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Fresh Start Brings Rewards
Page 138
Page 151
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Warrington Manager Tells How He Started Afresh and Drew Up New System: £20,000 and 300,000 Miles Saved
FA RES increases, reduced frequencies and general economies are the normally accepted means by which revenue is made to meet expenditure in bus companies. But what happens when those devices have reached the limit of their ttsefulttss and a large deficit is still forecast? Mr. McDonald suggested a blank map of the area the undertaking serves. He scrapped his existing routes and fares table and started all over again. The result was that 300,000 miles a year were withdrawn and it is hoped that some £20,000 will he gained.
The scheme, which came into effect on December 27, last, was suggested when the annual estimates forecast a .E.34,000 deficit for 1959-60. Despite vigorous action, traffic had dropped by 30 per cent. in nine years. "Once again we were faced with the dismal alternative of a substantial increase in fares or a drastic reduction in frequencies," he commented.
Experience over the years had taught Mr. McDonald that many routes in every undertaking had developed haphazardly through a period of 50 or 60 years. He was also thinking of the small increases of mileage which in a year totalled a big sum. He remarked: "I want to emphasize the significance of the weight of frequency behind decimal points of mileage, which can add up to something very substantial if you look at the system of routes as a-whole."
So he subjected his own routes to a critical scrutiny. lie embarked on this project with another guiding principle in mind. "I think it would be better if we were left with main trunk services at good frequencies—and I am a great believer in the public appeal of good frequency—to which people might have to walk a little way," Mr. McDonald explained, "rather than dissipate our strength over a number
F48
'of wandering routes operating at indifferent frequencies which can only mean that the distances the individual passenger has to travel are greater than necessary, therefore taking longer in time and costing a higher fare because the fares are based on mileage."
A feature of the scheme was to be the linking, by more cross-town routes, of population areas with balanced densities (" the more nearly even the demand, the more economical the service is likely to be "). A key point was the reduction in the peak output of buses which, of course, determines the size of the fleet and of the undertaking. Mr. McDonald set out to achieve this aim from the reduced running times necessary to operate the more direct, and therefore shorter, routes.
"I started by merely modifying existing routes," he said, "but got into practical difficulties. . . I might improve one feature but threw up a worse one at the other side. However, preliminary results encouraged the belief that the scope for saving mileage was considerable."
So he came round to the blank map of the town and plotted entirely new routes and went on from there to assess frequencies and running times. The first calculation of mileage showed a 12f per cent. saving of 330.000 miles a year, with most people enjoying at least as good a frequency as before. Three short sections of route were left without a service, but the Main saving came frdm the elimination of a route 80 per cent. of which overlapped others. It seemed that the total potential saving was about 124,000 a year.
Success or failure, once the town council had accepted the proposals, lay in putting' it•over. Mr. McDonald went to "very considerable trouble to get the platform staff with him and attended, by himself, Sunday morning meetings to explain his objectives. The staff agreed to try the timings he had worked out and he undertook to redress promptly any inadequacy which operating practice brought to light. The police were won over by similar demonstrations and largescale maps were posted in the town centre for the public to examine. The co-operation of the local Press was secured in giving considerable publicity to the
scheme. I was determined the scheme should not go off at half-cock," he
observed. Before the Traffic Commissioners the undertaking agreed to put back 0.53 mile of route—which totalled 20,000 miles a year.
Much Detailed Publicity
Launching the scheme entailed much detailed planning and publicity. Separate coloured leaflets, giving all details, were prepared for each route; they were made available to the public a fortnight before the commencing date. Supplies of the leaflets were sent to factories, the public library and other public offices. New destination screens had to be prepared for the whole ilea and many stops had to be resited.
"I do not think you could pick a worse time (December 27) from a traffic (continued on page 229)
point of view to start something like this," he commented. Mr. McDonald added: "Operationally the whole thing went off satisfactorily."
While the estimate of savings was £24,000 a year (before the modifications agreed at the traffic court), the unknown factor was the effect on revenue but, he pointed out: "We were up against it .. we had to do something."
It was much too early yet to give definite results, he pointed out. But it was possible to follow the trend—which would now become obscured by the wage award. Receipts improved as weeks went by, after a " depressing" initial four-week period. The first full quarter showed a 2 per cent. drop compared with a year previously. For the first nine months of the financial year the drop had been 4 per cent. "It looks as though the results from the income standpoint were not unreasonable; I put it no higher than that," he said. Savings in expenditure that were estimated would substantially accrue. The best assessment he could yet make was that the net gain was about £20,000. Since the paper was first written, added Mr. McDonald, there had been a general revision of fares. " It was never expected. nor claimed, that the scheme would solve all our difficulties, but I think it can be said that, apart from saving us one general increase in fares, it has given us a more flexible network of routes."