PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World,
A WEST RIDING BUS CENTRE.
The Passenger-vehicle Activities of the Various Proprietors Running Regular Services in the Otley District.
MHE WEST Riding of Yorkshire, with its closely packed towns, presented unusually favourable opportunities for the tramway engineer working under the direction of local authorities to give passenger transport facilities on thtroads which link the short distances bet-ween one centre of industry and
another. In this way the suburban, and in many cases the semi-urban, transport needs of the inhabitants in this area were almost all met before the war. The busiest routes were laid with tramlines, and powers were obtained for other services.
Trolley-buses were at that time being considered for the more uncertain proposals, whereit Was suggested that permanent tramway tracks would not prove to be a paying proposition, but the war came as a check to all such enterprise. Post-war construction costs put tramways out of the question again—at all events, for a time—but when the tramway engineers came to look about they found a new power had arisen, and that facilities which they had hoped to provide were being given by motorbus proprietors
The tramways worked out from all the big centres, and, consequently, motorbus services had, in the most part, to work on the outskirts of the popu lated areas. This had the effect of causing a large number of small owners to commence operations rather than to encourage one big company to. take over a series of co-ordinated services. Management of a series of scattered services would naturally be difficult, and amalgamation on a big scale would be of little good.
On the outskirts of the great indus
trial area, however, an extensive series of services has been built up, in many cases to connect with the tramway services, and in other cases to link up town with town. Gradually the road services are being developed, and not only is it now possible to travel long distances across country, but road services are providing a useful alternative to railway travel.
Being on the verge of the great industrial area, the old-world market towa of Otley, in Wharfedale, provides a typical example of what is happening. Otley, industrially and commercially, is a curious mixture of engineering and
farming. On Mondays the cattle market is held, when farmers sell their produce to butchers from other towns, whilst on Fridays a general market day is held, with stalls in the Market Square and the Manor Square, at which .agricultural produce and household goods can be purchased.
On these days there is a big influx of people, not only from the surrounding districts, but also from neighbouring towns, and, as a result, there is a
good demand for passenger transporf on two days of the week. Before the War the chief travelling facilities were provided by the North Eastern Railway ,Co., although the tramway authorities of Leeds ran a service of railless vehicles which linked up the town with the tramway service at Guiseley.
A distinct change has been wrought, however, and motorbus services now radiate in every direction. There is a through service to Harrogate, main
tallied by two concerns, two services to Leeds, one from Otley to Burley-inWharfedale and Ilkley, one from Burley to Addingha.m, still higher up the valley, one from Guiseley to Ilkley, one from Otley to Guiseley and Shipley, and one from Yeadon to Guiseley and Shipley. The services to Shipley formerly stopped at. the tramway terminus of the Bradford Corporation at Bandon Bridge, -where the bus service to &laden village also has its terminus, but both companies obtained the permission of the Shipley Council to start from streets near the centre of the town, and this has proved of considerable convenience to passengers. The tentative manner in which these bus services in the Otley district were started is expressed by the type of coach which is in general use, Fords with locally built bodies, being the most numerous. In some instances the bodywork is not the latest design per-. haps, but there appears to be an indication that as the buses need replacing more powerful vehicles -with up-to-date coachwork are being adopted. A smart fleet of light Karrier buses, seven of which are fitted with pneumatic -tyres, is run• on the ShipleyGuieeley-Yeadon service by the Yeadon ,Transport CO, whilst Mr. F. P. Blakey has a, 20-seater Karrier and a pneumatic!aired Garford, in addition to a number of Fords which operate over the Shipley-. Otley route. The Guiseley V Ilkley service is run by Messrs. Buttery's, whilst the Otley to Ilkley. route is provided for by Messrs. Rathmell and Co. ; both these owners run Ford buses. The Harrogate Carriage Co., with a, Fiat, and MeSsrs. Robinson's service, with two Fords, are in competition on the Harrogate route, and Messrs. Barrett and Thornton, with two Fiats and nine Fords, are in opposition with Messrs. Skinner's service, which runs to Leeds.
The Leeds service is of particular interest to the road transport industry, for at busy times Messrs. Barrett and Thornton operate a five-minute service. Alternate buses run into Leeds to Mr. Rowland Wynne's garage, the others running to the Leeds tramway terminus at Lawnswood.
Messrs. Barrett and Thornton met with opposition from the authorities in Leeds with regard to picking, up passengers in Leeds, hot the matter was not decided conclusively and they still pick up anywhere on the tramway route for anywhere beyond the Lawnswood tramway terminus on the jourrey to ()Hey. The distance is 10 miles to Leeds and 6& miles to Lawnswood and the through single fare is is. la. or is. 9d. return, the return ticket being available at any time and not limited to the day of issue.
If the passenger misses a bus in Leeds, however, and takes the tramcar to Lawnswood and then catches a bus to Otley he is given 3d. to recompense him for the fare expended on the car, and the same procedure is adapted in the case of a passenger who travels by bus and dismounts at the car terminus, if the bus is not going into Leeds. The company's Vehicles . carry a guaranteed number of passengers from Leeds daily, and. quarterly passes; costing ,g4 6s. Eld., are issued to them.
In some cases the fares charged on the comPany's buses are less than the 'railway fares; particularly in the case where return tickets areissued,. On the Otley to Harrogate 'route-Za journey of 12
miles—the single fare is is. 3d., with a retprn fare of 2s., whilst one of the services provides a journey of 13 miles for is. 2d.
On the Otley-Ilkley service parcels are carried, recognized collecting depots being arranged, and passengers' return tickets are available between Ilkley and Burley on either Messrs. Rathmell and Co.'s services or 'Messrs.' Buttery's service.
It wouli appear that ample facilities are already in existence to meet the needs of the inhabitants in this district, although we understand that another concern is about to enter the field with a widely flung net of routes, even embracing Skipton, 1,5 miles away in one direction, and Bradford and Leeds in the other direction.
All the services in the area, of Yorkshire we have dealt with are of comparatively recent establishment, and the facilities are such that the travelling public is now wondering how it managed to get about before the buses were put upon the roads, and beginning to realize the inestimable value of present-day road transport services to the conducting of business and social affairs.