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Midland "Red ) 1

13th March 1953, Page 36
13th March 1953
Page 36
Page 37
Page 36, 13th March 1953 — Midland "Red ) 1
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

at your service I

By Alfred Woolf, B.A., and Laurence J. Cotton, M.I.R.T.E.

Friday, February 13 was a Quiet Day for Digbeth Garage of Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., but a Busy One for Two Representatives of "The Commercial Motor"

CONTRARY to all superstitious forebodings, Friday, February 13, was an unaccountably quiet day as far as the Digbeth garage and bus station of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., was concerned. In search of sensation, as well as of basic information on the day-to-day administration of a bus fleet, two members of the staff of "The Commercial Motor" presented themselves at Digbeth at 9 a.m. on Friday, February 13, only to find, when departing at 5.30 pan., that far from being a hectic day, it had been even quieter than normal, especially on the traffic side.

D1GBETH garage, opened in January. 1929, is the busiest of the 28 B.M.M.O. depots. It houses 104 vehicles, of which 85 are required for service work from Monday to Friday. Approximately 51m. miles are run annually by the vehicles based on Digbeth, a figure which exceeds by at least 500,000 the annual mileage recorded by the next busiest garage.

HEADQUARTERS of the Birmingham traffic and engineering divisions of B.M.M.O. are at Digbeth There are based Mr. E. H: Simper, divisional traffic manager. who has five garages under his control. and Mr. D. Gregory, divisional engineer. The five garages contro:led by Mr. Simper are at Digbeth, Bearwood, Sheepcote Street, Oldbury and Sutton Coldfield. Digbeth vehicles are engaged mainly on stage-carriagP work, the fleet housed there comprising 63 doubledeckers, 31 single-deckers and JO coaches.

DIGBETH'S traffic superintendent, Mr. I, H. Watkins, has under him 125 conductors and 53 conductresses, who work in conjunction with the .201 drivers based there. Ile controls also the staffs of the inquiry offices, waiting rooms, schedules, waybill-analysis and cash offices, and the 31 inspectors covering terminal and

ticket inspecting duties in . the Birmingham area.

His assistant, Mr. J. W. Comeliq, had to report, just before 9 a.m., that "Seven conductors were missing, thus complicating the first task of the day, that of ,ensuring that vehicles and crews were available for the scheduled services.

Having re-arranged schedules to cover the missing members of staff and dealt with some of the morning mail, Mr. Watkins began a 'short tour of inspection. Vehicles were returning to the depot off morning peak duties, and a member of the garage staff reported that three new Leyland double-deckers had arrived. They were already at work on the busy Birmingham-Coventry service.

In the cash office, work was proceeding, checking the cash paid in by conductors during the preceding 24 hours. At Digbeth, paying-in is through a sort of night safe, and the cash and waybills remain locked in the safe in the cash office until 7 a.m., when the safe is opened by the two garage traffic assistants, each of whom has a key. The safe cannot be opened by one key alone. They then proceed to check the cash for banking later in the day. The economy possible with the system was as great as the convenience of it, according to the divisional traffic manager. Returning to his office, Mr. Watkins received his first visitor, the inquiry clerk from the waiting room. "Can double-deckers be used on a privatehire job over such-and-such a route?"

" Well, 'corporation double-deckers run down that road ", said Mr. Watkins, "fix up the booking, will you?" It was then 10.15 a.m.

10.20 a.m.: Telephone call from schedules office; there are only 14 crews for 28 turns. Mr. Watkins suggests asking six drivers to act as conductors, there being 12 extra drivers available. Extra duties will have to be demanded from 16 men. Schedules clerk says he can cope,

10.30 a.m.: Two inspectors report; it is very cold and few people are about. One is given two forms from conductors concerning unpaid fares, lie says he will call on the passengers on Sunday-usually the best time for this duty. The other mentions an extra service running later that evening. Mr. Watkins asks him to watch it for the Plext week to see when the demand for the extra vehicle disappears.

10.35 a.m.: Telephone call. "Are the five double-deckers ordered for the B.M.M.O. sports and social club children's party available?" " Certainly, as arranged."

10.40 a.m.: Letter received from passenger who claims a small case which had been left on a London coach, about which the company had written. Formalities completed, the case is put on a bus to be left at the nearest parcels agent to the passenger's address, 10.45 a.m.: Senior waybill-analysis clerk brings in two waybills which do not tally with cash received. Discovered that conductors, in changing over, had not copied out ticket-machine information correctly.

10.50 a.m.: Worcester garage telephones numbers of a ticket machine borrowed from Digbeth; call necessary to keep records in order.

11 a.m.: One of the sick conductors reports back.

11.4 a.m.: New arrangement made over telephone with head office regarding deliveries of paper for ticket machines.

11.5 a.m.: Conductor reports sickboil on arm.

11.20 a.m.: Telephone call to expressservice office concerning vehicles required for Saturday's service. Call from London reporting progress of vehicles en route to Birmingham. One 10 minutes late because of ice on roads, 11.22 a.m.: Driver reports sick. Eye bruised by over-affectionate dog.

11.27 a.m.: Inspector from Bull Ring reports. Has been notified that a parcel put on bus at Coventry had failed to arrive at Birmingham. Mr. Watkins remembers that the bus will be back at the Bull Ring at 11.58 a.m.

11.35 a.m.: Letter arrives enclosing ls. from passenger unable to pay fare, together with ticket issued by conductor.

11.40 a.m.: Inquiry-office clerk reports that party of students require a coach for an educational tour of Dartmoor in June. Can Mr. Watkins arrange itinerary and suggest headquarters?

11.45 a.m.: Stores clerk reports by telephone, arrival of new rugs for use on express service vehicles.

Noon: Mail arrives from headquarters.

12.10 p.m.: Conductor asks if his holiday can be changed, as he had suffered a family bereavement. Rearrangement made.

12.30 p.m.: Driver leaving the company's employment signs off, returns free-travel card and uniform.

12.40 p.m.: Senior waybill clerk brings in waybill which is £2 short. Conductor has mixed up own money. Mr. Crunch° remembers that one conductor was asking to see his last waybill.

1.5 p.m.: Lunch.

2 p.m.: Return to office. Mr. Comelio reports cash safely banked.

2.5 p.m.: Conductors who mixed up ticket-machine numbers arrive and are duly admonished.

2.15 p.m.: Further tour of inspection, this time of coach station, now much busier. Inspector reports that all services are running on time and are comparatively busy. East Yorkshire coach for Hull passed through at 1.40 p.m.

2.30 p.m.: North Western Leyland Royal Tiger arrives from London, bound for Manchester. 3 p.m.: Midland Red departure for London. 3.15 p.m.: London-Manchester coach arrives. 3.58 p.m.: Standerwick Royal Tiger for London passes through. 4.25 p.m.: Black and White coach arrives from Cheltenham. 5 p.m.: P.M.T. coach for Stoke. 6 p.m.: CarlisleGlasgow coach out. 6.18 p.m.: Yorkshire Trattion Newcastle Coventry vehicle.

• At 3.45 p.m.: Mr. Watkins recalled to office to receive a snow warning in code-84726-indicating the possibility of snow in 9-12 hours, followed by rapid thaw, The forecast proved entirely accurate.

From 3.45 to 4 p.m.: Mr. Watkins telephoned the divisional engineer, head office and garage engineering superintendent, passing on snow warning.

4.5 p.m.: Another inspector, from the Warwick routes this time, reports quiet conditions.

4.15 p.m.: Telephone call-can you provide a coach for London on Coronation day? No more private-hire bookings possible for Coronation period.

4,30 p.m.: Another case lost by passenger brought in.

4.45 p.m.: Summing up day's operations, Mr. Watkins declares it has been exceptionally quiet-normally the telephone rings ceaselessly. There had been no complaints from passengers, no reports of delays, no late runningand no accidents. Crews reported no hold-ups, no journeys lost, despite the reduced number of crews. Inspectors described it as a quiet day, with little traffic, probably because of the cold winds. Nobody had been left standing because of insufficient room on the vehicles. The 85 vehicles required for evening peak services had gone out on schedule.

A quiet day, indeed, but vehicles from Digbeth garage had run 16,779 miles and carried 89,455 passengers on Friday the thirteenth.


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