Transportation

Transport or Transportation is the movement of humans, animals and goods from one location to another. In other words the action of transport is defined as a particular movement of an organism or thing from a point A to a Point B. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles and operations.

Transportation in a Libertarian Socialist Society

Some have argued that a anarchist society would not be able to coordinate the complex networks and services that make up a modern transportation system, Friedrich Engels argued in his essay 'On Authority' who claimed that attempting to institute anarchist control of railways and shipping would simply lead to their collapse and thus the downfall of modern civilisation. Do Engels’ claims stand up to the evidence? Let’s find out.

In Revolutionary Spain, the CNT decided to integrate and consolidate all transportation into an efficient system without waste. This improvement meant better facilities, rights of way, and incomparably better service for the riding public. Fares were reduced from 15 to 10 cents, with free transportation for school children, wounded militiamen, those injured at work, other invalids, and the aged. 

Under socialized transportation better service was provided for more riders (an increase of 50 million trips in one year). Before the Revolution only 2% of supplies for maintenance and repairs were manufactured by the privately owned company. Under socialization, within only one year, 98% of the repair supplies were made in the socialized shops. The CNT also provided free medical services, including clinics and home nursing care, for the workers and their families.

The railways across Catalonia were also significantly improved, they were repaired from the fighting as anarchist workers opted to organise a non-hierarchical organisation to control the railroads, composed of three sections, traffic, technical/engineering and administration. These groups were responsible for the training of new workers, cleaning trains and equipment, upkeep of locomotive depots; freight and passenger equipment, and repair shops, provision of electricity, fuel (coal and oil) and tracking trains and communicating between drivers through telegraphs and telephones.

In Sri Lanka from 1958 to 1979, self-management was introduced to the Sri Lanka Transport Board in order to improve service, efficiency and morale. Construction material, fuel and vehicles were all standardised to ensure easier repairs and replacements, whilst morale among drivers and maintenance workers increased allowing for the smooth functioning of the world’s largest bus service (7,000 buses serving 4,000,000 commuters a day) to function smoothly, delivering on-time bus services, clean buses and few accidents.

Upon the neoliberal reforms to the country in the late 1970s (in line with a global decline in social democracy), self-management was abolished as a new class of managers was introduced, destroying morale and leading to more mistakes in the chain of command, leading to damage in buses. By the 2000s, the board had declined massively and gets a letter every day about overloaded buses, buses going too fast, dangerous driving, rude staff and high fees.

The Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd or Egged, founded in 1933, provides about 35% of Israel's public transport services, employs about 6,500 workers and operates a fleet of 2,950 buses. Egged buses transport about 900,000 passengers per day. Egged also operates some 1,500 buses in Poland, where it operates some 215 buses for public transportation and serves around 40 routes daily. Although run in a way that anarchists advocate for, it is condemned by anarchists, as Egged bus drivers have assisted the IDF by delivering supplies to soldiers in Israel’s various colonial wars.