THE GLASGOW BUS AND TRAM STRUGGLE.
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A Further Stage in the Opposition of the Bus Owners to th'e Attempt to Exclude Them from the Centre of the City.
SINCE the article which appeared some weeks ago, and which dealt with some aspects of the bus question in Glasgow, events have moved rapidly, and the bus owners and the local authority have now reached an impasse out of which it may seem difficult for them gracefully to extricate themselves. It will be remembered that the Glasgow magistrates, in virtue of the • powers under• their Police Acts, approved a. by-lau. which relegated certain bus traffic to a stance south of the River Clyde, which was outside the shopping and business area of the city. The by-law came into force on January 4th of this year.
At first it was thought that it would go far to relieve the congestion at present existing in the main thoroughfares; traffic in general was speeded up and the police expressed .themselves as satisfied. But, at the same time, it was evident that dissatisfaction was being openly expressed by the public at the inconvenience caused to them by the removal of the stance from the centre of the city. Moreover, the forecasts given by the nus owhers of the effect which this removal might have m their receiPts do not appear to have been too appreaensive, for one company alone estimated that a third )f their revenue wits lost during the first week of the change.
The Effect upon Bus Services of Exclusion' from the City.
The next stage was that certain of the bus owners saw that, if they were to be excluded from the centre of the city, they might just as well shut up shop altogether; so they determined to disregard the stance entirely and they started to run their vehicles over portions of the old route into the city. The result was a • gradual one,commencing, however, within a fortnight . of the date on which the by-laws came into force.
This action of the .bus owners, of course, tended to defeat the primary object for which the by-laws were framed, which was the yelief of congestion in the city. But the magistrates were faced with this awkward position that they have no power to direct routes which the buses should follow; they. had a certain power temporarily to divert traffic, but not permanently. Buses, -under the present Acts, without exception, can travel on any highway, whether within or without the city boundary, and can only be prohibited after a public inquiry held by the Minister of Transport.
The licensing of the buses Was the next matter which occupied the attention of the magistrates. There is an antiquated distinction in the law relating to the licensing of vehicles for public hire in Glasgow between what is known as a "stage coach" and a "stage carriage." These terms are relics of the eighteen-sixties, when horse-drawn vehicles were the only form of transport, and the laws regulating them are not adaptable. A "stage carriage" is defined as a vehicle which is used for conveying passengers from within the city to a place not more than five miles distant from the General Post Office, and a "stage coach" is one used for conveying. passengers from within the city, for a greater distance than five miles,
A "Stage Coach" not a "Stage Carriage."
At present the privately owned buses are licensed as "siege coaches," 'and the owners made application now for licences as "stage carriers." This, of course, would
.• have enabled them to take up and set down passengers within the city boundary, which they are at present prohibited from doing. But their application was refused by the magistrates on the somewhat illogical ground that a vehicle cannot be a "stage coach" and a "stage
carriage" at the same time. This refusal stiffened the backs of the bus owners, and by the end of January there was a direct defiance of the bylaws ; (mks were disregarding the stance, running into the centre of the city and picking up passengers therein.
By this time the Glasgow Corporation began to feel uneasy and despatched a deputation to the Minister of Transport, with the evident intention of obtaining his authority to get them out of their difficulties. Nevertheless, however weak its position, it had to justify itself by asking the Courts to enforce the by-laws, and a prosecution was instituted against bus proprietors for failing to observe the by-laws and for taking up passengers within the city.
Prosecuted for the Absence of a Licence Declared Unnecessary.
The matter was very fully discussed before the. stipendiary and the -unfairness to the bus owner was pointed 'Out to him. He had asked for a licence for a " stage carriage" ; the magistrate had said this was unnecessary, because the vehicle was a "stage coach," and the bus owners had now been prosecuted for not having a licence which the magistrates said was unnecessary. The owners had done everything they could to regularize their position. What further could they do? The judge, as was reported in The Commercial Motor of last week, eventually decided the case in favour of the bus owners and they were acquitted.
From this very brief summary, it will be seen that there is at present existing a chaotic state of affairs. The bus owners have won so far and are ,,in a, strong position. It appears that it is impossible for the inagistrates to obtain a conviction under these ,by-laws, and without a sanction a law is useless. But if the Corporation wishes to relieve congestion in the streets, which was its avowed object, some other means will have to be discovered.
The Deputation to the Minister of Transport.
As has been mentioned before, a deputation has awaited on the Minister of Transport, but the outcome of this meeting has not yet been divulged. Presumably, the Minister was approached with some idea that the Government might help where the local authority had failed. But if this be done and the Minister of Transport, in the exercise of his wide powers, prohibits the running of buses in the streets of Glasgow, a gross injustice will be inflicted on the bus owners. The whole question throughout the country is under consideration at the Ministry, and, if it appears to this committee that there must be Some limitation or regulation of the number of vehicles on certain roads, that is a different matter, because we feel sure that each tYpe of vehicle will receive fair treatment. But the private trader in the present case is being crushed under the heel of the Corporation.
The Glasgow Corporation does not possess powers to run buses within the city, and this is a point very keenly felt by it. The tram, which will soon be, if it be not already so, an antiquated form of conveyance, is the only leg it has to stand on, and the one-time success of the tramway undertaking is being undermined by the operations of the private bus owners.
The interests of these traders have been very largely adverted to, but the public must not be forgotten. It should not be made to suffer because the Corporation has backed the wrong horse and is pressing on it a form of conveyance which is out of date, Whilst the forethought of the private trader is offering it the most upto-date and efficient form of transport—the motorbus. ,