Midland " Red " Progress and Plans S OME interesting facts
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have been issued by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., in connection with its operations during 1945. In that year, the company's fleet of buses ran nearly 45,000,000 miles and carried over 317,000,000 passengers. Despite difficulties associated with shortage of crews, the company increased its stage-carriage services to the extent of nearly 4,000,000 miles above the figure for 1944.
Further increases in services to the extent of over 14,000 miles per week are being introduced this month, and the plans provide for a progressive increase throughout the year, as staff becomes available.
The resumption of express services is also in mind, and it is hoped to make a start with these early in the summer.
By intensive recruiting campaigns it was found possible to increase the strength of the driving and conducting staff by 448 and 159, respectively, a
total of 334 having returned from service with the Forces during the year under review.
On the engineering side, and apart from normal maintenance work, the company has built prototype single
and double-deck buses, also an experimental chassisless single-decker. Arrangements have been completed for the resumption of chassis production, which will shortly be in full swing. It will be remembered that for a long time . the company has produced its own vehicles.
Much preparatory work has been done in connection with the company's desire to build new garages and extend those existing. It is hopeful that by the end of 1946 circtimstances will have permitted its post-war development plans to make substantial progress.
A great deal of this enterprising programme is, we are sure, due to the ability and hard, work of the general manager, Mr. D. M. Sinclair.