kstonishmenti at 31 per cent
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HAT the National Board for Prices and Incomes should contemplate a further -ease of 3 to 3+ per cent in provincial busa's wages was astonishing, said Mr. R. P. ldow, chairman of Ribble Motor Services ., at the company's annual general meeting in ston on Tuesday.
?Ir. Beddow said that the wage application 7 being considered by the NCO! followed lediately on the introduction of a 40-hour ic which was itself equal to a pay rise of at I five per cent. It would have serious impliesLS for the company and passengers.
7urning to the current inquiries into public 'sport in the Merseyside and Manchester urbations and discussions on "co-ordination" "integration" schemes, Mr. Beddow said to them "co-ordination" was illustrated by 45 joint-working agreements the company These agreements were with 18 municities and 27 other operators and the aciation the company had had with the rail since 1930 through their standing joint unittee, coupled with the presence on the ird of at least one serving railway officer, was ither example of co-ordination.
dr. Beddow went on to say for the benefit the "integrators" that the truncating of tes and services in order to transfer the nmerative ends to a conurbation transport hority would aggravate problems and solve
none. The company's financial problems in sparsely-populated areas would certainly be accentuated.
The vast operating organizations visualized would be too large to be efficient and when inefficiencies had infiltrated they were difficult to locate and correct. Special problems should be dealt with by special machinery and not by vast new structures.
Mr. Beddow said that the difficulties in the working of London's transport today were a warning of the dangers of applying to current problems the solutions of a past age, however excellent they were at the time.
Late deliveries On the subject of new buses and coaches, Mr. Beddow said that unfortunately the cost of these already most expensive capita] items was still rising and there were signs that the manufacturers were beginning to slip on the delivery dates they had promised. Any return to the unreliability of delivery schedules of some years ago, resulting in new vehicles being received too late in the season, would indeed be serious for the company.
Liverpool Tenders: Liverpool Corporation transport committee recommends that tenders be invited for 130 'double-deck. large-capacity, front entrance buses, for delivery during 1968-9.