EXTENSIVE MOTOR COAC ?VICE ON SOUTH COAST.
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QLTITE APART from the week-end influx of some 50 motor coaches every Saturday and Sunday during the season, Hastings is one of the popular seaside resorts which is particularly well provided with motor coach services ; so numerous, in fact, are the local coaches that the standing accommodation provided by the authorities has been quite outgrown.
It is true that the lay-out of the Hastings streets, and the fact that the tramlines run along the sea front, makes the problem of providing adequate standing room for a large number of coaches a matter of considerable difficulty, but before next season the question of coping with this growing form of traffic will have to be seriously considered. At present there is keen competition amongst the local firms to get the best positions on the various stands, and, unless some mutual arrangelffent is made, it is generally a matter of "first come, first served" ; and failure to obtain a good position is apt to affect the custom obtainable very considerably, as in the class of business under consideration the vehicle itself plays an important part from the advertisement point of view. As regards the heavy week-end coach traffic, to which we have referred above, excellent arrangements have been made. The coaches set down and take up their passengers in Station Road, and are then parked in a disused gasworks yard, so that the local traffic is not disturbed.
, Of the two neighbouring places, Hastings is undoubtedly the centre of motor coach business. The visiting population at St. Leonards is not of the type that takes very kindly to motor coaching at present, and there is, so far as we have been able to ascertain, only one coach proprietor, with one vehicle, who caters especially for them, though, of course, the two places are so close together that probably many visitors to St. Lepnards. use thecoaches which ply for hire at Hastings. Place of honour in the motor coach business in these resorts • must probably be given to Messrs. Skinner, who are a very old-established firm with extensive business premises in St. Leonards stilt in the process of transition from the requirements of horsed vehicles to those of motorcars and coaches. Skinner's garage is admirably equipped with a workshop provided with every facility for keeping their vehicles in good running order, the plant comprising a casehardening furnace and other appliances which are too frequently lacking in the average garage. Thus they are able • themselves to maintain their vehicles in excellent running condition.
Messrs. Skinner's fleet corn. prises four Leyland coaches, two being 28 seaters and one a 03 seater, and a Daimler 23 seater. In addition they have a small 10 seater coach body mounted on a 28 h.p. Daimler
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chassis, which has been specially strengthened to take it. This concern also runs a fleet of taxicabs, which ply for hire in the neighbourhood, and has the distinction of having inaugurated the pioneer local
motor service.
Skinner's booking office is at a kiosk on the sea front, of which an illustration is given, and at which a large variety of trips to such places as Folkestone, Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, and Maidstone may be booked at popular prices. Occasionally runs to more distant places and race meetings are arranged. Very much in evidence at Hastings are the green motor coaches, as they are called, run by the Maidstone and District Motor Services, Ltd., win) have a, branch office on the sea front in conjunction with the East Kent Road Car Co.
The Hastings fleet consists of five very fine Leyland coaches, and they run to the many historical and interesting places round about, such as Pevensey, Hurstmonceaux, Eastbourne, Bodian Castle, Brighton, and so on.
Occasionally short moonlight trips into the country or along the coast are arranged at 2s. 6d. per head and on hot evenings particularly these little jaunts are extremely popular.
An interesting feature of these services is that they are supervised by an inspector mounted on a motorcycle, who patrols the roads over which they are run, and keeps a check both OR the punctuality of the vehicles. and on the manner in which they are driven. This is an excellent idea, which might well be adopted by other concerns. At the present time the Maidstone and District Motor Service vehicles are maintained in mechanical efficiency at the main works
at Maidstone, but an up-to-date garage is in course of erection at Hastings, capable of accommodating 23 vehicles and provided with repairing facilities. It is of the latest design and is equipped with an upto-date oil and petrol storage system of the Bowser type. The undergrouad petrol tank is capable of holding 3,000 gallons of petrol, and there are three oil storage tanks, each of 500 gallons capacity.
The Central Garage (Hastings), Ltd., runs what are called "The Yellow Coach Services." Their four vehicles are of Thornycroft make, and the usual daily trips are run to places-of interest in the district, and, in a.dclition. a featuro is made of circular tours of 35 to 40 miles. Extended tours are alsotmapped out, which occupy several days. The longest is a 17 day trip to Scotland, during which 1,250 miles are covered and 25 counties passed through. The luggage allowance'for each passenger is limited to 14 lb. The Central Garage (Hastings), Ltd., also runs a London to Hastings express .seievice on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. Vehicles leave Hastings, at 9.30 in the morning and arrive at Tunbridge at 11.15; leaving there after half-an-hour, and arriving at the Grosvenor Hotel at 1.45. Vehicles from London leave the Grosvenor Hotel at 3.15 and arrive at Hastings at 7.20 in the evening. On this trip 18 lb. of luggage is allowed each passenger.
The East Kent Road Car Co. are at present operating only one motor coach from Hastings. This rtms to Folkstone daily via Rye, and is of the Daimler de luxe type.
At St. Leonard's Messrs. D.M.S., Ltd., of Caves Road Garage, are running a fine Caledon coach and are making point of catering almost exclusively for visitors to St. Leonards. Daily runs are made to most of the surrounding places of interest, circular tours, and also short evening trips.
Another popular motor coach service at Hastings is provided by the "Purple Heather" coaches—two Be Dion vehicles which are "owned and run by two exService men 091449 "—a circumstance winch makes an undoubted appeal to the public. A speciality is made of socalled circular, tours.
Ninfield, Ashburnham, and Battle at 5s. per head ; for the same fare Winchelsea and Rye can be visited, and for another shilling the delights of Wattling and Pevensey can also be enjoyed. Evening runs, leaving Hastings at 6.30, are also arrimged, at 2s. 6d. per head return; and arrangements can be made to pick up passengers from hotels and boarding houses.
Last but by no means least,
there is the service known as Timpson's Silver Chars-hbanes, consisting of nine Karrier vehicles and two Straker-Squires, which appear to cater specially for clubs and beanfeast parties. The Silver cars run to Margate, Folkestone, Eastbourne, anG
other interesting places, but there is an express service daily (except Friday) between Loridon and Hastings. The single fare for this splendid journey is 10s , the return fare being just double that amount, though it may be noted that return tickets are available for the day of issue only.
The Silver cars leave Beresiorti Square, Woolwich, at 8.30 a.m. and New Cross (" The Marquis of Granby ") half-an-hour later ; they are timed to reach the Memorial at Hastings at 1.15 p.m., which is certainly very good going. Each car holds 33 passengers. On the reverse journey Hastings is left at 3,30 p.m., and New Cross is reached at 7:45 p.m. and Woolwich at 8.15 p.m. On Fridays the' up join-410Y only— Hastings to London—is made, the cbars-a-banes leaving, as before, at 3.30.
Apart from what may be termed the purely local services, quite a number of motor pleasure coaches from distant points daily enter and leave Hastings. The'open space near the Memorial, where these motor coaches mostly congregate, is sometimes a sight for sair een, as the saying is, and particularly is this the case on Saturdays and Sundays, when trippers crowd into the town.
On a recent week-end the writer noticed ehars-Lbanes owned by the Lancaster Co., of Mitcham ; Pikes, Ltd., London ; the Thomas Transport Co., Shaftesbury Avenue, London ; the Lion Cartage Co., Spa Road, London ; the Bromley Auto car Co. ; Wallaker Bros. and Hawkins ; Whitlee Motors, Ltd. ; Autocar Services, Ltd. ; Central Garage-; two or three Tilling-Stevens conveyances ; and a couple of -superb scarlet Daimler motor coaehes.
And there were others—any number of them laden with holiday folk. -The popularity of motor coaching is certainly amazing.