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PAGE EIGHT THE OSHAWA DAILY TIMES, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1932 & 4 r He Had a Bright Idea fete Jn last week's issue of The To- rohto Star Weekly, there appear- ed, an article written by Paul Frederick of much interest to the people of Oshawa, since it related to. Alex. W. Bell, former traffic manager of General Motors of Canada, Limited, and now: vice- president and treasurer of a mo- tor transport terminals company in" Toronto. The article, which takes the form of an interview with Mr. Bell on the new business In which he is engaged, and which is filling a real need in the prov- Ince of Ontario, is as follows: A Bright Idea Arthur H, Thorpe, transport man, had a bright idea for side- stepping the depression by supply- Ing it with what he thouzht was a tong-felt want. It was to set up iu Toronto the first motor express terminal in Canada--for truck- barne freight and merchandise. 'Tt worked, At the beginning of the year he and two associates having acquired an ancient salt works near the foot of Jarvis St., opened what was in effect a clear- ing house for trucks. . It was not a very fancy place. but it had zig-zag platferms and enough accommodation, as they thought, to carry them along a while, But inside two months they were handling so much freight that they were crowded out. So, at the beginning of April, having got rid of their lease on the salt works, they moved into the old Gurney fo'ndry building on King St West, whictt has twice the platform accommodation and three times the space That's what developed from a bright idea. Mr. Thorpe carried the original idea to Alex. W. Bell, once his school mate, later a Grand Trunk desk mate, more recently trans- port chief of General Motors at Oshawa. They heard of Arthur R, Bell --mno namesake of Alex.--as a man worth interesting in a trans- port threesome, So the truck ter- minal was established with Arth- ur Thorpe as president, Alex, Bell as vice-president and treas- urer, and Arthur Bell tary and manager, It was Alex. Bell about this move to the efforts of a nnmbey of trans- fast who told me | as secre- | { were co-ordinate | | stay port firms by giving them termi- | nal facilities and to raise business of motor trucking a def- inite notch higher in efficiency. Trucking Haphazard Trucking has been haphazard in its values. At present hetween 300 and 400 Ontario truckers are competing and giving service as common carriers on the highways and only a percentage are sure of costs, charges, overhead and the rest And there are hundreds of other firms, mostly one and two truck outfits, toting contract stuff between stated points and carry- ir ' produce and livestock the | on a privateer basis, Thus there has loomed up in opposition to the railroads a huge utility which carries on guerilla fashion. Into this picture has come the new express terminal as a cohe- sive force and a standardizing in- fluence among a number of truc- kers scattered all over the prov- ince. That the system will grow there is little doubt, In the meantime the new ter- minal has had to move to bigger quarters, "If someone had offered us the foundry building three monghs ago," said Alex. Bell, "we would have heen scared at the very suggestion." There have been rail terminals for ships and bus terminals, but s0 far trucks running into the thousands have been scurrying hither and thither all over the province without a harborage, Tt was this lack which Messrs. Thorpe and the two Bells set out to provide. "We did not have to seek truc- kers," said Alex, Bell. "The news got out and we had applicants be- fore we started. Before we open- ed the place officially some of them were already using it" At first only twenty companies | were taken in. Now the number is twenty-six. They have headquar- ters at Toronto, Hamilton, Wind- sor, Chatham, Peterboro, Strat- ford, Owen Sound, Listowel, Lind- say, Goderich, Brockville, ener, Welland, Midland and oth- er places. They link up over 500 cities, towns and villages of older Ontario, from Detroit to the Que- border and north as far a Orillia, in a network. of trucking which has been made co-operative for the first time by the new ter minal. A Step Towards Stabilization "We picked out transport econ panies which would gi said Mr, Bell ed and properly licensed public carriers and such obliged to carry insurance on their cargoes We picked out-of-town compan- jes." "What wa you stepped in? bec ve good ser vice," "all awh as the situation before "Their individual headquarters | | was outside Toronto. Each had to | telephone | maintain individual connection here, but the all at the other end. in here, delivered, overnight and then day go around collecting loads." records They had to next return came picture?" "We hecame clearing house for all of them, central depot. Our single telephone number hecame theirs. We were their agents, their distributing agents, theij® collecting agents. We could give them return loads right away That cut down waiting. It reduc ed their overhead." "Oh, you do the delivering and | collecting?" ' "Yes, the truckers unload our delivery platforms, at Our | lots Kitch- | right staff sorts it out. That is because' arrivals are almost al ways in the late afternoon or ev- ening, We have our own trucks. The stuff is sorted out according to the different sections of the city and at seven-thirty in the mornings we start out on deliv- erieg, On the other hand we make the collection of stuff and nave it all here for the outgoing trucks to load. Frequently, an incoming track will be able to start out again, loaded, within two or three hours of arrival, It all operates to keep the over- head down for the truckers and cnables them to give better ser- vice," "And errive?'" "We charge for handling on a basis of weight. It is relatively small, In effect we are playing the part that the express com- paries play for the railways, An- vther thing we do is to make out way bills for everything, just as the railways do. The consequence $s that every shipper has his bill how does your revenue delivered right with the goods," | "Did not the truckers have this | Lofore? "Most of them did not." "Do the shippers get any ser- vice from the terminal that they | did not from the truckers?" "Undoubtedly, Suppose a firm is shipping to five different places on different routes, five different of stuff Under the up five transport companies giv service to the and call them separately, result five big trucks of the hog type called, usually 'in ing places As roaa | the afternoon, and congested his | routes i "And when you came into the | L°rested Now he just calls what hé «A elty k, ealls and loaus up railwa oun driver signs the ht at the door hipping lane, the terminal and says wants and single truel tyre of tru quickly It's like as Tha lading rig copy to the 11 of lading and the good the terminal to it the hill ire distributed bh the trucks for The terminal hag assum ed the responsibility "Suppo later, son for complaint, breakage, shortage Under the system the shipper had to figure wut what transport took this par- ticular stuff Nox he merely call= up and straighten 1 ont Wil there rea or wi = Department Interested The department of highways Mr. Bell, had been very in- in the experiment had been very willing to co-oper- It was regarded as a big step toward stabilizing the business and giving a rezulated stanaard vice which would have re sibility and uniformity such as have not generally existed in this mushroom. utility that wag ald ate, so highly individual in its efforts | and 80 lacking manage- to a deg: generally in scientific ment and control. still at- octleg transports as This year . . . 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WILSON 23 King Street West, Oshawa, Ontario. system | thut has prevailed he had to look ! individual | the five different | and | It was hoped | that it would be a check on such | | an order for | stuff to Montreal Lenipted to operate without 1i- censes, giving neither insurance nor protection, Schedules Being Co-ordinated In effect, the terminal only represents one transport com- pany to each individual route. "Otherwise," sald Mr. Bell, tuembers of the same family would find themselves compet- inz. But if a transport company is not satisfactory, does not give the service we ajm at, we have the right to give thirty days' no- tice and let it out. On the other I'and, a dissatisfied transport has a similar privilege of withdraw- ing." "Has trucking in this way be- come regular as the railroad?" "You can almost set your watch by the time trucks come in and go out of the terminal. The March snowstorm cancelled the Midland and Collingwood trucks. They could not get through. But it was only tlic one day. Next day they were right on schedule. That, by the way wos the only interruption since we started." '""Are the schedules of the diff | erent transports being co-ordin- ated?" "That is being worked out so that shippers sending stuff i through Toronto may have a You see, some places only on a tri-weekly It ts our aim to build ser shipment, are now schedule, up until there oan he a daily | vice everywhere." 'Have you any alliance with tracking companies not affiliated with you?" "We have exchange relations, rmetimes they pick up stuff not n their routes They turn it cver to ug, On the other hand | onr lines can't handle particular turn them ove t Hpments we tL any our aim js to with rate tition all of po alors do not compe ible kind bigger vith a n n the terminal but rather welco! tabilizer." "Are you aiming at co-ordinat- ed rates?" "Some tracker have commoditie the for of kpecial rates | which are lower than they should | prevailing | Le, though We have advised them so, it makes no difference to | ug what rates are charged, Dut do not want to them charging rates that are low for the handling involved "But a standardization rates will evolve?" "Undoubtedly, rates coming standard now, age shipper is willing ates, That's fair 'hat's. where the rates wi v stabilize Slash titig will becomo a thing o pul, The only 1 complaint the railroads had lash ing. That will « end." "Can the freight away from the ra the charge rates equal to rail rates?" "Certainly, by giving a quality uf service which the ad cannot attempt." And gave | examples to illustrate. Last Saturday afternoon we Bee too ol are he The tn pa competit wid 0 om to an trucks draw road if railr he the terminal telephone rang at 12.45 | and a man said, "We have a call for Dundas and we think we can | it Is con- | dellvery this evening | The material has to go througn | hook a nice order, but ditional on certain processing this week-end to be ready for handling Monday. If we get that order, can it be de- | livered by truck?" "How much stuff | said Mr. Bell, "About four tons.' "When will it ho ready?" "About two o'clock. "We'll handle it." At 1.15 the man called ) Say der, that It would be t cad of four and. to call not at two, but at two-thirty. Before 7 o'clock that evening it was not only in Dundas but de- is there?" hack n- ai 'y livered right to the factory door, "That could not have been done by rail and express, said Mr. Bell, "It just couldn't have heen, We were not only able to give speed, a ghipment from door to door- but to eliminate collee- tion at one end and delivery at the other, and yet charge only what the railroad would have | charged. That's the service with which the rails can't compete, The Future of Trucking One day a telephone call came from Oshawa saying, "We have several! ' thousand dollars if we can only get the Thursday af- ternoon for a big sale Friday." "It's only Tuesday," sald Mr, Bell, "That's easy." "The trouble is,'"' sald the man, "We can't get the goods ready until Wednesday night." 'That's okay with us, Mr. Bell. At 8.30 Wednesday night a big truck left Oshawa with the stuff and two drivers to relieve one another; and it pulled into the Montreal store at 2.30 Thursday afternoon. That happened to be Oshawa. It might have heen Peterboro, Owen Sound or London, Ont, It would have made no difference to these easily handled trucks. . "I could multiply such exam- ples endlessly," sald Mr. Bell "It's the service that sells itself against that which the railroads can give, ' and not the rates, Trucks are giving rail rates for door-to-door delivery. Wherever there are paved roads trucks can go The railroads must stick to the rails," "What have you been handling through the terminal " "Everything, glass, rubber goods, tires, oil, flour, raw wool, bales of waste, steel--every- thing." i "What of ing?" "It has come to stay and it is hound to grow rapidly, Five years ago you could have counted the operators on the fingers of a cou- ple of hands. Now there are hun- dreds." "And their equipment ig tre. mendous?"' "Yes, but the tendency fs to- ward lighter equipment and not heavier. It has been foun out that the cost 'of operation and " sald the future of truck- | operation, that he had got the or- overhead of a huge truck capable of hauling ten to twelve tons i much higher than a couple of smaller trucks, each capable of handling five or six tons, Not only are the smaller trucks cheaper to operate, even with twice as many drivers, but they are not so hard on the roads an/ are easier to manoeuvre,' "Business could not do with- out trucks now, you think?" Cannot Go Back "It would he impossible many a business to go back freighting by rail. 80 manyfirms have changed their whole ship- ping layout to fit fn with the new transport movement, Cases occur every dav. In one Ontario town with which I am familiar fully a 8eore of firms have their shipping arranzements' to take care of trucks. The railroads have offered reduced rates on certain commodities to get back business, only to be met with the answer, 'No, we eun't go baelk now Tho changed Invout hag ro. 1Mted fn conveniences ynknown when thelr tuff wag handled from sidings from which it had to be hauled to, factory or depart ment Now trucks ran in right to the door of a factory or depart- ment and there is no further handling nntfl the" roods are un- for to : | loaded right at the door of their minimum of delay due to trans- | destination, Not only does many a plant find it impossible, no mat- ter how great the inducement. to Zo back to rails, but ) not afford te resume 08ts of handling,' Demand Faster service "Have shippers to md a faster ou they the Cone n service from "Indeed vex Customers have gnoiled overnight 111 around ten. o'clork fn bhecange ie rajlroa down to a below economical not inde bring theh that wa they did asd rate could res of shippers to leave the that it will erad dow number ting systen The will | in as part of hig the ra will a co-ordinated ot ninton i n to a 0 mall- aby units probably he wh Iroad foreed service oy to changed | conld | added | de-1 I have | » cone | § ~ 10 15¢ to $1.00 EOPLE' STORES LIMITED 21 SIMCOE STREET SOUTH 15¢c to A. $1.00 LARGEST OWNED CHAIN OF 5c TO $1.00 STORES IN CANADA SPECIAL WEEK END SALE Friday, Saturday April 22-23 When in the store don't forgel to visit our Candy Department. 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