PROGRESS IN PASSENGER TRAVEL.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus And Coach ,World.
Coaching in the Yorkshire Dales. Coaching in the Yorkshire Dales.
TRH,: Yorkshire Dales, particularly the higher reaches of Airedale and Wharfedale, being so near to the busy industrial districts of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire, are the happy hunting grounds of numberless motor coach parties, and Skipton, the old-world market town, which still retains memories of the days of the stage coach, has returned to a state similar to that which it enjoyed in pre-railway days.
Skipton can lay claim to be one of the busiest motor coach " junctions " in the country, and at week-ends and holidays the broad High Street is thronged with vehicles, most of which make for a brief halt. For the greater part of its length the street is flanked on each side with a broad paving, wide enough to take two coaches abreast, and on more than one occasion sixty or snore coaches have been counted here at one time, although the vehicles have been coming and going at frequent intervals.
Converging Upon the High Street are the roads from Otley (along which the Leeds traffic comes); from Keighley (which leads from Bradford and Halifax), and from Colne (by which way vehicles come -from Burnley, Nelson and East Lancashire generally). Much West Riding traffic for Blackpool, Southport and other Lancashire towns passes through Skipton and all the vehicles from the West Riding come this way. to Morecambe. Skipton is on the direct route to Malham, Grassington, Kilnsey, Burnsail and Bolton Abbey and Woods, and almost all Lancashire coaches going to Ilkley, Harrogate, Ripon and the Dales generally must pass along its High Street.
Motor coaching has brought a new life to the Yorkshire Dales. Inadequately served by the railways, it was known only to week-end and long-staying parties, but tho motor coach has brought a new element into the district, which embraces some of the most attractive scenery in England. The roads are narrow and the gradients severe, but an the whole the surfaces are excellent and the residents make the new type of visitor
welcome. The coaches are recommended not to travel on the road on the right bank of the Wharf° because of the difficulties when meeting traffic coming in the opposite direction, but, generally speaking, the authorities have been very tolerant with the motor coach driver.
At Grassington and l3urnsall a toll of is. 6c1. is made for motor coaches standing in the Market Square at the former place and in a specially provided enclosure at Burnsall, but otherwise there are no restrictions, except that there is very limited accommodation at Bolton Woods, which is the private estate of the Duke of Devonshire, where the King has opened the grouse shooting season on many occasions. The woods and the Abbey ruins axe, however, open free to visitors.
Blackpool Coach Station.
During the Whitsuntide holidays about 8,000 passengers passed through the Blackpool motor coach station, and on each of the three holidays—Saturday, Sunday, and Monday—there were nearly 100 coaches in the station. The capacity of the station, so far as passenger accommodation is concerned, was utilized to the full, and throughout the three days there was a steady sfream of passengers who availed themselves of the social amenities of the establishment.
Proposed New North Wales Bus Services.
It is proposed to run during the summer months a motor omnibus service 'between those two popular North Wales resorts—Llandudno and Colwyn Bay. On behalf of Francis and Sons, Ltd., who made an application for a licence to the Colwyn Bay Council, it was stated that the opening of the new road between the two towns would very much facilitate traffic, and they proposed to co-operate with a Llandudno firm who now maintained a bus service in the town, and to obtain a similar number of vehicles to enable a through service to be run between the two towns.
The motorbuses, it s'as explained, would not be vital competitors with the
electric tramway system, as a different route would be followed, and during the summer season the-trains were loaded to their utmost capacity and inadequate to meet the public demand.
In replythe chairman of the council reported that, owing to the stoppage of the electric tramway service in the mornings due to the coal :strike, permission had been given to Silver. Motors, Ltd., to provide an hourly service of the motorbuses between Colwyn Bay and Old Colwyn until the afternoon and for the duration of the strike until the tram service was restored.
The council deferred, for the time being, giving a. decision on the application.
Coaches Supersede Trams.
We are informed that on Whits Sunday, when the Blackpool Corporation tramway service was suspended, the locally owned motor coaches which were operated on the tramway routes produced receipts totalling £436. The total number of coaches in commission was 53, and the proprietors were balloted as to the routes they would cover. On this memorable Sunday all the coaches were numbered according to the tramway services they were superseding, and on every windscreen there was a " Safety First' poster. The coach services were organized by a committee consisting of Messrs. J. E. Taylor, R. Marshall,. J. Livesley, J. Hodge, J. W. Dewhurst, J. Hill, and J. Stead.
Coaching in the North.
In their attractive little guide, " The Open Road," the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., of Picktree Lane, Chester-le-Street, publish a really fascinating list of motor tours through the most beautiful and celebrated 'beauty spots in Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Durham, Borderland, and Lake land. The company possess adequate facilities for the running of such trips, for included in their fleet of over 100 vehicles are many coaches de luxe, capable of seating comfortably 30 persons, and saloon vehicles with seating capacities ranging from, 26 to 34 passengers.