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Section 3 Opinions on Transport

The remaining questions were directed to exploring the extent to which workpeople were satisfied with their methods of getting to work.

Dissatisfaction with the method of getting to work nearly doubled between August 1942 and January, 1943. The increase in dissatisfaction was greatest amongst users of trams and trains.

The greatest increase in dissatisfaction was amongst miners, Light engineering and munitions and Heavy Manufacture.

Many people object to anything in the nature of criticism of public services in wartime and a pilot survey indicated that this reluctance was apparent on the part of some workers. Another question was, therefore, asked of those who, in answer to Question 6, expressed satisfaction or were unable or unwilling to express a positive opinion. This question (9.8) put the same point to those work people in a less sh[Text Missing] form. The results are, therefore, not comparable with those of question 6 but afford some indication of the state of mind of the less vocally critical work people.

Nearly 33% of the sample are sufficiently dissatisfied with their ways of getting to work to say so clearly.

The 67% who did not express dissatisfaction in answer to question 6 were asked: “As far as the journey to and from work is concerned, is there anything at all you find a nuisance or trying?”

Of this group nearly 34% or nearly 23% of the whole sample expressed annoyance when so invited; some indication of the extent to which the dissatisfaction of this later group is comparable with that of those workpeople who were quite definite on the subject in answer to Question 6 is afforded by a comparison of the reasons for dissatisfaction given by both groups.

As will be seen later in Table 26, direct dissatisfaction is much more marked amongst users of public transport than others, and therefore the group finding some aspects annoying or trying contains a high proportion of those not using public transport than the general sample. Hence the increase in the proportion who find cycling or walking inconvenient and hence probably the emergence of the lack of torch batteries as a “transport grievance” amongst this group.

Apart from these items it is clear that the remaining causes of annoyance or dissatisfaction rank in much the same order for both groups. It might be assumed from this that the problems are the same for both groups, but the reactions of the second group are milder. The dissatisfaction measured in Table 23 should, therefore, be regarded as minimum and subject to an addition of an amount of dissatisfaction which can not be expressed in comparable terms and which may amount to 22% of the whole sample.

Amongst whom is the dissatisfaction found ?

There is a sharp distinction between users of public transport and others. Between the different methods of public transport there is, however, little difference.

There is very little difference between Men and Women or the different age groups.

In Table 13 it was shown that workers in the outskirts of towns had longer journeys to work and the effect of this is shown in the two following tables:-

It must be pointed out that apart from the length of journey associated with situation, it may be the case that places of work on the outskirts of towns are served by the fringes of the local transport system where transport is not as efficiently organised as elsewhere. In the case of miners, no other factor associated with dissatisfaction was found to explain the large proportion of dissatisfaction.

It is quite clear that dissatisfaction is associated with the length of the journey. Another factor connected with the time taken getting to work is the necessity for changing vehicles which it was shown in Table 8 concerned nearly 30% of those using public transport.

Table 27, 28 and 29 all demonstrate the extent to which dissatisfaction is connected with the length and complexity of this journey. The figures given in the next table show how this affects workpeople in different occupations.

The groups with greatest dissatisfaction are Heavy Manufacture, Light Engineering and Munitions and Miners. It was shown in Table 14 that these groups had the greatest proportion with journeys “over half an hour”.

Building workers with next highest proportion of “over half an hour” journeys have markedly less dissatisfaction. This may be explained by the fact that a high proportion (nearly 48%) of building workers do not use public transport and as was shown in Table 26 dissatisfaction is much higher amongst users of public transport.

Miners have a higher proportion of dissatisfaction. The proportion using public transport is about average, and the proportion with “under half an hour” journeys is high (over 80%). It was, however, shown in Table 27 that there was an association between the situation of the workplace and dissatisfaction, and 77% of miners in the sample work on the outskirts of towns. It may, therefore, be the case that the high proportion of dissatisfaction amongst miners is more associated with the quality of transport available on the outskirts of the town than with any other factor. It is notable that in the case of both Heavy manufacturing and Light engineering and munitions a high proportion worked on outskirts, a fact which may have emphasized the dissatisfaction associated with long journeys.

Where was dissatisfaction found ?

It was pointed out earlier on that the regional figures were intimately bound up with the occupations of the workers interviewed, and the figures given below must be considered with the facts noted above well in mind.

Dissatisfaction is greatest in S. Wales, the North East, South and South West, and North West.

In South Wales and North East there is heavy use of public transport, a high proportion changing during journeys, with longer homeward journeys, “over half an hour” journeys, and a high proportion working in the outskirts of towns. In the South West there is a high proportion with “over half an hour” journeys and with longer homeward journeys, but other factors associated with dissatisfaction are not present. There is, however, in this region a fairly high proportion of walkers and cyclists and in Table 33 it is clear that there is more criticism from these groups in the South West than in any other area.

In the Southern region a fairly high proportion cycle and in the North West a fairly high proportion walk. There is not, however, a large proportion of complaints from cyclists or walkers in these areas and other factors associated with dissatisfaction are not present.

London and Scotland, where most of the factors associated with dissatisfaction are present, have only average dissatisfaction. There is, however, in London rather a high proportion of workpeople who, whilst not expressing direct dissatisfaction, finds some aspects of getting to work “a nuisance or trying”. This is not the case for Scotland.

In both the South and South West, however, there seems to be a rather greater intensity of criticism than in other regions (Table 34) and from Table 33 it is clear that there is in these regions a fairly high proportion of complaints of the transport organisations concerned.

The reasons offered for Dissatisfaction

Some association with material difficulty has been shown for dissatisfaction in most groups. It now remains to deal with the cause of dissatisfaction as given by workpeople.

(In Regions, North, N. Mid., E. Anglia and S.E. less than 100 people were asked. They are therefore excluded from the table).

The greatest single cause for dissatisfaction is the necessity to wait and queue for transport. This is sharpest in N. West, Midlands and Scotland.

Criticism of the transport service offered is the next greatest complaint, and to this should probably be added nearly 18% of dissatisfied people who complain that the service is not available at the time or place required.

Cyclists and walkers are responsible for a very small section of complaints and there is a notably higher proportion of complaints from these groups in the South West than in any other area.

Women complain of queuing and waiting rather more than do the men in the sample, whilst men complain of the service rather more than do women.

All expressing a reason for direct dissatisfaction were asked whether there was any other reason for dissatisfaction. The results of this question afford some measure of the intensity of dissatisfaction in the different regions.

It will be seen that the South West and South Regions and South Wales were the areas where the largest proportion had more than one expressed reason for dissatisfaction.

It was suggested above that workers on the outskirts might complain more than others of factors associated with the fringes of the transport system. Table 35 appears to lend some weight to this suggestion.

The first two categories, crowding or queuing, concern rather more people working in the centre than workers elsewhere. The third and fourth categories which are much more complaints of service than discomfort affect more people in inner and outer areas. In the smaller places, the category inner would be on the edge of the town. This point is very clear in the case of miners.

Reasons for Dissatisfaction . Miners and all Workers

Although the sample of dissatisfied miners is very small the figures seem to indicate that lack of transport at appropriate times is one of the chief grumbles.

All workpeople who expressed direct dissatisfaction in answer to Question 6 were asked: “Can you suggest anything that could be done to remedy this?”

The larger overall demand is for more transport in general, but a considerable proportion criticize the operation of existing services.