Many of the routes operated are virtually extensions of the railway, so that, their contributive value must be taken into account as well as the direct profits made. Thus, some records taken prior to the war showed that just on 56 per oent, of the passengers on the Slough-to-Beaconsfield motor service were also railway passengers. In the case of the Moretonharripstead-to-Chagford service the percentage of the rail passengers was about 734. As an illustration of the development resulting from the introduction of motors, werhave the case of a service introduced in 1906 in place of a horsed coach service. The passengers conveyed by coach in the year April, 1906-6, numbered 6191. The. passengers conveyed by the motor service during the subsequent 12 months numbered 18,220, an increase of 194 per cent.
In only two cases in Wales do the road motor services cater_for traffic, ordinarily conveyed by goods train. • In these_ two instances. 3-ton lorries are employed. The figures for 1917 are as follow :— Ffaverfordwest and St. Davids : 16 Route Miles.
Total mileage ... ... ... ... ... 6989 :Receipts per mile Operating cost per mile (1917) ... ... 13.57d. .0perathig cost based on 1913 normal costs 9.8d.
Llandyssil and Newquay : 15 Route Miles.
Tostal mileage ... ... ... ••.. .•. 5840 Receipts per mile ... ... ... ... 18.03d. Operatjng cost per mile ... ... ... 15.91d. Operating cost based on 1013 oornaal costs 10.41d. 032 These figures are interesting as showing a. direct profit on the services, and as indicating the increase of cost during the war, this amounting to something approaching 50 per cent. 'Reverting to the passenger services, naturally some of those having the character mainly of pleasure services were discontinued daring the war, when 17 services were withdrawn. The real utility of the majority of the services is, however, shown by the fact that.33 continued in operation in October, 1918. The Great Western arid the North Eastern Railways have both exPeriraented in the possibility of developing agriculture by means of road motor goods services. In 1905 the Great Western tried such a service in Worcestershire in the fruit growing district. For a time it was fairly well patronized, but presently the business fell off, and the service, working at a loss of &keit 60 per cent., was discontinued. The North Eastern experiment in the Bran4sby district fell to the ground in a similar manner. When work was slack on the farms the farmers used their own teams for cartage, and financial loss on the service resulted.
The great Western used road motors in increasing numbers for parcels cartage at all the big towns on their system. A start was made with 3-tonners and 1-tonners, but in 1914 1i-tonners were added. The figures for the year 1915 were as follow :— No. of Cost per Vehicles. *cage. Vehicle Mile.
3-ton ... 66,300 6.32d.
1i-ton .. 10 96,409 4.46d.
1-ton 60 464,315 4.97d.
These figures of cost appear extremely satisfactory. The fact that the Wtonners compare so favourably with. the 1-tonners is at least partly due to the former being in the main new vehicles. The advantages of the motor over, a horse conveyance are slimmed up as follow :—" Quicker delivery to points, at the extremities of the collection and delivery area, and extension of such area,. Ability to deal with abpormal traffics without necessitating additional assistance. The motor can be worked double shifts, if necessary, without undue strain." When the war had been.in progress for some time, the shortage of petrol vehicles and fuel fer their use led the company to place orders for a certain number of eiectrics designed for loads of 14 to 34 tons. A further fleet of 14-ton petrol vehicles was also en order when Mr. Potter made his statement in October last.
For goods cartage 40 vehicles are in use in large centres. The fleet includes road locomotives, petrol lorries front 5 to 11-ton capacity, and a petrol tractor with semi-trailer. Some 5-tou electric% and a number of 3-ton steamers were on order. In the existing fleet 3-ton petrol levies predominate. The following figures indicate the results obtainedin 1915 :— Mileage Cost per Run. Mile.
Road locomotives 2,578 35.3d.
5-ton lorries 61,690 11.88.d 3-t9n lorries ... 144,521 7.28d.
14-ton lorries ... ... ' 9,537 5.53d.
To the figures given the cost per ton was also added in the original statement, but this column is omitted as being valueless when the average distance over which the load was carried is not stated. We may teseruine that the vehicles were kept fairly fully loaded. In that case, the figures of the cost per mile are unquestionably satisfactory, when we remember that the majority of the work must have been. carried on in heavy traffic and with numerous delays for loading and delivery. • It is now possible to sum up the classes of work for which the railways use motor vehicles, and the type or types ,of vehicle preferred in each case. For passenger Lerviccs petrol and light steam vehicles (such as the Clarkson) are used, the carrying capacity being about 3 tons.
For parcels services in big centres_, the work of collection and delivery is performed by light petrol vehicles carrying I to i tons, and running to fixed time-table with a legal speed of 20 miles an hour. For heavier transfer working, petrol, steam and electric vehicles carrying about 3 tens and running up to about 12 miles an hour are employed. For goods services in large centres, the work of collection and delivery ii also carried on by the class of vehicles just mentioned, but in districts where rolling mills abound road locomotives drawing a number of large trailers are employed. For transfer working in connection with goods services 5-ton lorries are generally used5 but it is in this class of service that the Great 'Western is trying a petrol tractor with a 7-ton semi-trailer, one tractor serving as many as six such trailers, drawing one at a time at about 12 miles an hour.
Having now dealt with the general statement put forward by Mr. Potter, we may mention a few points brought out in his verbal evidence. He regards motors as being largely ancillary to railway traffic, and capable of developing suburban goods traffic by rail by encouraging people to live further out. Mr. Potter was continually cross-questioned on the subject of the agricultural services which had failed.
Various alternative niethods of encouraging farmers to use such services were suggested, but a careful study of the questions and answers leads one to the conclusion that there is nothing much to be done in this direction unless the services are deliberately subsidized by the State for a considerable number of years, so that they can be consistently run at a loss. The Great Western has certainly shown initiative in trying to get people to order. small consignments of perishable goods, even going so far as to supply boxes in which the stuff could be. packed, and to advertise the facilities offered. The response was poor, and the whole thing petered out. Even where the railway has undertaken to collect the produce, which it cannot do under most conditions, the responSe has been di sappoin ting. , Quite an interesting point is that concerned with attempts that have been made to get the railways to contribute specially to the upkeep of roads used by their motor services. The reply to such applications has been that, if the locality was not prepared to co-operate, the services could be removed. The G.W.R. has never made any special contribution. This attitude is, on the whole, in our opinion, justifiable, but we seem to remember occasions when railway authorities have argued that motor services ought to pay as railways do towards the maintenance of roads on which their vehicles run. In a, matter of this kind, it is impossible to be on both sides of the fence at once. Apparently the position is that, the railway-would not mind paying if all other users of the road paid proportionately, but they object to being singled out for contribution. The same argument applies equally to independent public motor services.