Govt. Action on Rural Buses
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ROM OUR PARLIAMENTARY CORRESPONDENT ES of early Government action on the Jack Report vanished uring this week's Commons debate on rural transport.
tch more thought is still needed before we are able to come to a cision" was the answer given by Mr. John Hay, Parliamentary ry to the Ministry of Transport, to demands that the Governhould give early help to country buses. "This thought should cted to the basic question whether or not the decline in rural ;, in a climate of the increasing use of private transport, should ficially stayed by the financial intervention of the State. This
stion the Government arc not yet o answer."
Flay pointed out that remission of , advocated by many M.P.s, would be another form of subsidy and 3ost nearer i154m, than the £12m. led in the Jack Report.
ing the debate. Mr. F. H. Hay1..ab., Falmouth and Camborne) hi that the cross-subsidization of -anspoit by making small urban ielp to pay for the uneconomic
routes had reached saturation f it had not gone beyond it.
Frank. MeLeavy (Lab., Bradford toted that no industry was so taxed as passenger transport. If vemmcnt were unable to give a iission of taxation an fuel oil to bus undertakings they should spread the gross yield of the taxation over all the users of the oil, he said.
From Sir Gerald Wills (Cons., Bridgwater) came the point that the types of bus used on normal country routes were not the right ones to cater for the traffic as branch railway lines were closed. He advocated the type of bus used at airports.
From the Opposition front bench Mr. Cledwyn Hughes (Anglesey) warned that if the present rate of reduction in rural bus mileages continued, there would be a further reduction of over 90m. miles by the end of 1965. The only true answer to the problem, he said, was a properly integrated passenger transport system covering all travellers and all areas. There was now no national plan or policy, he remarked.
New B.R.S. Depot Opened
QGOTLAND'S newest B.R.S. depot at L) Grangemouth was officially opened on Wednesday by Mr. Robert Brown,. Provost of Grangemouth.
Whilst there is room for expansion, the depot will operate initially some 46 general vehicles.
A full, illustrated description of this new depot will apnear in •.next week's issue of The Cominerck4 Motor.
FIVE VEHICLES GRANTED •
WILLIAM BAXTER AND SON, Of V! Tranent, have becn granted a B Licence for five vehicles out of the eight applied for; the Scottish Licensing Authority had previously granted the application in principle but had reserved the decision with regard to the quantum, as reported in these pages last week.