Buses: war and peace
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• No action has been taken against Midland Red (West) or Redline Bus Company, which have been involved in a "bus battle" that led to fist-fights and buses being rammed (CM 28 April-4 May).
West Midland Deputy Traffic Commissioner Ronald Jackson warned both operators last week, after he had heard complaints and counter-complaints about the operation of competing circular services between Redditch and Matchborough.
When the hearing was resumed, he was told there had been no more major incidents since and he had assurances from both sides that peace had been restored.
For Redline, Michael Carless said there was no doubt that there had been breaches of the regulations by both sides, but the two operators could work alongside one another with a bit of give-and-take. He felt it would not be in the interests of the travelling public for there to be sanctions against either operator.
Geoffrey Jones, for Midland Red, said competition was a two-way thing. It was naive for a newcomer to believe that what he was doing was competition, but what the existing operator did was anticompetitive.
When a low-frequency service was introduced to compete with a high-frequency service at lower fares, an equalisation of fares would be financial suicide for the major operator, so any competition was going to come from the use of additional vehicles.
Jackson concluded that there was obviously going to be a certain amount of bitterness when two ex-inspectors, one of whom had been a shop steward, set up in competition with Midland Red. Having obtained their licence, and registered the service, they had gone at it rather like a bull in a china shop. By using busstands allocated to Midland Red, Redline had exacerbated the situation. If they had waited until they had been allocated a stand in Redditch bus station a lot of the troubles would have been avoided. The evidence clearly showed breaches of the Act by both sides. Many commissioners would have found it necessary to attach conditions to their licences but he was not in favour of doing that, as it affected the travelling public.
With the high cost of bus operation today it seemed crazy, to him, to send out two large vehicles to pick up passengers that could comfortably be accommodated by the first vehicle. In saying that, said Jackson, he meant that the operation of duplicate vehicles should be linked to passenger demand.
He was delighted to hear that his warning had achieved the desired effect. Traffic examiners would be asked to undertake a detailed monitoring exercise until he decided that it was no longer necessary. If that revealed any repetition of past events, he thought he knew what the commissioner's decision would be next time.