Sheffield/NBC share
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deal by Derek Moses
• An agreement has been reached between Sheffield Corporation and the National Bus Company for the acquisition by the Corporation of the NBC's shares in the Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee. The deal follows long negotiations between the two bodies and still awaits ratification by the MoT and the Corporation: it has been made under the provisions of Section 37 of the Transport Act 1968.
The deal, described by a spokesman of Sheffield City Transport as a "pretty comprehensive one," includes the acquisition of all the services and vehicles in Area B of the Joint Committee's operating territory and a pooling agreement with the NBC for services in category 'C'. The Corporation is to pay £380,000 for the NBC shares and 170 buses in category B, while the NBC will acquire 30 buses from the JOC fleet for operation on category 'C' services.
Sheffield is one of four towns and cities in the West Riding of Yorkshire where, under agreements reached about 1930 with the local railway company, a joint committee of representatives of the railway company and the Corporation was set up to operate services in the outlying areas of the towns concerned. The other towns are Halifax, Huddersfield and Todmor den.
With nationalization in 1947, the railway shares were transferred to the British Railways Board, and finally, passed to the National Bus Company following the Transport Act. In practice, the vehicles and crews employed on the JOC. services concerned were provided by the local municipality, the BR Board and NBC sharing the
costs of providing and maintaining the vehicles and crews, and sharing the profits.
In the case of Sheffield there have been three categories of operation—'A' services being those provided entirely by the city in the inner parts of Sheffield, 'B' those shared by Sheffield and the NBC operating in what, with recent boundary extensions, have become the outer parts of the city, and 'C' services extending over a much wider area.
The new agreement means that all services inside the new city boundaries will now be operated by the Corporation, who will also retain an interest in services outside the city through the pooling agreement. The spokesman pointed out that, with a total fleet of about 700 buses, Sheffield would become one of England's largest municipal operators outside the new PTAs.
Huddersfield deal Of the remaining .10Cs, the Minister of Transport has approved the purchase of the NBC's shares in the Huddersfield JOC by Huddersfield Corporation, which has, in addition, bought the stage services of the local operator Hanson's Buses Ltd., involving the purchase of 23 buses for £74,000. Huddersfield has agreed to pay £165,000 to the NBC for its shares and 100 buses.
This will increase the size of the Huddersfield fleet to about 220 buses. Its operating territory has been increased to roughly the area proposed for Huddersfield by the Royal Commission on Local Government report earlier this year. The Corporation is applying for loan sanction to make the purchase of the NBC shares possible.
No discussions between Halifax or Todmorden and the NBC have been reported. In the case of Todmorden, all the services are operated by the JOC and the council is reported to have suggested a tripartite agreement establishing a new undertaking composed of the Halifax municipal system, the Halifax JOC fleet and the Todmorden JOC fleet. Further consideration was postponed until October. A spokesman for Halifax Passenger Transport had no comment to make when approached this week.