PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
BUS OPERATION IN BOLTON,
Some Recent Improvements and Developments in the Municipal and Privately Owned Services of the District.
IT is nearly 20 years • since motorbuscs were fist put into cornmiiion by the • tramways department of the Bolton Corporation. So long ago as 1897 powers • to run "vehicles propelled by • mechanical power" were
secured and 'further powers were obtained during the years 1908, 1914, 1922 and 1926, those secured in the last named enabling buses to be operated beyond the borough boundaries. Certain opposition to these powers has been encountered and, until recently, matters have not been particularly bright for local bus concerns. However, bus affairs in the town now stand-on a more equitable ba.sis.
The original corporation service a-as withdrawn in 1911, and it was not until 1922 that the tramways department again entered the field of bus competition. Prom 1922 until the latter part of 1926 no great extension in the services took place, but during the past 12 months additional vehicles have been acquired. The services at present being run are as follow :— Several a these services are augmented on Saturdays, awl it is interesting to nate that, from 1.30 p.m. on this. particular day and during the whole day on Sundays, all fares on the first three routes in the above table are increased by id., a similar arrangement applying to all the tramway fares in the borough.
The present fleet of 34 vehicles, which is composed entirely of Leyland machines, consists of the following types:— Pour 45 h.p. 38-seater saloons ; five 45 hp. 30-seaters ; 15 Lion models, comprising 29-seaters -and 34-seaters ; 10 Leviathan double-deck vehicles with covered tops, half of these being 52-seaters and the rest S5-seaters; the latter have enclosed stairways and vestibuled platforms. All the single-deckers run on pneumatic tyres. The Bolton Corporation buses are not the only municipally iowned vehicles which run in the borough, as those of 937 the Wigan Corporation started on a new through service between .Wigan and Bolton as recently as September 1st. The service is at present run at hourly intervals, and the Wigan corporation is employing Bristol 8S-seater low-loading vehicles on this route: So soon, as more buses are delivered Bolton linSes will also run on this road, and the service will then be worked on a 50 per cent. basis by each of the corporations.
• The Bolton Manchester route, which is an Express service, is jointly run hy. the Bolton Corporation and the Lancashire United Transport and Power Co., Ltd., whilst Salford Corporation will also Share in the working of this service when its latest order for vehicles is completed. The above route does not actually enter the •city of Manchester, but terminates at the Exchange Station Bridge in Salford, practically on the boundary.
In addition, the "Lancashire United buses run from Belton to Wigan, via Westhoughton and HindleY, the route taken by the corporation service being via Lostoek Junction and Dieconson Lane. At various points on the journey connection is made with the company's buses running to other parts of South Lancashire. The company uses Leyland Lions and Dennis buses' in this area.
Of other bus companies running into Bolton, one of the most important is Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., the company's headquarters being situated at Preston. There is a through service to the latter town from Bolton. Other buses run from Bolton to Burnley, Westhoughton, Chorley, Horwich, Edg
orth Holcombe Brook and Walsha w.
Bolton constitutes an important centre for the network of the routes which are worked by Ribble Motor Services, Ltd:, and connections at the nearby towns of Burnley and Blackburn enable Bolton. passengers to travel to any point or, the company's system.
Freeman's Service, a Chorley contern, operates a route to Wigan, via Horwieh, Chorley and Coppull, buses running at hourly intervals. Leyland 80-seaters and 35-seaters are used for this service.
The Belford Bus Service is owned by J. E. Loyuds and Co., of Darwen. This company runs an hourly service between Bolton and Darwen, via Egerton, employing for this purpose Manchestertype low-loading Vulcan 32-seaters. Leyland vehicles are also used by this concern, which runs local services from Darwen to Tockholes and Sitnnyhurst.
A few. words may be sdid about fares on the long-distance services which operate from Bolton. For example, the fare between Bolton and Manchester is is. single and is. 6d. return, the tickets being available on either corporation or
the .privately owned buses. This compares favourably with the correspond. ing third-clAss railway fare of is. 4d. single and 2s. Sd. return. On market days the return rail fare is is. 10d.
The through bus fare to Wigan is 1s. single, whilst the rail charge is is. 2id. Moreover, on this route the time saved by taking the bus journey is more considerable. From Bolton to Preston, Vim Harwich and Chorley, • the single fare on the buses of the Ribble. Motor Services, Ltd., is is. Pd. and the return fare, except on Saturday afternoons and on Sundays, is 2s. 8d., whilst the corresponding third-class rail fares are 2. 6d. single and 5s. return.