Double-deckers on Over Half _Mileage
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Fill-Y-FOUR PER CENT. of the Mileage. of the Aldershot and District Traction Co., Ltd., was now being worked by double-deckers, said Mr. T. Robert Williams, chairman, in his annual statement to shareholders on Monday. Thirty new single-deckers built to maximum dimensions went into service in the summer of 1956 and a further 23 were on order.
. One-man I operation had been extended, and in introducing, it there had been excellent co-operation from the staff and, the trade unions. One-man. buses had been introduced mainly upon unrernunerative country routes, but the company were still left with the "heavy millstone" of operating some :41 per cent, of total mileage below cost. The recent strike was to be regretted, particularly as the company had never previously had such a stoppage. It was significant that the number of motor scooters on the roads today was twice as great as the figure for a year ago.
"We must work hard to recover the ground which we have lost,". said Mr. Williams.
The company had made a. further application to raise fares, but were doubtful as to what the result would he if it were granted. It was difficult to forecast passenger resistance.
BUS OPERATORS SPEND £2m. ON LEYLANDS
BUS chassis worth about £2m. have been ordered this year from Leyland Motors, Ltd., by British bus undertakings. Well over half this sum has been spent on Titan double-decker chassis, nearly a third of which are to the new length of 30 ft.
Giving these figures, the companystated this week that the total output at their factories, including the August returns, was 17 per cent, higher this year than in the corresponding period of 1956. On the export side, the Comet cruiserweight truck was in such great demand that production of the vehic!e was now 24 per cent, higher than last year.
OIL-FUEL CONSUMPTION UP rONSUMPTION of oil fuel from April to June was 1.2 per cent. greater than in the second quarter of 1956, although over the first six months of this year (which covered part of the period of the fuel emergency) deliveries dropped by 3.3 per cent. to 838,157 tons from the figure for the first half of last year.
The Petroleum Information Bureau stated on Wednesday that 116,661 tons of premier-grade petrol and 557,690 tons of standard-grade were consumed from January to June this year, compared with 162,062 tons and 772,900 tons in the first half of 1956.