The Battle of the Market Bus
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)RIVATE bus operators running market day services to the . Suffolk town of Bury St. Edmunds have a problem on their hands the moment. It is not the familiar one of falling traffic or traffic st to the private car so much as a direct battle with the local council hich seems determined to push the operators off their oldtablished coach park in Angel Hill to make way for cars. dditionally a new traffic flow introduced experimentally at Easter, part of the one-way traffic system in the town, has made access and from the coach park a distinctly hazardous operation, and ivate cars illegally parked where the coaches should be do not :lp the situation.
That the local council should even think of moving the coaches seems ludicrous and suggests complete ignorance on its part of the help played by the coaches in bringing prosperity to the town. This is all the more remarkable since the coach park is situated directly outside the town hall! If the traffic was falling there might be an explanation for the council's attitude, however mistaken it might be. But in fact, every operator I spoke to on a recent Wednesday market day reported that traffic was at least holding its own and in some cases was actually on the increase.
Bury St. Edmunds, with a population of 22,000, is the most popular market town in East Anglia, and one operator claimed that it was the only one with proper market stalls between Colchester and Norwich. The fact that the number of private motorists coming to Bury has increased considerably, while there has been no corresponding decline in the number of bus and coach passengers carried by most operators confirms the popularity of the town as a shopping centre for a very wide area.
The town council proposes to build a new £30,000 coach park about one mile from the centre of the town—the present site being within five minutes' walking distance from the centre of the market. Coaches would be allowed to stop in Angel Hill to unload their passengers, thought some of the operators, but this was expected to lead to chaos, and the situation would be even worse in the afternoon when the coaches of some 20 or more operators attempted to pick up passengers at Angel Hill within the space of some 15 minutes.
Mr. F. Carter of F. Carter and Sons, Northwold, Norfolk, who had two coaches in that day and who told me of the proposals, said that such a move would kill the traffic. As Angel Hill had been used by market day coaches since 1922, he felt that they should, by rights, have precedence over the private car. In those days the council actually used to supply a sack of wooden blocks for use as chocks to stop the coaches from running away; now the council did not seem to care about the coaches any longer.
It was not just a question of picking up and setting down; shoppers were in the habit of bringing their loaded shopping bags back to the coach about midday and then going off to enjoy a visit to the park in the old abbey grounds or walking round the town again. But shoppers just could not be expected to walk a mile to the coach park to unload their shopping.
Retired people—no private transport Mr. Norman Towler, of A. Towler and Sons Ltd., Brandon, Suffolk, brought 120 passengers into market on the day I was there. He told me his services were holding fairly well overall (speaking of services generally) and on Wednesdays he regularly operated two 41-seaters on his market services and sometimes needed three vehicles. Three coaches were regularly employed on Saturdays. If the council's plan went through, passengers would just not come, he told me. Brandon's population was made up largely of retired people, who simply did not possess cars.
Another operator whose coaches brought in good loads was C. J. Partridge and Son, of Hadleigh, Suffolk. One of their coaches operates from Layham, through Kersey Mill, Bildeston, Hitcham, Brettenharn, Thorpi, Cockfield and Bradfield, and the second from Lavenharn, through Hadleigh, Semer, Chelsworth, Monks Fleigh, Brent Eleigh, Preston, Cockfield and Sicklesmere, which gives a good idea of the type of territory served by these independent operators, and the wide area they cover.
Looking at the confusion as more than 20 coaches tried to park in some semblance of order, and watching the large numbers of people descending from them, I was astonished when Norman Towler told me that it was the "quiet season". "You should come in a fortnight's time when the fruit-picking season is over and the schools are on holiday", he said.
Root of present trouble One driver who felt very strongly about the whole subject was Mr. Jock Smith, a Scotsman employed part-time by Mulleys Motorways Ltd., of Ixworth. He explained to me how the whole parking trouble had stemmed from the introduction of the new circulatory system at the foot of narrow Abbeygate Street where it opens out into the wide Angel Hill. The actual roadway in Angel Hill runs along the foot of a sloping open area and is wide enough only for a single lane of traffic in each direction. Formerly buses and coaches, which parked on the open area to the north of Abbeygate Street. faced south parallel with Angel Hill and pulled straight out into the normal traffic flow. Any coaches on the lower side of the park could pull straight into Angel Hill. Now coaches have to face east and stand in two rows, one at the foot of the park with another row behind. The parking area also extends round the corner where Angel Hill turns eastwards. The trouble was accommodating late arrivals and allowing early departures to get out from the back row, Jock Smith told me. This led to all sorts of contortions on the part of the coach drivers, he said, and I certainly did not have long to wait to see this demonstrated.
Jock Smith himself had quite a full itinerary that day, having come in from Long Thurlow with a 7.33 a.m. departure, and gone off again to Brockford for a 9.30 a.m. departure. He was due out again at 12.15 p.m. to Long Thurlow, returning from there at 1.05 p.m. to be followed by a 3.40 p.m. departure for Thurston, returning straight away for a final 4.15 p.m. departure for Brockford.
With the "front line" already full of coaches this meant that vehicles running intermediate trips such as this had to be accommodated in the back row. But getting in and out was the problem. In the first place, coaches were practically forced to approach by turning up Abbeygate Street against a "no entry" sign, then squeeze between coaches already parked in the second row, lamp posts and other obstructions to find a place. "We are always having to move the temporary barriers", Jock told me.
It is no doubt to obviate all this confusion that the town council is considering moving the coaches out of the town. But if they are to allow them to pick up and set down in Angel Hill and the present site is immediately swamped by private cars, which seems to be the intention, then even greater chaos will arise. There are plenty of car parks already in Bury which are not used to capacity, and it seems to me that the council should get its order of priorities sorted out.
Talking of the coach park being swamped by private cars leads me to the other bone of contention which is upsetting the operators. It is that, as already mentioned, cars have already invaded the official coach park. This is despite "no parking" notices displayed all over the area. Mr. J. Simpson, the official park attendant, told me that the first cars were always there before he arrived at 8.30 a.m. The motorists simply moved the boards to make way for the cars.
Action needed What is so unbelievable about this situation is that the motorist seems to be in control of the situation. Mr. C. J. Eagle, of Castle Acre, who told me that his market-day traffic is building up, agreed with Mr. Petch, Mr. Towler and other operators that there seemed to be no action that could be taken.
The nearness of the town hall (a very fine building designed by Robert Adam in the best Georgian style) had prompted several of the operators to pop in and seek help from that quarter. But the response was extremely disappointing, I was told. The council seemed powerless—or possibly just not interested. And appeals to the police had brought the astonishing retort that it was "not our business". Which made the boards marked "Police—no parking" seem completely incongruous. Occasionally, however, they did move a few cars from the site.
One solution The most encouraging fact arising from my conversations with operators and drivers was that the traffic was holding, if not increasing. Loads ranged from 75 per cent to maximum capacity, and on this "quiet" day Mulleys had had to supplement their two regular coaches with a relief coach from their associate company, W. A, Jolly. My advice to Bury St. Edmunds Corporation is to think again before antagonizing not only the coach operators but also the passengers they regularly bring to shop in the town. I wonder what the town's chamber of trade thinks of the situation!
The solution surely would be to develop the proposed coach park as a car park, and be firmer with motorists who insist on disobeying the "no parking" notices. Then lay out the Angel Hill parking sites—on either side of Abbeygate Street—as a proper coach park with a space clearly marked for each operator's coaches. This, I am told, is already done in Stowmarket, where only four or five coaches are involved anyway. "Stowmarket is a perfect place to operate to", they said.
As for the motorists faced with a mile walk, a frequent shuttle service could be laid on between the park and the centre of the town. Some of the independents' coaches which have a long layover could be employed on this work, which would be a valuable addition to their coffers. Or perhaps Eastern Counties, the resident company operator in the area, would be willing to take on this work, though I was told that they were the worst off operator in the area with regard to falling traffic, due to their "pricing themselves out of the market".
The entire problem of Bury St. Edmunds and its market buses is, perhaps, a parochial one, but it should serve as a warning to any Government or Minister of Transport that it would be a grave mistake to attempt to dictate local policies from Whitehall. Guidance and backing would be welcome, but dictation should be "out". Local passenger transport problems of this sort, particularly in rural areas, can best be solved locally.
Meanwhile, I wish the Norfolk and Suffolk independents well in their "battle of the market bus".