Clamp Down on Illegal Traffic
Page 63
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WHAT an aWfui lot of nonsense is being talked at the moment about the efforts to assist the travelling public who live in the rural areas, because of the need to cut down on the ordinary bus services.
Some people are all in favour of regulations which will enable the 12-seater type of omnibus to be used. Others are suggesting that various types of contract-carriage services should. be ". opened out" and put on road service licences to enable ordinary traffic to be carried, and a few that the rural services should be " feeders " to the main road .service.
The true position which prevails is, of course, that traffic is being carried illegally to siich an alarming extent as to make the properly, licensed bus services most uneconomic and not worth a candle either to the large or small operator.
Time after time members of this association instruct us to apply, and in many instances apply themselves, for a reduction in their rural bus services because they are continually losing trafficto the private 'car, the station wagon, the miniature:b.us, etc., and, of course, it is known that the traffic being taken in those vehicles is being carried illegally, because, as we all know, payment. or reward of some kind is invariably made.
A hundred or so such vehicles operate to many factories in. the big towns adjaCent to the rural districts. The car or van drivers usually work. at one of the factories and collect -.and carry other workers.
Instances frequently .occur.where the -car or van driver goes off his regular route-to pick up passengers. It is knOw.n that on occasions the car driver wilFrurt purposely for the conveyance of passengers, without any personal need to make the-journeys. .
It is accepted that proof of this illegal working is well inipossible, bUt we all know if is going on, and it is time that some means to stop it was devised.
One suggestion which has' often been made could easily -be a useful antidate. Cdt outaltogether The tax on oil fuel • "on Mileage operated over' the rural routes. This, as we all "know, could be accomplished very easily and quite simply. In Consequence, fares on the rural routes • could come down substantially and the bus services an these could be saved. Surely, it is time that this problem was faced in a. practical fashion without so much talk of Special vehicles and -special licensing schemes as being the remedy.
Birmingham, 3. D. E. SKEWING, Manager, The Road Passenger and Transport Association, Ltd.
Help for Small Coach Operator
CHASSIS and bodywork manufacturers should do more
to help the small coach operator keep his costs down. Concerning chassis, there are too few petrol models available today, as the makers have concentrated heavily upon oil engines. It is true that the fuel consumption of an oiler is less than that of a petrol vehicle, but the cash saving cm the smaller mileages may •be wiped out because of the
extra cost of the oiler.
There is a great deal 'tobe said for the modern petrol engine. It is far cheaper than an eirunit, reliableand has a potential life at least as long -as cheaper types of oil engine if . well looked after. Passengers appreciate its silence and smooth running, -arid drivers its acceleration.
lam by no means " sold " on oil engines, indeed, their only advantage is their fuel economy and, as I have said, this cannot be realized by operators such as myself. Because of the heavy depreciation which coaches suffer, particularly in their first year, it may be most unwise 'to buy expensive oil-engined vehicles.
As to bodywork, many of the "frills" found even on certain makers' basic designs could be eliminated. For example, translucent roof lights are of small practical value and offer little advantage over solid roofs. Interior panelling in imitation wood 'veneer could be dispensed with and p.v.c. lining, as used in ordinary service buses, used instead.
Because of the heavy depreciation which I have.referred to, initial cost is an important item among a small coach operator's expenses. A reduction in this direction would be the most significant contribution which could be made to enable him to keep his head above water. It is impossible today to run a coach at less than 2s. a mile. tread with some chagrin reports in your paper of coach operators who take business away from providers of stage services who like to hire their vehicles' under contracts when they are not required to be used as buses. Spare a thought for the coach operator who has no service licence and is wholly dependent upon contract work. He tends to resent bus owners encroaching in this field, often quoting prices which are subsidized by earnings on service mileage.
As an example, I quoted £2.0 for a certain job—not an unreasonable figure—but lost it to a big concern who provided a vehicle which met the contract in between running stage services in the morning and evening. Their price? £13. Just enough, in my view, to pay the running costs alone. How can stage operators say that they look to contract work to help balance their accounts when, in many cases such as that I have quoted, their prices for contract work are slashed?
Everyone engaged in the public service vehicle industry today is competing against the growing popularity of the private car, motorcycle and mo-ped, and although the big bus companies make the loudest protests about their. financial plight the lot of the small coach operator is no less dire. A general cut in fuel tax would not help much, as it would make private motoring more attractive.
I have said that the petrol vehicle still represents a, better proposition than the oiler for small coach operators. Therefore I would oppose a tax reduction confined to oil fuel. If the reduction were limited to stage-carriage vehicles, differentiating between work done by such vehicles under licence and occasional contract work, this would lead to all kinds of complication. SMALL MAN. London.
Scales of Justice Unbalanced
NOT long ago a lorry driver was fined £2 because his driving licence had expired. In the same Court, another man, who had previously been put on probation for stealing a lorry and using it as a carrier's vehicle, was fined £1 for driving this vehicle without a licence. In the second case the chairman of the magistrates said that the man concerned had one of the most appalling records which he had
ever heard. • G. WALLACE,