L.T.E. Has Three-stage Plan A THREE-STAGE bus plan for ri•
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London was outlined by Lord Latham, chief of the London Transport Executive, on Monday. Stage 1 is to replace worn-out buses, Stage 2 to strengthen existing services, and Stage 3 to open up new routes and extend exist
ing ones. .. ,
Thefirst aim for' 1948 is to Continue the assault on the queues, The programme provides for putting 1,200 new buses on the road this year. 'These will be an instalment of the '4,200 vehicles On order, and ." will have a noticeable
effect on London travel.'a . . New buses this year will be used to leplace worn-out vehicles 'Questioned as to w_hy they were to be. used as replacements, instead of as additions to the fleet, a member of the ExecutiVe said that many old buses (more than half were over replacement age last year) would be unsafe.
As a result of introducing the new vehicles, said Lord Latham, he thought he could promise Londoners "a little more mileage still," in 1948, despite a record 1947 mileage of 610,000,000 on all services,' the highest ever achieved by London Transport.
"The individual Londoner," he said, ." is travelling one-fifth more than before the war." Over 500 buses additional to the present 9,000 were needed,
It was hoped, too, that the 8 ft.-wide bus would appear in 194g. There were 500 on order. They would at first be used on suburban routes.
Abandonment of the South London trams, on the.maintenance and repair of Which £1,000,000 was spent in 1947, would have 10 Wait Possibly five years. . A question .was asked as to the 'prob:able period of retention' of the luxury coaches at present on loan to London Transport by private operators. It was stated that there were 324 in use and it Was hoped to keep them all until March and "a large majority some little time longer."
Asked whether the ultimate addition of 500 buses would. present a new congestion problem in London, Lord Latham said that this raised wide questions of overall policy, and brought in the matter of railway• development.