CITY’S TRANSPORT COULD BE CHEAPEN

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23330, 16 May 1941, Page 8

CITY’S TRANSPORT COULD BE CHEAPEN

WAR ECONOMY

Efforts to transport more carefully and less wastefully have been S in every country at war smee hostilities began 18 ago. The essentials of the l problem^,have been the same everywhere: petrol rationing, difficulty of replacing vehicles, flow of drivers and mechanics into. the armed forces; urgent need to eliminate overlapping, and readiness to meet an emergency evacuation. The solutions have been the .same, too. mergers, pools, special, delivery companies, and zoning. It can be truly said that in every British country the crux of the problem lies in the uncontrolled activities of the ancillary user, that is. of the firm that.operates one or a fleet of trucks, subsidiary to its main business. / Except m.the badly bombed areas of Britain, no complete ’ co-ordination of ancillary user and carrier has been achieved anywhere. But « is just as important to make these transport savings in New Zealand as it is in Britain. Even a cursory examination shows that the opportunity for making them is as great here, and the need would be as urgent if the international situation deteriorated suddenly in the Pacific. What is the position in and around Christchurch? In the Christchurch metropolitan licensing area there were, before Army Impressment. 1857 vehicles. They were owned and operated as follows:—Town carriers 407, fruitgrowers and greengrocers 26, coal merchants 70, retail and wholesale grocers and produce merchants 64. butchers 37, bakers 101, builcfing and allied trades 212, milk vendors 154, and miscellaneous 786. It Is worth noting that the vast majority of miscellaneous (573), of builders’ (123), of milk vendors’ (146), and of bakers’ (98) vehicles could carry less than one ton of payload.- Only the carriers have to satisfy the transput licensing authority of their necessity in the public interest. Thus in Christchurch, except for petrol licensing, which bears somewhat more heavily on ancillary users than on full-time transporters, only 22 per cent, of vehicles are regularly subject to public inquiry. Only when the. ancillary user travels between points linked by more- than 30 miles of railway line with a vehicle weighing more than two tons laden, has he to prove the value as against the cost of his service to the community. Fear of the ancillary user’s freedom.to do as he pleases has probably been the most important influence checking the -development Of voluntary rationalisation among transport operators. Hie transport leaders of Britain say so without hesitation. It is true of Christchurch, where carriers have considered, but shelved, tentative schemes- of reorganisation. In Christchurch, the great number of small owners has also proved «r difficulty. jin Greymouth the position is worse still, because the Borough Council has not so far even licensed regular carriers. Overlapping Everywhere

Here is additional evidence, of Opportunities to: eliminate overlapping. A recent Survey of vehicles arriving at the A and B sheds in the Christchurch railway yards showed that -41 per cent, of regular carriers’ trucks were less than half-full end that 58J per cent, of ancillary users' vehicles were also more than half empty. (These statistics do not include full trucks loaded at Waltham, or truck rate traffic.) In country districts there seems to be the same,net of overlapping services. Little more than • a year ago nine bakers’ deliveries overlapped at Sefton. seven at Kaiapoi, six at Rakaia. Possibly the petrol savings which would have resulted from the much-discussed milk zoning scheme in Christchurch provide the most impressive evidence of overlapping (which may on milk, but not on transport issues, be quite Justifiable). It was calculated from milk, vendors’ own statements that 90,720 gallons of petrol could be saved on delivery alone (not collection) out of an annual total of 130,572 gallons if milk rounds were oonsoudated." This represents a saving of more than 8000 gallons a month, or nearly £IOOO a month in petrol cost alone, The transport side of milk zoning was never challenged,* It Can’t be. The scheme was wrecked by a dislike of milk, not petrol “dictatorship.,” Bread delivery is another field of possible econqmies. In this the trail is being blazed at Napier, There, in the near future, a newly-formed delivery company will distribute the output of all the town’s; bakeries from central depots. From present returns, each van will be loaded with the various brands and sizes normally consumed by householders in each street irt which it will be the only van to deliver. The consumer’s freedom of choice is, therefore, preserved. To speed up deliveries, householders will provide boxes at their gates arid leave coupons, obtainable at all shops, with a note about the size and kind Of loaf. This attempt to speed up delivery is important. A C.hfistchUrch bread der livery van serves about 166 customers a day (188 irt AShburtoft), ’about 21 ari hour. Bakers reckon that a van costs 4s 6d an hour to operate. At the, best then each customer's delivery (taking no account of baking) 'costs' 1 21d, When a 3d loaf is btfught, this charge is staggering. The more people that can be served by a truck In an hour, the lower will be the price of bread.

A Striking Example

All this is what could be done. Has anything been dolie in Christchurch to avoid overlapping? In a small way yes. One of the, most perfect systems of city delivery haSvbeen evdlved over the last 12 years by a firm of coke merchants. This firm has divided Christchurch into 16 zones. Orders ate ‘accumulated until there is a full load for a district, and are then transcribed on to a card by a clerk, who, after extensive experience, knows how the numbers run in every street In Christchurch. The driver delivers his bags of coke in the exact order written on the Card. His vehicle never doubles back on its tracks. It Was pointed out that the firm

[By the Transport Correspondent of "The Press."] ..

owed its success to twdmpEßH “Woolworth” margin on a "WmmK! turnover. If its transport not been cut. to the have lost most of its traw;?a3Bl tages. Town carriers have 'rddtteegt s number of their stands are working an unofikiaLmSg livery parcel pool. One flraiSl dertaken to deliver for sevwajEH largest retail stores in the cityliS merchants have begun toawamisi orders to build up loads hpfiwfj3 livering in a district PresmaSli events has forced ancillary gether. A vehicle specially for carrying lengths of sWli.'iSjM turned to its owner upon Army impressment on the iiniiSSjgS ing that its idle time would by carrying for other firms same trade. There are axaSP other examples of partial rn imm tion. . Technical DifflcnltiM Why hasn’t a greater eflortifc£ made to realise the savings imScS dinated transport in Chrisuffiffl There are certain technical In Christchurch the big bakeneEß have to become the because it would not pay their outputs at more centrsVpH There are many specialisedHaSSl a town there is a big proponS®! rush orders. Some of these urgent and must be met muguSlQ others are just the result-frfiijaKl lessness. There is no insup&iyH Acuity here, but it does reaimi@ knowledge if the number-half-empty ‘ trucks is to ..btVM&y No one yet has got that exacfS! ledge, although there are uJiJSk opportunities for obtaining it.’ mH trades there are a variety of and types of article. The many mines are listed on «Mfwg bills. Unless we are preparetfnKS duce the number of households it is going to be difficult to wiSS S delivery anything like as *aS}B S it should be. It is at this pSm B trade competition, jealousy ewp S judice come in. Special branacl 3 from certain herds, etc, will value treasured by iwdiiiUS firms. Consumers who, let be told, scarcely ever choose betiMi brands once they have acouifeila habit of using one, and are sOMMII «veii- unable to distlntrulsh brands (bags of coal) *ra «SBB once the power they is about to be circumscribed,. CMmS ancillary user, and any other UTEBI are-only too ready toopposeanSrn tionalised scheme and chorus “in»B isation,” "monopoly." The truth !i Oi in New Zealand, as disUnot ifniwl tain, much of the port change is on political, nor®* poi;t, grounds. In thr-hmnKailSgS of Britain all dock transporttaken over by the British road transport! crf nußit>a« been -.brought under the-'-cortteMrai firm, with a contequenl JijWlBM saving of £ 1.000.000 a -year.:; SEUfa railway systems (before • the4laßSa there were more than lOOfciwftfoii merged into one. Are there apySS of “socialisation" or And the British know them fc-few turn to the world 0/ 1839;’, < . Ipfe Better Pablle KeUtJws There is one encourtkiljg ihfafil for those who would sclous effort to improvd’Cantnnm transport. Existing arrthgem#flttißß not going to last long.. Vehklesfljjl being worn out, will unteplaceable. As Army and-AOffi requirements are met, thenlifjPn progressively fewer driviti&M mechanics, and thoSe that renKm have their time more carcfulqßjß Ised. New Zealand can expaßHl duced national- income andSp taxation. Transport 'costs, IK others, must, therefore; .be : ;ks|HK' if the price of common 4tticl>rßii to be raised. There aspect of change. 'A numbßM|Mk tries and trades are now try being controlled. the reshuffling that has led to an agreement to .reMmaßß» petition in subsidiary trannpPjiE vices. There is one such.trißHWß is very gradually Zoning ChrawßMt Cpnsumers are, being tfefwjKßy sweetly and are ce-operatlijjpHK They don’t know they are beaßlßlt One day they may wake.')mß der hbyr they ever tdleafafiKW®* system. It is hard to believe thatißiiMWi land- will tread the ivaddHnfb laissez-faire, when the Ifltetwajja* individual firm was 'genraKHi above that' of the > conrniUfltbrraaiHß* Zealand iq willing to Britain and Aroerma.-she aBBMK eliminate overlappingf by l|Mg» vehlcle owners under licensing system.. She a«w?jBIBBr lection from monopoly .IBIIWBHK iritegHty of her civll.-iwmMMi businessmen, and partly, -iEiwBB hoped, in the formation. MWSm. similar to- Vthe- Brltisn viKMwg Transport. This private, trade- organisation wouWfJWWK? affairs of the Transport. rWSmm! and Railways Departmants.:-taHI" an aye on changes In BHvawaßt that royswlMß shipping—in the same Zealand Council for EducimWaS search has audited our national education sywfmmß these days when live much closer to the former times, there is a for somebody to tran«at(|a^M : changes into simple languaglPWE the average man may hav?;;.<jW|E portunity to, form a on developments affecting- JSgBB ness and home life, but wnteßMreLt yond his special .knowledeljigff there could be so much standing in New Zealand ments In transport cab oWTasai.* plained by a deplorable son between the industry lie. There can be no real PSjJ-S while this misunderstanding,