PO bus service in the balance
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THE FUTURE of post bus services could lie in a decision of the Scottish Traffic Commissioners when they meet to hear a stage carriage licence application on the Island of Islay shortly. This opinion was expressed to CM by R. Hodginson, an Islay District Councillor this week.
The application by Maroner Ltd of Lochwinnoch, Ayrshire is to use two single deck buses on a stage carriage service and on a schools contract to carry 116 pupils. The policy of the Post Office is that they do not compete with stage carriage operators.
If the application is granted it will mean that the more isolated areas which are accessible by the Post Office Commer buses will not be served by the Maroner coaches.
"If such a precedent is created", said Councillor Hodginson, "other areas in Britain might also soon be affected." He said that he believed that the application was being supported by the Strathclyde Regional Council because they were unable to appreciate local circumstances.
Maroner won the three-year schools contract when it submitted an annual price £3,500 below the existing rates quoted by two local operators. The local men have since disposed of their vehicles.
Councillor Dorothy Carmichael who supported the Maroner school contract .application has now joined her District Council colleagues in opposing the stage carriage licence.
She contends that the schools contract could not be fuilfilled with stage carriage operations at the same time. "Plane and ferry arivals coincide with the beginnig and end of the school day", she said.
At the moment the operators' vehicles have to stand idle outside the schools between 9 am and 4 pm.