EXPRESS PARCELS HANDLING.
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Big Developments in the Midlands for• their Collection and Delivery by Motor.
MOTOR TANS running to a scheduled time for the collection and delivery of parcels and baggage is an innovation likely to beCOMO an important feature in the development. of goods traffic in the future. Such a scheme has recently been inaugurated by. the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., • Ltd., whose passenger bus service has grown to Very great dimensions, and is renowned throughout the.Biamingham area and the towns and country places of the Midlands.
This commercial motor transport set vice is intended to cater for heavier traffic than can be carried on the pas.: senger vehicles of the company.
The coming of the motorbus brought a great boon, to the country districts, and there was an equal need for better goods transport facilities. Even where railway facilities are provided, transit delays occur, and, in many instances, the sender or consignee has to find his awn means of getting packages from or to the railway station, which also involves additional expense. The commercial motor service practically gives a door-to-door transit. Charges are very reasonable, and reduced rates, based on distance and nature of traffic, are quoted for regular-traffic or special consignments. These commercial motors for the conveyance of parcels, luggage and general merchandise are run on certain days, over practically the whole area covered by Midland hueesat a listed time set out in the time tables issued by. the company.Offices have • been opened . and agencies appointed, in all the towns moothe intervening villages -en route, and a list of these has been issued. 'Package§ can be handed in at any of the offices or agencies, or, if on the main route, will be collected by the vehicles and accepted, by the attendants direct.. The approximate time at which the vehicles ,arrive at the principal. places is given in the time table, an experiment that has been more than justified. The essential element in its sticeess is prompt delivery, in many cases direct to the consignee, eombined with a reasonable tariff..........
The routes covered by the commercial services aredsmany and varied. A daily service is run between Birmingham ,and Worcester, Droitwich, Bromsgrove, derminster, Radditch and intervening villages, and as far out as Shipston-enC22 Stour and Stratford-an-Avon. There is also a daily service to all parts of Birmingham in connection with the tramways express service, and by motor to the suburbs, and to Blackheath, Lye and Stourlaridge. Services are now being coveted to Studley, Akester and Evesham,. and. a daily service. (Saturdays excepted) runs to Leicester via Coventry, Nuneaton and Hinckley.
The service also works in conjunction with the electric baggage car service of the Birmingham and Midland Tramways Joint Committee, radiating from Birmingham to all parts of the Black
Country, including such important places as Smethwick, West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Walsall, Wi.11enhall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Brierley Hill, Cradley, etc., and packages are accepted for transit to Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and the Potteries.
On other routes there is not a daily service : in some cases only weekly or twice weekly ; but additional services will be run as the business increases. Stour. port is connected ; there is a regular service to Coventry and a. weekly service to Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Lichfield, also to Cannock. Then, as we have already announced in The Commercial Motor, the Birmingham and Midland
Co. intend shortly to open up important bus routes in Herefordshire, and they are prepared to develop the goods trans port in the same way alongside the passenger services. When this is done, Hereford will be linked up with Birmingham, Worcester and 'Malvern, while Lorlbary, Monmouth and possibly Leominster will be connected, and there will be a further connection with the existing services running in one direction to Ludlow, Craven Arms and Shrewsbury in Shropshire and, in. another direction, from Ledbury to Tewkesbury (Glos.) and on to Eveshara, Stratford-onAvon and Warwick.
In the matter of rapid and direct transport this will almost amount to a revolution in transport in these counties. It ' will go a long way towards solving the problem of rural ttansport .and, for the carrying of eggs, dairy produce and fruit, the system should be well patronized by the rural community. , The fact that the vans run at settled times should render the service particularly valuable for the• Conveyance Of perishable produce: The vans run regularly and punctually and do not wait for full or return loads. By this -mein.% by obtaiMng the scheduled time. table, the public and traders. generally can ascertain what time a vehicle will arrive.at a particular place, as also the, routes and districts covered. . In addition to the goods service, non-bulky, parcels up to 14 lb. will be accepted for conveyance by the passenger buses A passenger and goods service .developed on these lines will do more to add to the amenities of village life than anything else could do. The passenger buses had already accomplished much : the two combined will do a great deal snore
Apart from Offering facilities for the expeditidhs transportation of parcels, the system inaugurated by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co. will also do much to relieve the present chaotic congestion prevailing on the railways. It thus serves a two-fold purpose, and may in time speed up the transportation of goods in general. Where a big industrial centre is nested in the midst of a number of flourishing suburbs, the use of such a system has much to commend it, and it might well be copied by other concerns similarly situated.