KEEP THE COACHES GOING.
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The Importance of Stimulating an Alt-the-year-round Demand for Coach Travel.
r• TIE END of the summer. coaching season approaches and The Commercial Motor has raised the question which has, not um/at-m.1y, been uppermost in the minds of many • coach
■ roprietors—" Is it better to keep the•coaches ranting through the winter or to remove the bodies and ;ither sell the chassis or convert them to freightarrying purposes?
From the point of view of immediate profit, 'Iadmit hat so far as the type of proprietor who likes to tart each seasan -with new vehicles is concerned, it nay he. better to sell the chassis (if possible, under he present conditions) or to convert. them to freightarrying purposes; and, if the necessary custom can )e found, to employ them in that way. But, taking the long vie-w--looking ahead as it sore—towards. the future of the coaching industry, think that, for many reasons, it will be extremely esi.rable, this winter season, for proprietors through;at the country to keep as many coaches.on the road
,s possible. . First, I do not think that,' the, coach proprietor, rho, in the past, has reckoned to make his money hiring the summer season and to do an well during hat period as to. be able to sell his chassis at. the nd of it, and perhaps drop a little by so doing, has eally been working on a sound economic basis.
Many proprietors, I know, like to start each season rith brand new chassis, and thereby to,-be immune rom the necessity of providing facilities for heavy epairs and thorough mechanical maintenance, and, ioreover, to aVoid all anxiety as to possible unrelibility through slight mechanical defects. Yet I can ee no real performance in such a way of working.
I think that, in time, every coach proprietor will .e faced with the necessity of using his vehicles for a long. as, possible and of providing !proper iechasncal maintenance arrangements for them. foreover, we have to look forward to the increassg popularity of coaches, the chassis of which, ue to springing, gearing, and other features of .esign, will be unsuited to conversion to freightarrying .purposes. There is another point. It. is by no means certain hat the railwaysswill not eventually get the powers ,hich they sought unsuccessfully this year, and that hey will not soon enter actively into competition lith existing coach-operating concerns. . That being so, it is essential that coach owners hould start, 'and start now, to build up and to enient good will with the public, so that if and when ailway competition on. the roads arrives, and as onspetition in general increases (as it will inevitably), hey will be the better placed to withstand it. Assuming, then, thatit is desirable to build up egular all-the-year-round coach traffic, how can it
eat 'be done? .
It is well known that; in the case of passenger' raffle, the .provision of travelling facilities alone is ertain to create some measure -of demand. More-
over, demand, even in conne-ction with so prosaic a. mode of travel as the Underground Railway, can be stimulated very .;successfully by various forms of publicityland propaganda.
But the motor coach, as a.inode of travel, is, I think, a far better peg on which to hang a campaign of propaganda than an underground .railway. The coach lends itself' admirably to thensurposea of making striking appeals to the imagination of the public, and, in writing of this, I .am reminded of that. enter'prising stunt, of the " mystery " coach tour which was so successful at Bristol some time ago. As some readers Will remember, a coach tour was advertised for an -unkruiwn destination, it being explained that the driver would " sail under sealed orders." Eight coathes instead of one were necessaryto meet the demand suddenly stimulated by the novelty of that idea. ;
That shows just what can be done by enterprise, and I feel sure that were every coach proprietor tlairoughly to study the " psychology " of the people in his particular district, were he to note their habits, their preferences, and their predilections, he would be able, ahnost at all times and seasons, to get all the custom that was neeessary to keep his coaches profitably occupied throughout the year.
But, apart altogether from such " stunt" stimulation of demand, I feel that 'there must be endless opportunities--were they bat sought alit and exploited----for the winter use of coaches. The football craze could Surely be turned to better advantagethan it has been. I -aan not only thinking of the big crowds which Sallow the big city teams, but I am thinking of those countless village teams between which such keen rivalry exists that an inter-village immigration of about half the country's population takes place each week. At present they go on bicycles, in traps, tin Lizzies, and all sorts of scratch conveyance. They should all, surely, go by motor coach.
Then, has any each proprietor pondered, I wonder, on the remarkable fascination of a pack of hounds? To the country man, familiar as be is with hunting, a " meet" is an event not to be missed. It attracts almost every person -on the countryside for miles around. Are there not. many town dwellers who would be glad of an outing on a winter's day to witness the hunting of the wily fox? I am sure that many a coach load could be found.
The country is a dull place' in the winter time. Train services for theatre and cinema goers are none too good. With coach 'services available would not there be found convivial parties in search of entertainment andfa relief from almost unbearable monotony to take advantage of them—and never mind the weather ?
. These are just, a few suggestions that occur at random.. With agittle thought, I am confident that many opportunities for the winter employment of the motor -coach could be discovered. R.H.G.