Turnaround time on freight cars averaged 19.16 days compared with 19.00 days in 1959.

MOTOR CARRIERS

Compliance records of applicants for motor carrier rights are reviewed by the field staff of the Bureau of Motor Carriers to evaluate and report upon the fitness of applicants. Such applications are discussed in the chapters, "Operating Authorities" and "Promotion of Safety." The field staff also conducted general investigations and reported upon 3,803 temporary authority applications, an increase of 259 over last year. It received 14,978 informal complaints from shippers, motor carriers, passengers, and others, down 1,482 from last year, and disposed of 9,868 of them by telephone and letter. Investigations were made of 5,160 complaints, including some pending from the previous year, and 3,933 were concluded by administrative handling. In the remainder, or 1,227 cases, which was 230 more than last year, more detailed investigations were made with the object of instituting court or Commission proceedings. The increase in the number of these cases is due to a change in the general field activity during the year which focused more attention upon unlawful transportation. To ascertain compliance with the act and regulations 2,560 general and rate compliance surveys and 6,479 safety compliance surveys were made. When necessary, corrective action was taken.

Motor Carriers of Property

Motor carriers continued their efforts to achieve operating economies and to improve service. Many major operational problems were solved through the construction of new terminals, installation of modern equipment in existing facilities, and widespread use of electronic equipment.

Many carriers have installed microwave transmitter-receivers which make possible high speed data facsimile, voice, and teleprint transmission to reduce costs and improve services.

The use of closed circuit TV systems in terminal operations has been expanded on a limited scale, and the use of radio, once confined mainly to the pickup and delivery operations, has been expanded to embrace some over-the-road operations in heavily populated areas.

In addition to the States reported last year as permitting tractors, semitrailers, and full trailer combinations on turnpikes, Indiana and Ohio also authorized operation of three-vehicle combinations. Tandem trailer combinations 98 feet in length and weighing 127,000 pounds are being operated over the Indiana and Ohio turnpikes. The units are powered by the new 12-cylinder nonturbocharged 380

horsepower diesel engines and are said to average 45 miles per hour or more over the 397-mile run.

A lightweight gas turbine engine featuring rapid acceleration and engine braking characteristics has been offered by a manufacturer on a limited basis to fleet operators for experimental purposes.

A four-cycle six-cylinder turbocharged and after-cooled diesel engine for highway use was placed on the market.

Electric retarders claimed to be capable of holding a 14-ton truck at 22 miles per hour on a 9-percent downgrade became available. Trailers with telescoping platforms provide double-duty for carriers of both general purpose and extra length material. The platform is adjustable from 35 feet closed to 55 feet fully extended position. New in the trailer field is a detachable 40-foot trailer which can be separated into two smaller units in less than 10 minutes by one

man.

More than a dozen commercial manufacturers of air buses and trucks are engaged in research to determine whether or not wheels can be replaced by air. One version of the air truck is designed to have enough lift for 7,500 pounds' payload. This vehicle is intended to traverse 6 to 12 inches above land, swamp, or water.

An improved method of temperature control has been devised. The temperature of perishable cargo can be maintained at 0 degrees or lower and temperatures inside refrigerated vehicles can be reduced from above 80° to well below zero in less than 5 minutes.

Carriers and shippers using collapsible tank or containers for dry, liquid, or bulk products may now use disposable liners for such containers.

A power pusher conveyor for unloading trucks and semitrailers was offered to fleet owners for installation in motor vehicles. The "pusher" is actually a bar across the back of the truck or trailer in the loaded position. It is powered by a motor and pushes the entire pallatized load onto a loading dock at a predetermined rate. A conveyor on the dock, the same width and length as the conveyor on the floor of the vehicle, completes the unloading process.

A single, wide truck tire as a substitute for dual tires and capable of supporting equivalent loads was developed. Advantages of the single tire over the dual tires are improved vehicle stability, greater carrying capacity, and elimination of fire hazards resulting from driving on dual tires when one is flat.

A major trailer manufacturer recently completed an 85-foot, 40-wheeled trailer with a carrying capacity in excess of 110 tons. It is reported to be the largest highway trailer yet built. The trailer body may be hydraulically raised to clear road contours and lowered for passing through tunnels. Because of its size, separate operators

man front and rear tractors. Two more crewmen steer above the front and rear wheels. Telephone communication is used to keep the operators in touch with each other.

Metal brake linings for trucks became available. They eliminate heat, water and high-speed fade, and brake squeal, require less pedal pressure, and give quicker stops and longer wear, with fewer adjustments. Linings are bonded to new brakeshoes upon installation.

A straddle trailer was offered as a new concept in material transporting and handling equipment. One operator can pick up, deliver, and unload 40,000-pound payloads without leaving the cab, thus saving manpower, time, and equipment. The unit "straddles" the load and picks it up, eliminating loading and unloading at each end of the haul.

A new concept in highway safety is termed "instant safety." The "instant safety" device, electronically operated, ejects several lighted flares onto the roadway. The flares are released to signal danger to other traffic when a flat tire, mechanical breakdown, accident or road obstruction warrants its use. A pushbutton on the dashboard controls ejection of the flares.

Motor Carriers of Passengers

Regular-route travel on buses of class I intercity motor carriers of passengers, in terms of passenger miles, was slightly higher in 1960 than in 1959, but continuing losses in short-haul travel again resulted in a decrease in the number of passengers carried. At the same time, there were somewhat greater increases in charter and special-service travel and volume of package express transported. Such increases, together with higher passenger fares and package-express rates in some areas, resulted in an increase of about 4 percent in overall operating revenues for 1960. The passenger count on local and suburban carriers subject to ICC jurisdiction remained relatively unchanged between 1959 and 1960.

Bus-miles operated by class I intercity carriers in 1960 totaled 3.0 percent more than in 1959 while local and suburban carriers increased mileage by 3.7 percent. Overall operating expenses were 5.2 percent higher among the intercity companies and 6.2 percent higher in the local-and-suburban group. As a result, the percent of revenues for expenses in the intercity group went from 86.5 in 1959 to 87.4 in 1960 while local and suburban carriers reported operating ratios averaging 96.3 during each of these years.

Despite comparatively large increases during recent years in revenues from charter, special service, and nonpassenger services (about 9 percent in both cases for intercity carriers between 1959 and

1960), regular-route operations continue to provide the major part of the revenues of the class I carriers (82 percent during 1960 in the intercity group and 83 percent among those primarily in local or suburban service).

Increases in expenses of bus operation between 1959 and 1960 occurred with relative uniformity in the various cost categories. Preliminary tabulations of data for class I intercity carriers show wage-and-salary costs up between 5 and 6 percent. Total costs for materials, supplies, insurance, and other nonlabor expenses in the operation-and-maintenance group rose at about the same rate. Operating taxes and license fees reported by these carriers in 1960 were slightly more than 7 percent higher than in 1959 as a result of the Federal fuel-tax rate increase effective October 1, 1959, and higher State and local levies.

Carriers continued to develop more expeditious, comfortable, and convenient service by making maximum use of new and improved highways and equipment. The Greyhound Corporation is already engaged in a program involving virtually a complete rebuilding of its deck-and-a-half Scenicruisers and it, as well as many other carriers, put several hundred new V-8 powered single-level coaches into service.

Revenues from regular-route service on many lines, however, still fall short of meeting operating expenses which continued to rise steadily. Recent increases in highway-use taxes at all levels of Government present serious problems, and the 10-percent travel tax continues to act as a deterrent to patronage. Essential regular service to many communities has been maintained only by means of offsetting losses with revenues from charter operations and the transportation of package express, services which the carriers are promoting vigorously.

Analysis of the 1,000 class II and class III motor passenger carrier reports for 1959 indicates that about 550 of them were engaged primarily in operating buses in intercity operations, either on regular routes or in charter or special service. Another 250 carriers reported operations primarily in local or suburban service (regular-route or of charter or special-service types). More than 100 companies provided service with sedans, limousines, or other vehicles of low passengercarrying capacities. Approximately 40 were engaged predominately in providing schoolbus transportation, and a few carried limited. numbers of passengers in vehicles primarily devoted to mail transportation or other purposes. More than 40 reports indicated no actual operations during the year.

Operating characteristics of class II and class III carriers differ in a number of respects from the larger (class I) carriers. More than a third of the overall operating revenues of the smaller carriers in intercity service came from charter or special service in 1959 as compared with 7% percent among the class I intercity carriers. Revenues averaged 35.0 cents per bus-mile for these class II and class III carriers, or about two-thirds the corresponding average of 54.0 cents for class I carriers.

Expenses of the smaller carriers consumed 96.5 percent of their revenues while expense-revenue ratios for the class I carriers averaged 86.5 percent. Passengers using regular-route intercity service of the class II and class III carriers paid fares averaging about 3 cents per passenger-mile on trips averaging somewhat more than 22 miles in length. Class I carriers, by comparison, received fares averaging 2.59 cents from passengers traveling an average of 77 miles. The average passenger load on buses of the smaller carriers in regularroute intercity service was 8.7 persons, less than half the average of 18.6 on such buses of the class I carriers.

WATER CARRIERS

The water carriers' tonnage of revenue freight increased in the calendar year 1960 over 1959, but total freight revenues were less. There was a decline in the number of passengers carried and revenues received by carriers in all territories, except those on the Mississippi River and its tributaries which are primarily excursion type operations. During the winter, ice conditions on the Illinois waterway, the Ohio River, and the Mississippi River were worse than usual, greatly increasing transit time, and causing more than average damage to water carrier equipment and facilities. The situation on the Illinois waterway was further aggravated by low water.

The rate of new waterside plant construction along the inland waterways during the first 6 months of 1961 was almost double that of the same period in 1960.

Navigation on the Tennessee River was closed at Wheeler Dam early in June due to the collapse of a lock wall. A new lock was under construction at that point. Normal operations are expected to be restored in 9 to 18 months. A number of towboats and barges were stranded above Wheeler Dam, including the special-purpose barge Palaemon, which was to have transported Saturn booster rockets and space vehicle parts from Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville, Ala., to Cape Canaveral, Fla. Plans were made, however, to carry the booster to Wheeler Dam on the Palaemon, then overland around the