MOTORBUS MONOPOLY OR COMPETITION.
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Piquant North Wales Controversy that Might be Repeated Anywhere. All the Points of View.
DURING THE past few weeks feeling has been running high in the town -of Rhyl (North Wales), arising out of the proposal of the Rhyl and Potteries Motor Co to operate a fleet.
of motor omnibuses The district is already served by Messrs. Brooks Bros., who at present control about 1.4 buses (nine of them being Leyland 40-seaters with double entrances), and who . are expecting delivery at any time now of two Leyland doulde-deckees, each ' to
seat 60 passengers, That they have shown great enterprise, and have sunk an immense amount of capital, in developing passengers transport services is generally admitted, but, when news
reached them that other companies contemplated ventures ,they immediatelg asked the Rhyl Council that no other company should be allowed to run motor. buses on routes served by them.
Locally, this matter immediately became one of first political importance, and assthe two leading vehicle owners insthe town were involved, there were plenty of partisans. When the matter came 13e1ore the council there was a majority of two in favour of Messrs. Brooke:a application. Uproar fol. lowed ; the chairman resigned, and challenged anyone who would come forward to take a vote of the electors in any ward upon the point at issue. Following upon this a public meeting was held to consider the council's decision on the local motoring services, and a resolution was adopted in the following terms ;—" That, this • meeting of Rhyl ratepayers is uncompromisingly opposed to the granting of a monopoly to any private firm, firmly believing that monopoly in any shape or Item is inimical to the best, interests of the public, and respectfully ask that the es-tuned shall rescind its deeision of last Monday. Further, that the council be asked to receive a deputation appointed by this meeting."
The Rhyl motorbus question has been exciting interest: amongst. vehicle owners throughout the North Wales district, and special inquiries by The Commercial Motor on the subject have yielded some interesting points. Even motor coach and bus owners in North Wales are strangely divided in their opinions upon the merits of the Rhyl controversy. Our repreeentative had interviews with Messrs. BrOoke Bros. and with the Rhyl and Fetteries Motor Co., and, being strictly impartial, it seems that the merits of the respective contestants' claims may be best appreciated by putting forward the point of view of each company separately. Messrs. Brooke Bros. have been running a service of motorbuses for a considerable time, and, op learning that another concern proposed to run a service of buses from Rhyl, thought that, before any application was made to the council for their licences, they had better explain their position to the council and the public. They asked the Rhyl council to take the same line as the Prestatyn Council had decided upon—that they would not permit any other bps
service in the district. It, was contended that such a policy was not solely in the interest of Messrs. Brooke Bros., but. in the interest of the public at large, and that, so far as the routes now served were concerned, the council should only recognize one firm or ser
vice of buses. The question of the motorbus service rested entirely with the council, and they alone had the power to grant -the licences. Brooke's motorbus service had been of enormous advantage, not only to the surrounding district, but also to Rhyl. The result of that service had been that Rhyl had been created a market town or shopping n3B
centre for a very wide district. To Prestatyn alone there was a daily service of 22 buses. Before the buses started the railway company charged 11d. return, but since Messrs. Brooke ran a service for 7d. return, the railway company had dropped their return fares for certain trains to ãd. They had also established a service of buses between Dyserth, Denbigh, Mold, Newmarket, to all parts of Flintshire, between Abergele and St. ,Aseph, and at Abergele connected with the buses that ran to Lienrwst and Colwyn Bay.
The business had been built up by organization and the whole of the district. had benefited. It was contended that it would be the public who would suffer if there were any interference now with this organization. If another firm wished to come in, they should take routes other than those already covered.
Messrs. Brooke objected that it was not fair to use the word "monopoly" in the way in which it had been used. It implied that certain unfair privileges were being granted. At the same time, they were entitled to ask the council to
say that nobody else should come and take advantage of their organization or the connection they had built up at a great deal of trouble and expense. There was, an impression abroad that they had created a very highly remunerative proposition. It was no secret that, in order to build up the big enterprise with which their name was associated, they had had to borrow a very large sum and their profits were nothing like what many people might be imagining.. Some services were running at a loss. There was no desire on their part to be selfish ; but., having served the public as they had done for some years, they believed it was to theinterests of the public to leave matters as they were. As an alternative to that, they were prepared to entertain offers from the council or from any would-be competitors for the taking over of their buses at a valuation.
Mr. Robins stated, on behalf of the Rhyl and Potteries Motor Co., that his firm had been approached by a. number of people on the question of an additional bus service for the district, and, after taking the necessary steps, he was prepared to run six buses almost immediately and to provide others by an early' date. His firm had a big interest. in ties town as ratepayers and employers of
labour, and simply asked for the same facilities as were granted to others. Their case, briefly, was that it was not in. the public interest to stifle competition and that " monopolies " Were distasteful and not in accordance with
democratic principles, and should be discouraged by public authorities. Messrs. _Brooke were not by any
means the pioneers. It was a man named Southworth who first introduced the service to Rhyl; his interests were at length taken over by .the Rhyl. and Potteries Motor Co.; and that concern was now vested in Messrs. Robins, whe were anxious to develop a business that would provide employment and serve the public-throughout the -winter as well as the summer. They had acquired half a dozen buses, the preparation of which had meant a considerable amount of work for local men and the spending of a considerable amount of money in the town during the winter months; and for that reason they should be encouraged.
There was a greater need than ever
before for bus services in the district.. 'especially since the recent. opening of the new road from Gronant to Rhyl. They did not, ask the council to refuse to grant licences to Messis. Brooke or anyone else; they simply asked to be' dealt with on an equal footing with other owners. It was held that it was not in the public interest that competition in such matters should be stilled, and that all applicants for licences must be treated fairly and alike." In due course they hoped to run buses on all the routes covered by Messrs. Brooke, but they could not pledge themselves to do . that immediately.
Having now given both sides of the case, some useful purpose might be served by giving, as briefly as possible, some of the arguments. '
The council's resolution of 1911, that
it was not in the interests of the town to make use of public streets as stands for loading and unloading passengers on licensed vehicles, might. now be brought forward as a sort of basis for future arrangements with the proprietors of vehicles plying for hire.
The council should be satisfied that the public was well served.
The Prime factor to be considered was the danger to the public in allowing a number of firms to run buses in coin petition. * * • Could two fleets of buses like the 'present one pay their way in Rhyl!
The danger of competition was that, in, time, the public would be the sufferers through a non-paying and deteriorating service.
There should be no objection to the
council licensing other firms to run buses as well as Messrs. Brooke, provided they would state where they intended to run, and when, and whether they would guarantee a dependable all-the-yearround service and would try to open out other routes. If there were two or more firms running buses they would be chasing each other over the best routes and letting the other 'routes go.