Bus users' co-op granted licence
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. CO-OPERATIVE association f bus users in Lincolnshire as organised a subscription heme for bus travel to get n improved service run from outh to Horncastle. Its operar, Tennyson Tours, has won licensing battle with the preent operator, R. W. Appleby, ) run the service.
Granting the Horncastle Bus rsers Club a road service cence, Mr C. M. Sheridan, le chairman of the East Midtnd Traffic Commissioners, aid: "We do this purely on le grounds that we share with le county the view that it is C paramount importance in le public interest to encourge public participation in the peration of rural bus services ad to provide the opportunity )r experience to be gained in is area."
The Horncastle Bus Users lub was formed to ascertain le transport needs of what the raffle Commissioners termed "relatively remote rural rea."
The Commissioners corntended their efforts, saying: In our view public participaon of this kind can provide iany of the benefits of expenAre professional market rearch techniques techniques and as such ley should be fostered and ncouraged."
The Louth-Horncastle service as discontinued by the LinPInshire Road Car Co in July 975 and replaced by a service aiming one journey each way n Wednesdays and Saturdays nly and operated by R. W. .ppleby Ltd, and subsidised by incolnshire County Council. ut the council then changed s support to Tennyson Tours' pplication to run three joureys in each direction on Wedesdays and Saturdays.
Tennyson will charge a scale f fares payable by people who re not members of the bus alb, and the charges to memers will take the form of sub scriptions of £5.75 for adults and £4.50 for OAPs per 13 weeks for the 14-mile journey.
Although the Commissioners granted Tennyson the licence and refused an application by the existing operator, R. W. Appleby, to continue unsubsidised, they did express some misgivings. "We have grave doubts, for example, whether the promised support will be forthcoming or, if initially forthcoming, whether it will be maintained."
The Commissioners suggested that the service could be run more economically if the journeys starting in Louth were run by a Louth operator and those from Horncastle by a Horncastle operator. They also doubted the ability of Tennyson to provide adequate rolling stock and asked the DoE examiners to check the vehicle maintenance.
Mr Sheridan told the operator and the bus club that he expected them to keep the maximum practicable records relating to the operation, including the numbers of subscribers and their addresses and detailed loading figures of the journeys operated.