MOTOR COACH DOINGS AND DEVELOPMENTS.
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Matters of Topical Interest to Proprietors of Chars-a-Bancs.
The Coach in North Wales.
Owners' Reflections an a Record Season
TT IS NO exag .',-eration to say that this
season motor. touring from Llandudno has Made greater progress thanin any previous slimmer. The horseadiaawn wagonette is practically non-extent. On the. day of our visit not a single one • was noted, and in their pla.ce may be seen powerful and luxurious 26 seater Thornycroft and :Daimler coaches. The tours manager of one of the Llandudno motor-coach enterprises very tersely reviewed the season's business
thus We have had a record season, a record month, a record week, and a record day, and what we are out for now is to make a record coach load." This is, of course, the record for one fleet—the " Royal Reds "—and the goal of their ambition to complete the sequence of records is to hook up a partyof 28 on the longest of their trips, 145 miles, from Llandudno to Dolge/lv via Bala Lake, Harlech, Penrhyncleudraeth, Piartmadoc, Page of Aberglaslyn, Beddgelert, Vale of Gwynart, Capci Curig, etc., for which 35s a lkad is charged. The record coach so far this' season is' a 28 seater, which conveyed a full complement of passengers through what IS called the "Killaroey_of Wales," a 125 miles tour. The fare was 30s., making a total Yield of £42. . Mr. F. Platt'Thitler, the Royal Red tours manager, was not with-.
• out hope that they would "attain their cherished desire before very long.
Since May 14th the Royal Red coaches have carried 16,000 passengers. PUrsuing our own inquiries amongst the various
• local 'owners, we are able to venture an ',estimate of the total carried from Llandudno this summer. To put the figure quite moderately, it is at least 50,000. The local fleets comprise about 30 vehicles, about 14 of thorn being 28' . seaters and the remainder 18 seaters. Making allowance for the bad weather which has been experienced in undue pro
Tertian and its influence en. motor coach,
ing, these figures may be justly claimed to be a wonderful evidence of the popularity to which the motor char-it-bancs has attained among-,st the holiday makers. The motor coach has opened up new pos, sibilities to these who have " torn " themselves from theharassing cares of the city .and its limitations.
It is necessary to be a little more analytical to •discover from what latent
• source springs the prosperity of the Llandudno services. In the first place, it is of no use when people, who have been working hard for 50 out of 52 weeks in the year, visit the aceside, to -immediately present them with a bare day bill of the tours, stating starting: times, destination and: fare. The day bill conveys nothing except to those who, are more or less familiar with the country.
The two principal LLandudno companies—the Royal Red and the Royal Blue—therefore each publish a souvenir guide, giving in delightfully picturesque and clearly-expressed laugnage a .desciaption of the route traversed, with comments on any sights en route likely to interest the passenger. They tell the public all about their tours, and the publie like them all the better for it.
As an example, take the Criccieth and Pwlllieli tour, one is first of all informed that in this follday trip the coach stop% for luncheon and afternoon tea intervals and leaves the booking office at 10 am: The route via the Vale of Conway to
• Bettws-y-Coed is lucidly described. The next part of the journey, passing Swallow Falls, Capel Cnrig, Pen-y-Gwryd, the Nant Clwynant • Pas's', the Pass of Aberglaslyo to Beadgelert, is described in another portion of the guide, to which a cross reference is made to another page. Continuing, the journey is made through Tremadoe and Portanadoc to the oldworld town of Criccieth, made famous as the residence of the Right Han, David Lloyd George. Criccieth is situated on the south coast of Carnarvonshire, facing Cardigan Bay, the largeat.bay in the
• United Kingdom, having an uninter
rnpted ace': and mountain view of great extent. Criecieth-Castle is situated On a• high rock in, the bay dividinOthe sea
front.
A few miles further and 'the coach arriV'es at P*11heli, in ancient boicough of North Wales, the charter of whichdates back to tha days of the Black Prince. Tire beach is five miles long, and the viewsembrace the mountains of Merionethshire, "The Rivals," and Car
• digan Bay, which has been described as . very similar to that of Naples. On the homeward journey the Royal Bed motor coach runs along a fine and straight coast road to Carnarvan, where a stay is made for tea and, if time allows, to explore
the historic castle. .
To prepare interesting tours in North Wales, respective companies of Llandudno do not, merely conceive a destination, take passengefs there and bring
them back. In A ccuititry so rich in natural beauties-there is abundant scope for the exercise on the part of coach ownere and tours managers of initiative in the compilation of routes, etc. Thought is being constantly devoted to improving the tours by re-arranging times, routes;
-etc. On the day of our visit, for in. stance, we were informed that a hall-day tour to Nant Ffrannc.on Pass and Devil's Kitchen h-ad been made into a day trip to enable passengers to ingp-ect.. the
Mephistophelian donsiclle." We asked one tours manager how he
would in his time this winter. "Oh," he replied, " there will be plenty -La do, improving tin guide, compiling new routes, and trying to make our tours more attractive than they have been this year." The Royal -Blue fleet comprises nine 40 h.p. Thorn7croft 28 seaters, while the. Red fleet consists of about the same number of Trainilsrs and Thornyerofts% The fares are about 20 per cent, above prea war, and notwithstanding the increase. in the price of petrol, it is not intended to pass the advance on. In y'ears gone hy fares were redhead towards the back end
of the meson, but this course was not adopted this year.
In response to the query as to whether business had been affected by the renewal of excursion trains, the opinions of the two leading companies are in conflict. The owners of the " Blues " say "Yes," and the owners of the "Reds have. not noticed any difference. Probab13. many people, when the coal strike was threatened, kept away from Llandudno, where last year, at the time of the railway strike, motor chars-e-banes had to be commissioned to take passengers to their homes, so far distant, in some cases, as London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Sheffield. The Royal Blues at that time made five trips to London. As to excursion traffic affecting Llandudno, no cheap-ticket trains are coming into the town. Were they to do so, char-i-bence owners would, we think, stand to gain.
The local by-laws forbid chars-hebancs to pick up or set down passengers on the promenade, and coaches are not allowed to load beyond the Grand Hotel, which is situated orr the promenade, a few minutes' walk from the pier. Owners are very resentful at this interference, because, to bring passengers from this end of the town, they have to send out is special private oar to collect than, and that .means extra cost. The Only exemption is in the case of a private party of 18! or 28 persons booking a coach, then the vehicle can enter the prohibited area. Another grievance in which owners share the indignation of their drivers is the absurd local regulation requiring drivers to wear a metallic licence mainher plate—an ugly circular disc, provided by the Llandudno Corporation. The drivers regard the exhibition of the miniature breast plate as infra dig, and can be sympathized with in their protests. Some of them have been prosecuted f,or defying the law in this respect.
What Llandudno proprietors want to know is : Why the local authorities will not grant them licences for additional vehicles owned ideally, but will grant them to newcomers? It appears that three firms each applied for three extra licences, and each received one, whilst the outsiders received whatever number for which they applied. But for the ridiculous attitude of the • 028
local authorities between Birmingham and Llandudno, the two centres might have been linked up with read passenger vehicles this summer. The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co.' Ltd., had arranged with the Llandudno Coaching and Carriage Co., Ltd., owners of the Royal Blue coaches to run a reguler daily service throughout the season between the two places with new, upto-date saloon motor omnibuses with drop-down windows. The route had been fixed, and it was intended to pick up and set down passengers at various places en route. Their application to the local councils en route for permission to establish regular stopping places in their townships was refused, and consequently the scheme, commendable as it was, had to be abandoned.
One of the most pathetic features of the Llandudno !services is the element of rate-cutting which has crept in during the lase few weeks of the season. Up to a short time ago, it appears, the 'owners were working amicable together, observing uniform rates, until one concern broke away. They then issued and distributed broadcast a handbill, on which the following wording appeared :— " We bring before the public this notice of cheap and reliable motor tours. Why we can do it—because we, do not belong to the ring of companies who have governed Llandudno's motor touring prices for years. We stand alone to cater for you with all new chars-e-bancs."
Our inquiries have led us to the opinion that nothing exists in the -nature of a " ring," unless it be the mere meeting together of owners to discussworking conditions' rates and other matters in the interests of the trade. At the present time the local owners are considering whether or not to be members Of the Liverpool District, Chester and North Wales Cher-a-bancs Owners' Association.
The following list 'of tours of the Royal Blues may be takenas typical of the services from Llandudno :—Day tours : Barmoutlf and Dolgelleye average miles 145, return fares 35s.; Bala Lake via Ruthin and Corwen, 120, 25s.; Llangollen Via Berwyn Hills, 115, 25s. ; Criccieth and Pwllheli, 115, 25s.; Isle of Anglesey tour, 115s, 25s.; Lledr Valley, 105, 25s.; Aberglaslyn Loop, 96, 20s.; Llanberis and Snowdon, 80, 17s. 6d. Afternoon tours: Bethesda Loop via ‘Capel Curig,
60, 12s. 6d. ; New Alpine tour, 60, 12s. 6d. ; Denbigh Castle, 60, 12s. 6d. ; Grand Mountain Loop, 56, 12s. 6d. ; Marble Church, C. Asaph, 45, 10s.; Bettws-y-Coed, 42, 9e Practically all these tours are for single bookings. To ensure the running of the coaches the companies require a minimum complement of 12 or more passengers per coach. Each of the companies have several booking agents or kiosks in Llandudna, az well as places in the immediate vicinity of the town.
The town is also well supplied with motor-omnibus services, double deckers 7 and converted W.D. wagons being used for passenger carrying.
About 400 people visit Llandudno by motor char-e-banes per day during the seasmi, many of the coaches coming from places. a considerable distance away.
Motor Coach Speeds in Carnarvonshire.
At the Joint Police Committee meeting held at Carnarvon recently some interesting statements were made by the Chief Constable on the subject or motor coaches. He said that he had received many complaints regarding these heavy vehicles, most of them being In connection with the speed at which they were driven, the narrow roads over which they toured, and the behaviour of their occupants. It was, he thought, necessary to form by-laws to regulate the conduct of • the passengers and to employ a conductor on all vehicles, these by-laws to apply to the whole of the county. Although anxious not to curtail the uses of motor coaches by rigidly enforcing the 12 m.p.h. speed limit, he thought that something would have to be done next year and that police traps would have, to he operated for the first time in ehe history of the county. As regards complaints from owners of private cars as to being unable to pass chars-à-banes, in . certain cases through the wilful obstruction of the latter, motorists had only to bring such conduct to his notice, and prosecutions would be issued.
Hertfordshire County Council urges that motor charsee-hancs and similar large motor conveyances should be na.strieted to broad main roads.