PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 65
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
RESULT OF THE DARLINGTON INQUIRY.
The Finding of the Ministry of Transport in a Case in which the Municipality and an Important Bus Company are Involved.
REAT interest was displayed in tike important inquiry, held at Darlington by the Ministry of Transport on April 8th last, into a number of disagreements between the United Automobile Services, Ltd., and the Darlington Corporation, and the finding of the Ministry, promulgated in the course of the last few days, is creating equal attention because of the several rulings embodied.
The Ministry's decision takes the form of an undertaking which the company shall be required to complete and sign in making application) for new licences, and the undertaking lays down very clearly the limits to which the municipality can go.
The first elapse gives the authority only to lay down the particular route which buses shall follow in the town. This section of the undertaking states that the vehicle in respect of which the licence is issued shall not, during the currency of the licence and without the corporation's consent in writing, be used for the nurpose of plying for hire within the borough, except in connection with the maintenance o of one of the regular services detailed in an accompanying list. This list sets out seven services from Darlington to various parts of the surrounding district, and indicates the precise route to be taken inside the borough.
Other clauses call upon the company to meet the .following requirements:—
To submit a time-table of services and any proposed amendments thereto at least seven days before the timetable or proposed amendment is to take effect.
That the vehicles shall be operated, and a regular service maintained, in accordance with the aforesaid timetable.
That the time-table in force and a list of fares (including special fares) shall he exhibited at all times in a conspicuous position inside the omnibus.
That no person shall be carried at a fare less than the appropriate fare for the journey set out in the list of fares.
That where the company's omnibus plies ior hire over a route wheredn municipal transport service is provided, the company shall charge, in respect of the whole or any part of the distance• served by the municipal vehicles, a fare not less than id. in excess of the maximum municipal fare. This condition shall not apply to the fares charged to passengers travelling the whole distance between the terminal points Da rlington-Haughton-leSkerne and Darlington-Faverdale. In. the case of these routes the corporation has prolonged the route since the substitution of trolley-buses for trains.
That at all times a chemical fireextinguisher shall be carried.
That the company will produce a polic,V of insurance against all thirdparty claims, for an aggregate sum equivalent to not less than £250 per head of the authorized seating capacity in respect of each accident which may occur during the currency of the licence, or satisfy the licensing authority that it is otherwise in a position to meet such claims.
It will be seen from the above that the claims made by the corporation to control routes outside the borough and to have the power to fix time-tables and fares, as reported in The Commercial Motor at the time of the inquiry, have failed to secure the backing of the Ministry.