• A TRINITY OF ROAD SERVICES.
Page 18
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Lancashire Concern that Aims at Thoroughly Linked-up Communications by Tram, Train and Bus.
rE SERVIC E 8—tramway and motor omnibus— of the Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., form a very vital link in the chain • of passenger transport in the thickly populated South-west Lancashire area. The company gathers together, as it were,, the threads of railway and tramway communications and, utilizing motorbuses, weaves them into a fabric stretching from Manchester on the one side to Liverpool on the other. The company has a fleet of 50 chars-à-bancs, 15 motor omnibuses and a. considerable number of electric trams, and their network of operation aims at a complete system of intercommunication by means of thoroughly connected service by bus, tram and train. .
It is possible, as is well known, to board an electric tram at Liverpool and travel to Manchester and beyond by means of the linked-up /mates. The track owned by the Lancashire. United Tramways, Ltd., constitutes a vital link in this system, and, starting on the west side, their service joins up with that of the St. Helens Corporation: at Ashton and Ince with that of the Wigan Corporation; further along with that of the 13olt0n Corporation'; on the east with the Manchester Corporation -trams; and on the south with the Warrington trams.
Services for the III-served.
Now it must be obvious that there are certain towns, important for their industries and sustaining big populations, that are very badly placed in the matter of road communications with the outside dis tricts, and it is to remedy this defeeP that motorbuses are being employed. The Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., h,1;.6 43 miles of tramway track and 20 miles of omnibus routes—the latter will be nearly doubled when the proposed extensions are carried through—served by 15 new A.E.C. vehicles, 29 and 30 seaters. Th..; type of conveyance with the front entrance is favoured as being safer than those with the rear entrance, of which pattern there are four machines. The company's first acquaintance with motors or public service dates back to 1906, when they used some of the old Sterling buses, but the district which they were intended to serve had not sufficiently developed to ensure their suctess, and; the results not being entirely satisfactory, the vehicles were: withdrawn after some 12 months' running. ,
The Beginning of the Period of Success.
There was then a lapse of 14 years, and, on June 1.8th last year, the company initiated a bus service between Lowten, Newton-le,Willows, Earlestown, and Haydock, the buses starling from the tram,.. way terminus at Low-ton—up to then a dead end— and joining up again • with the trams at Haydook. This route covers five and a half ca six miles, and the through fare is lid. • The chief centre of population is Leigh, which. is the mainspring of road communications in the area, and, although the Leigh Corporation has bus routes of its own, they are mainly confined to the area within its boundaries, whilst the town ir. " fed " by the services of the L.IT.T. ',inning north, south, east, and west, converging within the neighbourhood of the borough.
The second service was commenced on October 22nd last year between GoIbourne and Warrington, thebuses forming an extension with the corporation tramways. Golbourne is a packed little industrial centre which was without any road transport, and, so far as motor services are concerned, is, therefore, virgin soil. The buses pass through Newton to Warrington—an important manufacturing and market town—but, as the service is purely experimental, and is liable to adjustment according to the support extended to it, it has been deemed necessary to restrict. the services to Warrington to market days only, when an hourly service is maintained. On other days buses run every two hours between Golbourne, Newton and Earlestown. From Golbourne to Earlestown the fare is 6d. and to Warrington 9d. The third seraice was inaugurated on November 10th last, running. from the western extremity of Leigh to Walkden. On January 28th and 29th, special Friday and Saturday (market . days) motorbus services were inaugurated between Tyldesley and Astley. The omnibus leaves Tyldesley for Astley at 3 p.m. and hourly thereafter until 10 p.m. ; Astley for Tyldealey at 3.30 p.m. and hourly thereafter until 10.30 p.m.
Linking Up the Populous Districts.
The aim of the company, according to one of its officials, is to have thoroughly connected services, wherever there is a possibility of traffic justifying it. Some districts, prior to the coming of the motorbus, were absolutely isolated excepting for the usual inconvenient local train services, and developments in the newer form of transport will necessarily be slow, until the public rises to an appreciation of the advantages of travelling by road. It is only rarely possible for motorbus services to be inaugurated with "a flying start "—financially--but the more prudent concerns favour a modest beginning, followed by a series of experiments, to determine what are the travelling needs of the public. So it is with the L.U.T. They are making changes and alterations in their services as circumstances warrant. The buses constitute -a public service, and the greater the patrcaiage the more frequent will be the buses.
Seyeral new and time-saving routes are under consideration, which will nearly double the present bus mileage. The fares work out at about 2d. per mile, and the average journey is about three miles per passenger. Obviously, in the management of such a big concern, functions are departmentalized. The engineer-. ing is separate from the traffic side, and both are subsidiary to the managerial. The first department functions in undertaking repairs and getting vehicles ready for the road ; the second, the traffic department, has the responsibility for getting vehicles on to the road and operating the serviees. The system of control is the same as for the tramways. There are section inspectors on the various routes, who keep in touch with the head office at Atherton, by means of telephone. If a bus breaks down near Warrington, one of the extreme points of the service, the first duty of the inspector is to telephone to •head office, and another vehicle is at once turned out to take up the service and keep it intact. Every vehicle is overhauled at regular intervals at the company's. excellently' equipped workshops and ga.rages,where a night staff is employed. Drivers of buses, on taking their vehicles into the) garage; are required immediately to give notice of any faults or defects that may have been discovered during the day's run.
At Atherton are located the head offices of the company, the tram-shede and garages body building, painting and repair garages, which are.as fine a set of works as is to be found in Southwest Lancs.
Mr. E. H. Edwardes, the engineer and (OTHER SYSTEM)' =a= general manager of the Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., and its associated companies, has held that position singe, 1010, and under his management the services are making steady progress. He is a Member of the Institute of, Transport, an Associate Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, a Member of the Panel of Experts appointed by the Ministry ef1Iransport, a Member of the Council of the Tramways and Liglat Railways Association, and serves on various councils and committees in connection with the efficient administration, of electricity undertakings, electric tramways, and passenger transport services in all their forms.