PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
ME:DRE have been many instances during recent years where municipalities have abandoned sections of their tramways systems, in place of which they are now working the routes by trolley-buses or motorbuses. For the most part, however, it can be said that the largest number of these authorities is, at the moment, running buses as feeders to the existing railbound system. Some of these bus services are being run at a loss, as was indicated in our recent analysis of public-service transport returns for a large number of cities and towns, but, nevertheless, the motorbus and the trolly-bus are both giving proof of their great value in growing districts.
• in the case of the motorbus its feature of flexibility gives it a distinct advantage over the tramcar, for it can be transferred from one route to another . according to traffic demands of the moment. This demand may vary appreciably where the buses aft as feeders to the trams. In working-class areas, for instance, the chief call for transport facilities is made in the early hours of the morning, whereas residential neighbourhoods will require them at a later .hour. Then, again, if a local football club exists a heavy demand is made on vehicles travelling to the site of the ground on the occasion of matches. The motorbus can meet these changing conditions with ease and without the need for dislocating the regular transport arrangements.
The town, of Portsmouth can be taken as a Case in point. The authorities in this busy centre have for some time past employed Dennis buses to supplement the tramways organization, and the latest addition to their fleet consists of several 32-seater buses of the type ,shown in an accompanying illustration..
For this model Dennis Bros., Ltd., of Guildford, uses its E-type low load-line chassis. Outstanding features of this chassis are a four-cylinderecl rnonobloc. engine which is capable of developing 70 b.h.p., a four-speed gearbox and a worm-driven rear axle in which the worm is underslung. A straight-line drive fret)) crankshaft to back axle is given, thus helping to avoid transmission losses. Four-wheel brakes are fitted, these being operated by servo mechanism driven from the gearbox; the type of brake used is made under licence from Rolls-Royce, Ltd., the patentees.
The bodywork of the latest purchases of the Portsmouth authorities was carried out by Ransome,s, Sims and Jefforks, Ltd., of Ipswich, and is representative of modern construction. The passenger entrance is at the front on the near-side. It consists of a wide double door which is well recessed into the body so that when open the two sections pRESTON is one of those towns which of recent years has become an important junction for passenger road transport. Coaches from the Midlands, Wales, Cheshire, East and South-west Lancashire travelling northward or to Blackpool must include this busy and important Lancashire town in their itinerary. Close on 200 metarbuses regularly run between Preston and the surrounding towns, the principal undertaking, of course, being that of Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., which has a fleet of 240 vehicles, some of them operated exclusively in outside districts. do not protrude beyond the body side. A wide emergency .exit is arranged in the rear panel, and this can be opened from inside or outside the vehicle.
All the large windows on each side can be lowered and regulated to any height with the exception of the light on the off-side which faces the passengers' entrance. Rectangular ventilators of the type usually fitted above the main lights are not used, but there is no fear of the interior becoming stuffy when the drop windows are closed because four ventilators are provided in the roof.
The subject of lighting has also re ceived full attention. The electrical equipment includes a 12-volt C.A.V. dynanio lighting set, with eight interior lamps and a Nile battery, which also attends to the lighting of the indicator at the front.
The driver's position is alongside the engine, and the cab is well protected. The tyre equipment consists of Dunlop pneumatics of 38-in. by 7-in. dimensions, twins being used on the rear wheels, and a spare is carried in a cradle below the frame at the rear, where it is readily accessible from the off side.
One of the reasons that Preston is an important motorbus centre is the fact that, being a junction on the main-line _ railway, train services to the smaller stations in the vicinity are rather infrequent. The motorbus companies, therefore, provide convenient travelling facilities in areas where the arrangements were previously most inadequate. To arrest the diversion of passenger traffic from the railways to the motorbuses, the railway companies are now issuing cheap day return tickets for use on any train after 10 o'clock to any place within a radius of five miles.
At the present time the subject of chief concern to Preston motorbus owners is the proposal of the Preston Watch Committee that busea on certain ,routes running into the town should , be compelled to unload on the outskirts, so as to relieve the congestion that now occurs in the principal streets. The watch committee has named certain locations to be used as stands by buses /in use on particular routes. Objection is being raised to this, decentralization of traffic on the ground that " through " traffic will be rendered impossible, considerable inconvenience will be caused to passengers travelling to and from the centre of Preston, and it will be more difficult to control vehicles frem decentralized 'stands than from one convenient and central point, as at present, and this will reflect itself in operating costs. At the time of writing the controversy is gathering weight and is reaching an acute stage.
About 40 motor coaches are operated
from Preston, 75 per etnt. of them being controlled by four concerns. The main source of revenue is the Blackpool run, but as there are DOW regular motorbus services in operation to this resort, and on which tickets can be obtained at 2s, 6d. return, it will be realized that the coach owners have
suffered from this competition. Last season there was some very keen pricecutting. The journey is about 36 miles return, and on some slays certain coach owners accepted as little as 1s.
fer the return journey. The usual coach fare is is. 6d. to 2s. for a full load.
What contributes to the success of the motorbus services to Blackpool is the fact that passengers can acquire a cheap ticket, and whilst they can please themselves what time they leave Preston, they can also return by any motorbus up to 11.30 p.m. With the motor coach, however, the outward journey is generally made about 2 p.m. and the return run by 8 p.m.
One of the most enterprising of the Preston coaching undertakings is that of Preston Embee Motors, Ltd., which first commenced to run motor coaches in 1914, when it had six Leylands (four 33-seaters and two 28-seaters of the open , type), which, in August of 1914, were shipped overseas. During the troublous years which intervened and before building up its present fleet,
the company had in service two Belsize coaches, but these are not now in use. To-day the company runs five Leylands, three being 32-seaters, one a 28-seater and another a 20-sea-ter, and two Tulcans, one a 1:5-seater and the other a 19-seater. . Two new Leylands are being added to the fleet this season, and these will be equipped with interchangeable bodies enabling them to be used as either open or all-weather coaches. They will each have a seating capacity for 24 passengers..
The principal journeys upon which the coaches of Preston Embee Motors, Ltd., are employed are those to Harrogate, the Lake District, the Peak District and the Lancashire seaside towns. Fares last year worked out at about id. per passenger per mile, with a slight increase for the small type of coach15 to 20-seater—for which it is considered an extra id, per mile is well merited.
Throughout the season a series of day trips on Which single-seat bookings are accepted is run to destinations which offer the public a good selection of tours. Despite that, however, the Blackpool run makes a very hold bid for ascendancy. Full day trips to places like Buxton (9s. 6d.), Windermere (7s. 6d.) and Harrogate (9s.) are always well supported at week-ends by passengers booking single seats, and although the fares mayappear very low, it must be remembered , that competition is very keen and it is, therefore, difficult to get more.
The tendency is, for the small coaches to command better patronage, and if owners were to get better fares, Preston Embee Motors, Ltd., believes that there would be less hesitation to modernize rolling stock and much readier willingness on the part of the public to travel by road.
Some motor coaching concerns in tho 'Preston district make a speciality of semi-mystery tours; which are announced as "specials" under such titles as "Thu Lost City," " An Alpine Road," "Mary Queen of Scots," "Sanctuary," "Bronte Tour," starting as early as 6 a.m. The fares range from 15s. to 22s. 6d., and in certaincases include a hot-breakfast. Although there is a. certain novelty about such announcements, Preston people appear to prefer the tours which give them an idea' of the itinerary.
The highest priced outing on the 1926 list of the company was to Derbyshire ; this started at 7.30 a.m. and the fare was 10s. 6d. Owing to the new taxation it is feared that fares this year will have to be advanced, although the extent of the increase will in a large measure be determined by competitive factors.'
From the end of May until September, Preston. Embee Motors, Ltd., book 100 per cent, loads on two or three days in every week, and the company's• records reveal that for the • foer months of last year—June to September—its coaches covered a mileage of 41,783 and conveyed 12,820 passengers. During the season Saturday and Sunday traffic is always heavy—Sunday with long day trips and Saturday with half-day outings. The principal units in the fleet are intended to function' as dual-service machines, since the bodies can be entirely enclosed in winter and left quite open in summer time. During the winter months the saloon types are employed mainly on carrying foqtball teams and their followers at week-ends. Otherwise their sphere of employment is limited. For football work the coaches are hired at a charge of about 2s. per mile, which is a• contract rate. Valuable as is .:the all-weather coach, the experience of Preston Embee' Motors, Ltd., is that in the summer time the chief demand is undoubtedly for the opeu coach.
The various industrial towns surrounding Preston each have their holiday weeks, and during those periods the coaches of Preston Embee Motors, Ltd., are operated from a number of those centres.
In referring to the difficulties which Preston motor coach owners encounter, a representative of Preston Embee Motors, Ltd:, .stated that, due to the nearness of Blackpool to Preston, owners in. the latter suffer from the competition exerted by those in the former. Saturday at Blackpool is always regarded as a " change " day —the population undergoes a reshuffling. Blackpool owners, therefore, regard Saturday as a quiet day, and find it profitable to send their vehicles over to Preston. MOTOR omnibus licensing matters have recently been receiving considerable attention in the West Riding of Yorkshire. At Halifax, Mr. R. H. Tolerton was occupied for two days in hearing evidence and statements in regard to the applications ,which the Halifax Corporation has made to be allowed to run services to Rochdale, Oldham, Leeds, Bradford and Keighley.
Meanwhile Leeds Corporation has licensed the first private service which rens entirely in the city, whilst at Bradford the Watch and Licensing Committee has received another rebuff by the decision of the Minister of Transport that it was in the wrong in refusing licences to the Premier Transport Co. (Kly.), Ltd., to run a through service between Keighley and Bradford. The Bingley Urban District Council also refused licences for this service, and the Minister has intimated to the Bingley authorities that they should grant the licences for the service. • At the Halifax inquiry the objectors to the proposals of the Halifax Tramways Department ;were the Hebble This CO. (Messrs. 0. and C. Holdsworth, Halifax), the North Western Road Car Co., Ltd:, the Yorkshire Heavy Woollen District Tramways Co., Mr. Samuel Legard (Leeds), the Ryburn Haulage and Transport Co. (Sowerby Bridge), the West Riding County Council, the 'London Midland and Scottish Rly. Co., and the London and North Eastern Rly. Co.
Under an Act of Parliament obtained in 1915 the Halifax Corporation has poWers to run omnibuses on certain routes within the borough, and on routes outside the borough, the outside routes being subject to the consent of the road authorities•and of the Ministry of Transport. For some time the corporation tramways had to contend with.. much opposition from private bus concerns, especially outside the borough, and this had caused considerable financial loss to the tramways department. Since 1925, however, the corporation has realized that there was a -demand, for long-distance bus services, and had, since that time, ' been considering schemes whereby the adjacent towns could be linked up with Halifax. A scheme was submitted to the Ministsr of Transport, unofficially, who expressed himself, also unofficially, as favourably impressed with it, and this application was the result.
In October last, however, an application was made for powers on the Rochdale route, and although the Ministry refused consent then, a new application was being made for that route because the L.M.S. Rly., on being approached. told the corporation that, in the special cireumstanSes on that particular route, its opposition might be -considered to be withdrawn without prejudice to any opposition which might be put forward on any other routes. On the Rochdale route the West Riding Council was the only remaining opponent.
On the other routes it was submitted that dissatisfied bus proprietors had no locus stalidi as suds. In some cases their applications for licences had been turned down by the licensing authority, and they had the opportunity for appealing to the Ministry of Tranaport, but had not done so. To this point Mr. J. D. Eaton Smith, on behalf of Messrs. Holdsworth, objected, and said that his company had appealed to the Ministry in every case where they had been refused locally.
With regard to the position in the past it was pointed out that, in 1924, the Halifax Watch Committee 1;9-0,9 of the opinion that the Halifax Tramways Committee was supplying all the necessary transport facilities in the borough and for the districts adjoining. In 1924 and 1925 various applications from bus proprietors to ply for hire were turned down, and althdugh some applicants appealed to the Ministry some were successful and some were not. From these decisions the Watch Committee had tried to ascertain what was in the mind of the Minister, and had formed the view that, for long-distance traffic joining up places like Huddersfield and Halifax, liceuces should be granted, even if trams were running.
If a responsible company was willing to run a service of buses over a longdistance route it was said that the committee would grant the application, provided, amongst other things, the applicant would agree to charge ',protective fares when running over the tramways, maintain a regular service and submit fare charges and time-tables to the corporation. It was instanced that Messrs. Holdsworth had been granted licences on certain routes under these conditions, notably on the Keighley, Bradford and Leeds routes THE daily motor coach services to ,Blackpool, which are so prominent a feature of the arrangements of Liverpool owners,were inaugurated at the Easter holidays, and so far three companies are in the field--Collingwood Motors (Liverbool), Ltd., the North End Motor Touring Co., Ltd., and Messrs. J. Pearson and Sons. Liverpool, all of which are undertaking the daily return trip of 100 miles for 5s. This is the seventh successive year that Coilingwood Motors (Liverpool), Ltd., the pioneers of daily motor coach services in Liverpool, has maintained this service.
The daily coach service has passed well beyond the novelty stage and, whilst it has not become commonplace, the fact cannot be ignored that it furnishes a continuity of work for the particular vehicles constituting fleets, and thus relieves owners from much anxiety. The fact is also deserving of consideration that once a daily motor coach service has been established, the promoters can recommence the following season with little difficulty. The slogan of Collingwood Motors, Ltd., is the same today as seven -years ago—" One or twenty we go," the journeys being made irrespective of the number of bookings by passengsrs. The corporation did not claim any monopoly, and did not object to joint running arrangements with responsible companies.
The county council objected to the proposals on the grounds that to run so far away from thc borough was outside the normal duties of a local authority, that the corporation was construing its powers in a wider sense than sanctioned by Parliament, that it refused to give consents to bus proprietors to run into the borough ;along these routes and, in effect, the corporation was asking for a. monopoly. The inspector pointed out that the county council had an absolute veto, and there was no need for it to attend the inquiry. It was the road authority for at least one section of each of the route?.
The case for the corporation against the railways was that it had no locus eta ndi as competitors or ratepayers, as the corporation was granted its powers after the railways had petitioned against the Bill. They had, however, locus stan di as a road authority.
During the heariu,s; the North Western Road Car Co., Ltd., which runs a service fora Oldham to Elland, three miles from Halifax, intimated that it had been granted a licence to run a service from Elland to Halifax, and it had come to an arrangement with the Halifax Corporation with regard to the Oldham to Halifax route, and would, therefore, withdraw its opposition and support the corporation.
• Corporation witnesses stated under examination that, in spite of the refusal of the Ministry to sanction the Rochdale service, it had been maintained. The service was started on August 28th, and the refusal was received on November 27th. Since 1920 the losses on the buses amounted to £2,150. The capital expenditure on the bus undertaking up to 1926 was £15,174.
The only difference, compared with seven years ago, is the marked contraction in fares. In 1920 owners were able to get 16s. for Saturday and Sunday runs to Blackpool, and 13s. on other days. The figures became 6s. and 7s. 64.1.-in 1923, fluctuated between 4s. and 7s. 6d. in 1925, and hovered between 4s. 6d. and 6s last year, when there Seemed a general inclination to regard 5s. as the uniform rate. Crown Garages, of Liverpool, who also concentrate on the Blackpool run, were generally able to get an extra shilling for the journey, making 6s., their vehicles being pneumatic-tyred Lancias, whilst those of their competitors were 28seater open coaches.
A factor which may interfere with this season's motor coaching arrangements is the new bus services which have been established during the last 12 months. The Nor-West Bus Services now runs Minerva saloons between Liverpool and Southport and Liverpool and Ormskirk ; Ribble Motor Services, Ltd.. provides services from Liverpool to Ormskirk and Preston, with connections to Southport, Blackpool and other places; whilst Anglo Scots Motorways rims to Preston and the North; and the Crosville Motor Co., Ltd., from Liverpool to Whines, etc.