PROGRESS IN PASSENGER TRAVEL
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
Luggage Provision.
Commer Car Coach Embodying New Features.
THE POP17LARITY of the motor coach for short-distanee tours has Long since been established, but it is )nly during the last year or two that -Its -class of vehicle has been employed a) any appreciable extent for longdistance tours, and by long distance we nean those extending over a period of ieveral days. Holiday makers have "'ways looked upon the railway as the sssential means for conveying them to a destination at which they spend the athole of their holiday, exeept perhaps or a short tour or two into the sura:eluding country. some people prefer t lethargic holiday, whilst others seek diversity. The motor coach enables each Aass to be provided for, for apart frail Hording a comfortable means of touring n the open air, it enables passengers. to nrijoyconstantly changing scenery.
One of the disadvantages which have )perated against the extended use of the :har-a-bancs for long-distance touring ia's been the inability of proprietors to 3rovide passengers with a generous [mount of room for luggage. Most proirietors limit the amount of luggage emitted to about 14 lb.; in some cases, t is true, a maximum of 20 lb. is Mowed, but this amount is often totally ['adequate, especially if the tour is of onger duration than rk week.
The provision of sufficient accommodaion for passengers' luggage is perhaps be most striking feature of the two illutratiens which we publish on this page. what is admittedly a difficult problem as been successfully overcome by fitlug a sends of lockers made to carry standard size suit-case supplied to each lassenger. It will be seen that these are rranged so neatly that they do net tend o detract in any way from the smartLess of the vehicle. On the near side, ituated -between the top and bottorn tanning boards, is a locker which holds" ix suit-cases. In the place of running oar& on the off side a large locker is tied, which extends from the driver's
door to the front of the rear mudguard. This locker has a capacity for 12 suitcases, whilst a further eight can be stored in a locker situated between the back of the rear mudguard and the end of the chassis. At the rear, as will be seen in one of our illustrations, and be low the chassis is a docker which is provided for the housing of spare tins of petrol and oil, its capacity being such that 12 tins of fuel and three of oil can be very easily accommodated.
The body, which is mounted on a Commer Car 3? 'type passenger chassis, is a 24-seater. The seats are arranged in five rows in th.e ordinary way, but a small gangway divides the third raw, and thus admits passengers to the row behind. A generous amount of luggage room, which is particularly noticeable, together with the roomy, well-upholstered seating, should do much to eliminate the fatigue of long journeys. This Coramer Car char-Aebanes certainly represents the last word in passenger vehicle construction, and is admirably adapted for long-distance touring.
.Enterprising coach owners are beginning to recognize that, in addition to catering for the day excursionist, there i8 a wide and remunerative field await. ing development in the lon:cdistance tour, and the Rugby Motor Transport Co., of Rugby, whodiave recently taken delivery of the Commer Car char-abanes we have dealt with, are to be complimented on their efforts to provide all}that,is.ciesirable on tourapof this
description, whilst its general design and construction reflect much credit on the manufacturers.
Mainly About Rates.
Revision of Motor Coach Fares in the Manchester District.
THE MANCHESTER and Counties Motor Transport Association, whose membership includes several scores of motor coach owners, controlling some hundreds of vehicles, has drawn up a new list of rates that are to be observed by members during the ensuing season. In some cases,pecorcling to the peculiar conditions prevailing in the lecality,.,there have been small reciuctions of 6d. or Is. 13er/bead per tour, and in others alight increases' but in the majority of instances thercharges are unchanged: The association covers a big, thicklypopulated area that must: comprise nearly 1 million people. Separate lists are issued, therefore, for each district as follow :—(1) Manchester ;-(2) Ashton, Mossley,. Hyde, Glossop and district; (3) Oldham and Middleton : (4) Rochdale, Heywood' and Littleboteugh; and (a) Bolton, Bury, Radcliffe and district. Rates for 59 tours from Manchester have been fixed, and as showing; the variation with last season, the figures in parentheses are those which were charged, at that time :—To Alderley, Se. 6d. (6s. 6c1.); Haydock Park, 6s. 6d. (7s. 6d.); Sandbach, Eis. (9s.);. New Brighton, 12e. (12s. 6d.); Llangollen, 16s. (17s. 6d.) ; Harrogate, 17s. (l7s. 6d.). The prierelist for the district embrace ilea Ashton, Mo.ssley, Hyde, Glossop and district includes about 75 destinations, to 26 of which return fares are less than 10.s. A detail is given of the routes. to be followed by coaches, and upon which rates have been based. No variation has been made in the schedule of charges. The Bolton, Bury, Radcliffe and district coach proprietors have sc.eduled rates for 26 half-day tours (between fis. and 10s.) and 38 full-day tours, the dearest being 22s. 54.. It is stipulated that the minimum fare for Saturday bookings from May let to September 30th is 10s. Starting times are stated, and for morning tours the hour is between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., and half-day. tours 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Some of the half-day fares have been advanced by .5d. and is. per passenger, also a few of the full-day trips. The conditions of hire observed in this district are : (a) The seating capacity of all coaches engaged must be guaranteed on all picnics; (b) a day tour constitutes 14 hours from picking up to setting down; (c) half-day tour constitutes 8 hours, but 30 minutes' grace will be allowed on both half-day and day engagements. Excess time is charged at the rate a 104. per hoar, 5s. per halfhour; (d) deposit of £2 2s. at time of
booking. The stipulated charges apply to all parties picked up and set down within a radius of three miles of the garage. • Cara having to travel over this distance are charged 26. 6d. per mile, if the destination is not in direct route with the journey.
In the Heywood, Rochdale, and Littleborough district there are 19 fares between 1s. 64. and 5s., 52 of 10s. and under, 91 under £1, and 101 under 32s. 6d. To Blackpool, Southport, Morecambe, Liverpool, Fleetwood, Colwyn Bay, • Llandudno, and Scarborough passengers have the option of booking a single journey without any extra charge. The fares to the London Oup Final and Epsom {in each ease single fares) are £2 10s. This list gives a total of 110 fires.
A list of 70 rates has been fixed by the proprietors in the Oldham and Middleton district; they are practically the same as last yeas.
Blackpool Coach Traffic.
Q PEAKING at a meeting of the Council of the Liverpool District, Cheshire, and North Wales Motor Charil-bancs Owners' Association, Mr. W. H. B18 Furphy (Collingwoocl Transport Co., Liverpool) drew attention to the fact that the Blackpool Corporation had decided not to allow motor coaches to load up in the public streets (see the article on page 42 dealing with the Blackpool motor coach station). This, he said, would have an important influence on their trade. When the coaches had gone to Blackpool previously, the local proprietors could easily accommodate incoming vehicles, and cushions, lamps, etc., were fairly safe, but under the regulation to which he WUS referring, local proprietors doing three runs a day, morning, afternoon, and evening, would require what space they had for loading their own vehicles. The motor coach station at Blackpool last year was a dismal failure; there was no accommodation for drivers or anyone else. He did not know what coach owners would do about -Blackpool this year. Although Blackpool people, tradesmen, 'etc., would be hit if motor coach traffic to that place were reduced, the coach proprietors would be the first to suffer, because passengers would not want to be unloaded in the townand then have to go, say, two and a half miles out to rejoin the coach for the return jeurney.
New Cheshire Bus Routes.
THE MOTOR Omnibuses Sub-committee of the Cheshire County Council Main Roads Committee has had correspondence with the Birkenhead Corporation as to the terms for running their motor omnibuses, and Birkenhead has now agreed to the payment of a mileage rate of 3d. per mile.
Mr. James Pye, of Heswall, and the Crosville Motor Bus Co., of Chester, have made application to run a service of omnibuses from Heswall to Wallasey, but the county surveyor has reported that there are certain narrow portions of roadway on the proposed route which would require widening to be made safe for omnibus traffic.
The Crosville Motor Co. have made application to the Ministry of Transport for the removal of the mileage charges imposed on them in respect of motorbus services consented to by the Cheshire County Council. The committee, therefore, resolved that formal objection be lodged to the removal of these charges, and that the consideration of the following applications to run new services of omnibuses.shall be adjourned pending a definite announcement by the Ministry of Transport on the subject of the mile-' age charges :--Crosville Motor Co., Wallasey-Hcswall; and • Mr. J. Pye, WoodchuiCh-TIpton and Heswall-Birkenhead.
Taxation and Coach Fares.
Will Mileage Rates be Increased or a Booking Fee be Charged ?
HOW does the new taxation affect the charges for motor coach tours? A Liverpool proprietor answered our query by producing the following interesting table, which suggests how the £60 for each 28 seater might be covered.
Assuming in each case one gets eight miles to the gallon :— If a car travels 4,800 miles in the season, the new tax will be equivalent to 3d per car mile -•• •• Less 44. per gallon petrol If owners increase fares by Id. per passenger per mile-7d. per car mile—they would rereceivef or
4,800 miles 4140 0 0
7,200 miles ... £210 0 0 Assuming the coaches are out 120 times a year, that is equal to every day for the months of June, July, August and September, and an extra charge is made for thejourney, it would work out an follows :— Hiring fees of 5s. ... £30 0 6 Hiring fees of 7s. Ed—. £45 0 0
Hiring fees of-10s. ... £60 0 0 In our last week's issue, on page 18, under our feature entitled " Progress in Passenger Travel," we referred to a convertible vehicle which is being sold by the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd., which can be used for char-a-banes work or ordinary haulage. In this reference we stated that "no longerrare the ex-L.G.O.C. buses being sold in this country. . . ." We are informed by the Associated Equipment Co. that this statement is incorrect, and that complete B type buses can still be Waisted. We take this opportunity of correcting any wrong impression which may have been created.