Honest Methods Necessary in Bus 'Operalion.
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IN the early days of bus competition in London us say two or three decades ago—the tactics of the buS operators, outside of the one or two leading concerns conducting full services, led to the application to those operators of the term "pirate." The buses were run on piratical lines, and those of us whose years enable us to recall the methods know that they were distinctly sharp and subversive of public interests. Those days have gone, and with them, we are glad to know, have gone ,the, habits of the.period. 'There is no room for such methods now, for the public will not permit, them to be revived, and so complete and adequate. are established services, that any bus operator attempting atarevivai would find himself frozen off the road.
When the present phase of'bus competition from independent and individual owners—as distinct from the combine—was established, we recognized the patent fact that it was being introduced by a class of bus owner which had a normal standard of business morality—a class which was totally different in spirit and intention from the class which earned so bad a name years ago, and which paid a full penalty by being driven aut of business. For this reason the term " pirate," so commonly used at first, has been rigidly excluded from the columns of this journal, and (we believe), in consequence, has died out, our own term—" independent "—having taken its place.
However, an instance of pirating has occurred, but, as it happened, the bus conductor caught a tartar, for the passenger, who witnessed a change of boards en route and resented the fact that the bus on which he was, travelling was turned short of the original destination, .gave information which resulted in a prosecution at, the Tower Bridge Court, and, after two hearings, the imposition on the conductor of the maximum fine and heavy costs. Now, this particular passenger happens to be known to us, and we know that, since the 'bus strike, he has favourably regarded the existence of independent services, on the ground that competition keeps everyone up to the mark. But competition will not be encouraged by the public if bus operators' conduct their business to suit their own ends and in defiance of contracts made with passengers.
We lay emphasis on this matter, because it is the first case that has, at any rate, come to light, and we think it should be taken as a warning. Bus proprietors should give the strictest instructions to their drivers and conductors to play the game and to use clean methods. This kind of behaviour, once started, would run like an epidemic throughout the independent fleets, and, as the public are as quick i as lightning to see what is going On, the good opinion created by the independents so far would be lost and their business suffer enormously in consequence.