PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
HOLIDAY TRAFFIC IN SOUTH WALES. l• A Welcome Impetus Given to the Passenger Vehicle Movement i
in Cardiff and Swansea. I
OToRBITS and coach proprietors in Sonth Wales centres report heavy traffic during the recent holiday, bookings for both long and shaft coach tcurs being the heaviest experienced this season, • whilst buses runnink from Cardiff and Swansea to local seaside and country resorts were taxed to the 'utmost to meet the demand, although the normal services were supplemented by every available vehicle.
For the first time for several months lope queues of passengers were waiting for buses. in the Cardiff and Swansea streets. So great was the number of people carried that buses were kept busy for an additional two hours beyond the usual time for the suspension of services at night in bringing people back to Cardiff from Barry and Penarth, whilst extra buses were required at Swansea to cope with passengers returning from the Gower resorts.
There was an enormous influx of buses and coaches into Swansea over the holiday for the National Eisteddfod of Wales and the Australian-Glamorgan cricket match. The police believe all local traffic records have been surpassed during the holiday.
Passenger-vehicle owners and bus Orooriel ors, especially in .South Wales, have suffered greatly by the coal strike, and the surprising holiday trade was a welcome set-off to the loss that has been sustained. How greatly • proprietors have been affected by the coal strike may be gauged from the experience of the Bedwas and Machen Urban District Council, which recently received a report stating that, since the commence
ment of the stoppage on May 3rd, takings had so depreciated that the bus service was now being run at a weekly loss of 130.
It has to be remembered that private owners, whose services are run mainly in industrial and mining areas, have in many cases six or seven times the amount of rolling stock possessed by the Bedwas Council, and their vehicles ply for hire on longer routes. To such proprietors the holidays have proved a boon.
At Swansea it was noticeable during the holiday 'week that a large percentage of the visiting coaches came from Glamorgan and Monmouthshire mining districts.