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Scottish minibus service
Page 101
Page 102
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A LITTLE-KNOWN aspect of the GPO is its postal and p.s.v. minibus service, but its impact can be considerable on out-ofthe way communities.
Four such services—all run on an experimental basis—operate at present. They are to be found in mid-Wales, the Lake District, Devon and East Lothian.
Before a service is set up the GPO and the Ministry of Transport jointly study whether four qualifying conditions can be met. There must be a need for the service which will not compete with other operators and will fit in with postal operative requirements. In addition, net additional running costs must be met in the form of a rural bus grant from the local authority.
The vehicles used are BMC J2 seven-seat personnel carriers with the driver divided from the passengers by a bulkhead with a glass screen above. Passengers are not allowed to sit next to the driver, this front part being reserved for the mail. When I learned that the front passenger seat is left in position I wondered where the sacks of mail would be placed. However, a visit to the East Lothian service provided the answer: the postman /driver had only a small hand basket containing no more than 20 letters.
Before the GPO became a public corporation on October 1 this year, under "Crown Certificate" exemptions the drivers were not required to hold p.s.v. licences and the vehicles did not need road service licences. But since October the drivers have had to obtain their licences and the GPO road service licences, in the form of a permit under Section 30 of the Road Traffic Act 1968.
The four drivers who have been operating the East Lothian service since it began were issued with badges on October 8 without taking a p.s.v. test. A spokesman for the MoT Scottish Traffic Area told me that in the light of their past experience on these vehicles it was not thought to be necessary and they were issued with licences conditioned—"single-deck vehicles with 14 seats or less": He did emphasize, however, that applications by new drivers would be viewed in a different light. The drivers in the other Traffic Areas—Western, NorthWestern and Northern—have not been so lucky. They have all had to take driving tests.
'Full up inside' When I visited East Lothian I wanted, in particular, to discover the extent the service was used by the locals. 1 travelled on a Wednesday afternoon and was lucky to get a seat. Two other hopeful travellers were turned away because it was "full up inside".
The service operates a circular route from Dunbar via Spott and Innerwick twice a day, the afternoon journey travelling in the reverse direction to that of the morning. There is no service on Saturday afternoons, as this is covered by Stark's Motor Services Ltd., an SBG company. On my visit the journey from Dunbar to Spott by the GPO service was completed in 16 minutes which, considering its mail collection and deliveries, compares reasonably with Stark's time of 10 minutes. In combination these two services offer reasonable facilities to Spott inhabitants for Saturday shopping in Dunbar. The outward journey can be undertaken on the Post Office minibus leaving at 10.25 a.m. (arriving back in Dunbar at 10.45 a.m.). Passengers can return on Stark's service, leaving at 12.30 p.m. and arriving in Spott 10 minutes later. Innerwick people are provided with a similar service.
Neither Stark's nor the GPO operate on Sunday.
The Dunbar service started on June 4, 1968 and was one of two suggested by East Lothian County Council. Mr. A. Grey, the Dunbar postmaster, told me that the overall financial picture appeared to show a loss and that on some days there were no passengers at all. Because of this, he said, he was apprehensive about its future, especially as it was still in the experimental stage.
One of the small problems that has arisen concerns Dunbar holidaymakers. They use the service in order to take a circular tour of the very attractive countryside for a mere Is. 10d. In fact, sometimes there is no room left for the locals as the bus is full of tourists. Perhaps advance booking at Dunbar Post Office would ease the problem for the resident population.
When I travelled the bus was due to leave from the rear of Dunbar Post Office at 2 p.m. but by the time the fares had been collected it was 2.09. The ticket-issuing machine which caused the delay was an antiquated and second-hand model. A sliding glass panel behind the driver allows him to collect fares from the passengers within the bus. The fares at the Post Office were collected as the passengers boarded, and as no others were picked up en route I was unable to see the window collection system in operation.
The minimum fare from Dunbar is is 3d which takes one as far as Oxwell Mains. The maximum fare is Is 10d—Dunbar to Crowhill via Spott and Innerwick.
The driving is shared between four postmen. These four, in turn, spend one week driving the minibus, two weeks on two different postal rounds driving a Morris 5cwt van and the fourth week delivering local mail on foot.
Sociable atmosphere On my journey the driver was Mr. R. Johnson, known to all the passengers as "Bob". The sociable atmosphere in the bus was rather different from the impersonal one with which I am more familiar in London. The passengers exchanged local gossip and everyone assured me that they enjoyed and appreciated the service provided by the GPO. Their only alternative before the minibus, they said, was to walk.
At 2.25 p.m., three miles and a few collections and deliveries from departure point, we arrived at Spott. Two passengers alighted here, including the only other man to travel that day.
Ten minutes later we were delivering mail at the home of Maj.-Gen. Sir John Kennedy. To me this is one of the strangest features of the service—a bus full of people sitting outside someone's front door while the mail is delivered. Apparently no one has ever complained but Bob went to some pains to assure me that in Sir John's case it was always the side road that was used. We continued along the route until, 56 minutes and eight miles from Dunbar, we arrived at Innerwick Post Office where the remaining passenger alighted. This was 20 minutes later than the time shown in the timetable. I suppose that with a punctual departure from Dunbar and a little more haste we could have arrived on time but these times must vary according to the quantity of mail to be delivered. Also, on this particular journey some time was—willingly—spared to allow me to take photographs. Otherwise we could have arrived on time. There was, however, no one waiting for the bus at Innerwick and this, I was told, is generally the case.
After the mail had been collected from Innerwick Post Office we returned to Dunbar via Crowhill, East Barns Farm and Broxburn, arriving at 3.40 p.m., having totalled 16 miles.
My overall impression was one of a necessary service being performed in a very satisfactory manner. I am sure that time-and-motion experts would reduce the overall running time: no doubt that cliche "increased productivity" would be much in evidence. But would their recommendations provide what this particular clientele requires? As a service it is suited to the local way of life and I hope that the GPO and the MoT continue to appreciate that it is essential to this small area of Scotland. And it costs so little!