COACHING IN THE WEST RIDING.
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The Successful Experiences of a Concern Who Own a Number of Packard Coaches Running on Giant Pneumatic Tyres.
AFLEET of Packard motor coaches, owned by the Packard Motor Services, of 1, Horton Lane, Bradford, and running on giant Goodyear pneumatic stvres, is a conspicuous feature in the West Riding area, due to the distinctive appearance of the vehicles. In all 11 vehicles are in operation, varying from 18-seaters to 28-seaters, with a majority of the larger size, and on the occasion of a visit of a representative of The Cortan,ereial Motor to Bradford we found the announcement displayed in the convenient booking office of the company that again, for the following Saturday and Sunday, all seats in the coaches were engaged.
This happy state of affairs often occurs, we were informed by the manager, who expressed himself as highly satisfied with the state of the motor coach industry in Bradford as he had found it this year.
When it isrealized that an impartial observer has estimated that from £30,000 to £50,000 is taken out of Bradford every week by excursionists to Wembley, it may be pointed out that here, indeed, is a big counter-attraction to motor coaching.
In the end, stated our informant, it is possible that Wembley may do the motor coach industry some good,, for it, is believed that people are spending money on a trip to Wembley and are denying themselves an extended holiday away from home; consequently, if they stay at home, they will most certainly want to go away by coach to some of the many beauty spots reached by Bradford services. It is probable that the coach industry has suffered by so many workshop and mill excursions having Wembley as their object, but, in spite of all these disadvantages, the Packard services have found business brisk.
Asked as to the effect of pneumatictyred coaches, the manager stated that generally it is found that the public are selecting longer journeys because the pneumatic tyres employed are net so fatiguing as solids, and in one instance a party was taken from Bradford to Saltburn, a trip estimated at 180 niiies, and they had nothing but praise for the arrangement of the outing.
Few long-distance tours of several days' duration are being organized because of the uncertainty of getting satisfactory hotel accommoaation. Last year some misfortune was experienced in just
one or two cases where the selected hotels could not accommodate the parties and had passed the visitors on to other places, and, as it is realized that the success of a tour depends as much on the accommodation as upon anything the coach proprietor can provide, it was decided not again to take the risk.
On the longer trips the charges are so low as Id. per mile per passenger, and a feature is made with the public that it is possible to travel by .Packard coaches and have 'first-class comfort at less than third-class railway fare.
Much of the success of the season's working is accounted for by the comfort provided by the coaches. The tyres are 38 ins. by 7 ins, on the front wheels, and 44 ins. by 10 ins, on the rear. Two spares are carried and the most serious trouble experienced was when a coach ran over a lamp bracket in the road at dusk one evening. The tyre punctured, but, as in every case when a tyre has punctured, the wheel sank very slowly, and the driver was able to effect a change with a delay of only 20 mins.
That the fear of violent explosions when a tyre bursts is groundless is proved by the results of a fire on a Packard vehicle some time ago, for when the tyres burst with the heat, instead of going off with a bang, they went down with a gentle hiss.
The employment of a booking office near the motor coach stand has eroved to be a very valuable adjunct, being, as it is, in the centre of the Bradford theatres, and at a busy juncture of important thoroughfares.
Much of the work this year has been with large booked parties, but it is ,stated that stand work has been very successful, especially with half-day excursions. Harrogate and Knaresborough, a joint outing, has been the most popular, with a fare of 5s. and a journey of 48 miles. Of the longer journeys Blackpool has again caught the public fancy, and has been a strange contrast to Morecambe. It was declared that nobody appears to want to go to Morecambe, in spite of the attractive route and the fact that coaches are regularly sent into the Lake District, an almost similar journey. No reason could be given for the .disinclination,
With regard to the running of the coaches, it was stated that the pneumatic tyres effect a direct saving of so such as 20 per cent, on wear and tear, and there is much less anxiety on the part of the drivers and the repair staff with regard to loose bolts and other fittings, minor breakages and adjustments.
A Licensing Inquiry Farce.
An iriquiry recently opened by the Ministry of Transport at Sheffield Town Hall collapsed on a technical point. It was to hear the appeal of Underwood, Ltd., bus proprietors of Clowne, against the Sheffield Watch Committee's refusal to licence buses for plying inside the city boundary. The services were inaugurated in 1920, and at the beginning of the proceedings the inspector asked for it to be made clear exactly what licences were the subject of the inquiry. It was then ascertained that they were in respect of licences for the year beginning July 1st, 1923.
The appellants stated that they were in the position that., until these were granted, further application for renewal has been withheld, but it was decided by the inspector that it would be of no use continuing the inquiry in respect of a year that had already expired, and that it would be more or less in the nature of a post-mortem, and, as no application for licences for the current year had been lodged, the Ministry could not see any object in continuing the inquiry.