THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROAD TRANSPORT

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6104, 19 September 1947, Page 4

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROAD TRANSPORT

THE EDITOR’S COMMENT.

A further striking indication of the greatly increasing development of road transport is found in the recent statement by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. R. Semple. After telling the taxpayers of the country about the greatly increased costs of rail transport, and the need for increased passenger and freight rates, the statement goes on to talk about the road services and here a far brighter word picture is painted.

The first sentence of this portion of the report states: “One of the outstanding features of operations /during recent years has been the phenomenal growth of the railway road services.” The Minister is quite correct when h£ says that during the war the petrol- and "tyre restrictions retarded progress and even more;-re-cently the difficult vehicle position had prevented the operation of extend-, ed and new services; but despite these limitations, passenger journeys had continued to grow steadily until they had reached the record' figure of 20,364,278. It is of interest to compare this figure with the total for all rail passenger journeys at 28,869,136. While the rail figures are, of course, affected by the coal position and the road figures contain far more shortdistance traffic, nevertheless the comparison indicates the growth of road passenger ’transport under the department’s operation. A comparison of last year’s figures for road goods and passengers with those for 1939 is illuminating. In 1939 the total revenue' was £505,612, while in 1947 the figure is £1,555,686; in 1939 the vehicle mileage totalled 8,632,807, while in 1947 the figure is 17,144,390; and in 1939 the number of passenger journeys was 5,732,282, and in 1947, 20,364,278. “With new vehicles and bodies now coming to hand more rapidly, further expansions in this important branch of service can' be confidently forecast,” states the Minister in concluding this section of- his statement.

There is a clear indication in the aforementioned figures that the road services are a popular method of transport with the people and it is apparent this department will go on rapidly developing if it receives the encouragement that it should. We believe the Minister and his department are fully alive to thjs and that the road and rail services should be managed so that the greatest measure of service under the most efficient and economic conditions, is available to the people. We commend the Minister for his long range view in connection with the arterial roads of the country, which must be improved to meet the heavier demands upon them. In this direction the Minister bf Public Works has done a commendable job of work and had it not been for the war it is certain, the highways qf the Dominion would/be much more improved than is actually the case. It has been shown that the goods traffic on the railways has been well maintained, while there has been remarkable growth in the road passenger transport and the cartage of light goods. The obvious reaction to these aspects of to-day’s transport is, of course, that the Railways Department should concentrate upon developing these two sections of its operations. Although the growth of heavy haulage by road has been most marked of late, a lot of this is due to the shortage of coal for the' railways and to the turn round of wagons not being fast enough to cope with the business. We note, of course, that the Railways Department is continually urging the people to see that wagons !are not left, standing any longer than is absolutely necessary and in this •connection the Department is desei’ving of all possible support. Provided these two aspects of heavy haulage on the rail can be overcome, then the railways are most suited to this particular class of transport and the Department will be wise if it concentrates in this direction. Heavy haulage on the roads causes much wearing of surfaces and greatly adds to the maintenance costs, so for this further reason the heavy haulage should be confined to the railways as much as possible. The Minister and his department have a big job on their hands to cope with the rapidly increasing traffic and a concentration in the directions mentioned will do much to make the task easier and will provide a service to the people that will be reasonably adequate and efficient