MOTORBUS OWNERS IN CONFERENCE.
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Agreed Resolutions Concerning Overall Length, the Problem of the Standing Passenger and the Question of Disinterestedness of the Licensing Authority.
0"of the first conferences held at Oympia during the Show period was convened by the London and Provincial Omnibus Owners' Association, with Mr.
Richard S. Tilling, J.P., in the chair. The attendance was large and representative of important interests, and the matter submitted to the Conference concerned the first interim report of the Departmental Committee on the Licensing and Regulation of public-service vehicles.
The resolutions which were moved covered five beads of the subject. The first dealt with dimensions at vehicles and, in particular, the overall length of motorbuses, which it is proposed to limit to 26 ft., whereas 27 ft. 6 ins, is demanded in order to provide comfortable seating space on a single deck for 38 or 39 passengers. The resolution as passed reads as follows :—That in the opinion of this meeting it is undesirable to fix a limit of length for a single-deck omnibus which will reduce the carrying capacity below that of those vehicles at present in common use, and that it is unnecessary and unfair to make a restriction in regard to permitted length in the case of passenger-carrying vehicles which does not also apply to those used for the transport of goods. The second and third resolutions clearly indicate their purpose. The second reads thus:— That the meeting regrets that the Committee has failed to recommend that the licensing authority shall in every case be one that has DO trading interest in passenger transport, whilst the third expresses the regret of the meeting that the report does not recommend any satisfactory machinery for giving effect without delay to Orders made by the Minister of Transport under Clause 14 of the Roads Act, 1920.
The fourth resolutibn deals with the question of permission for passengers to stand in public-service vehicles and reads as follow :—That, In order to obviate the present anomalous position 'arising out of the application of the provisions of the Railway Passenger Duty Act, 1842, with regard to the number of persons who may be carried on omnibuses and to standardize numerous existing local by-laws on the subject, this Conference urges that in any legislation for the licensing or regulation of "state carriages" as defined in paragraph 25 of the First Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on the Licensing and Regulation of Public Service Vehicles, provision shall be made to permit standing on the lower deck or interior of any "stage carriage" to the following extent (1) In cities, towns and urban areas (having populations exceeding 20,000) on services mainly within such areas :—One-sixth of the seating capacity provided that "during hours of rush traffic" (such hours to be agreed between the local licensing authority and the proprietor) standing shall be permitted to the extent of onethird of the seating capacity of the lower deck or interior, and
(2) In areas specified in (1) and other urban and rural districts on services mainly in rural districts:— One-third of the seating capacity of the lower deck or interior at any time.
The last of the group of resolutions averred that, in the opinion of the meeting, past experience has shown that it is unnecessary to carry conductors on express carriages, and that it iS undesirable to leave this to the discretion of the licensing authority.