OVER TWENTY MILLION MILES A YEAR IN EIRE
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Many Visitors are Attracted to Eire by the Passenger Services of the Great Southern Railways, Whilst Wellorganized Goods Services Help Business and Speed-up Supplies WHEN the visitor to Eire wants to see the characteristic beauty spots simply, cheaply and without waste of time, he (or she) will almost certainly turn to the road services provided by the Great Southern
Railways. To the Irish themselves the G.S.R. is not only a railway system that also caters for the tourist, but is a universal transport provider which also operates express buses over long distances—such as from Dublin to Cork —runs local and suburban services, and carries goods from door to door, or from fair to fair.
For a typical year, the G.S.R. bus mileage was Ili millions and single passenger-journeys for the same period were no fewer than 24,599,578. Buses had a route mileage of 7,208, which is an effective coverage for an area the size of the 26 counties.
The goods side accounts for a further 0,000,000 vehicle-miles run annually, under conditions that differ materially from those appertaining in England. In Eire, return loads are few, owing to the restricted number of industries and, to some extent, to the fact that important towns which are on the coast are fed by steamers.
Luxury Coaches for Touring.
For touring purposes, the G.S.R. uses Leyland Tiger six-cylinder chassis and the bodywork for these, as for all the company's passenger vehicles, is constructed and fitted in the company's own works. By these luxury coaches the visitor is shown the country at anything from half-a-crown (for an evening trip) up to £13 (for a nine-day
inclusive place-to-place tour). Railway hotels are largely used for these holidays and the coach-tours system has proved a valuable source of custom for these establishments.
To visitors, the touring conches form n36 the most obvious signs of the railway company's services but behind this phase lies the extensive system of everyday buses and delivery vehicles that has been built up during recent years, in order to serve the Irish people themselves, reaching out to remote places which, in the past, were virtually out of touch with the world.
Development of bus routes by the railways has been a gradual process, its history actually starting in 1927, when the Road Motor Services Act gave the companies an opportunity to operate on the highway. About that time a new road operator commenced activities, this being the Irish Omnibus Co., Ltd., which took over a modest existing company and quickly extended, swallowed up many small concerns and, finally, became the largest road-transport concern in Southern Ireland.
In the early days, although the Irish Omnibus Co., Ltd., was operated in conjunction with the railway, the G.S.R. had no control over the buses. Then, in July, 1929, the railway company, through nominees, purchased the share capital of the bus company which, from then until 1033, existed with a separate board of directors from the railway, but was relatively closed. On January 1, 1934, the Irish Omnibus Co., Ltd., went into voluntary liquidation and sold the undertaking to Great Southern Railways, a proceeding that arose out of laws relating to road transport, but was not provided for in the Acts.
By the Road Passenger Transport Act of 1932, every operator had to have a licence from the Government to operate. The next year, a further Act gave authority to the railway. and tramway undertakings to acquire other services, or for the operators to transfer their services to the rail or tram authorities. Such transfers were subject to reference to the Minister and protection was given to both sides, with a hearing before an arbitrator if required. •
Few Large Operators.
Although a large number of licences still exist in the country, there are now no operators of any considerable size outside the Great Southern Railways, Great Northern Railway and the Dublin United Tramways. In 1933 an Act for the first time insisted upon service licences for freight operators, a pointer towards the possibility of a more-or-less national body. Behind that legislation was the idea that road and rail should be coordinated as part of a single system. Road services have since replaced the railway in certain areas and it is probable that, in the future, further branch lines will be closed and road vehicles substituted, since this arrangement has the advantage of offering better services and showing improved returns where traffic is sparse.
Although there are natural advantages in the joint operation, the company does not go out of its way, any more than ordinary bus companies, to feed the railways ; the road-transport department is out to supply the services required by the public without restriction through association with the railway. However, from the public's angle considerable advantage lies, in many instances, in the interavailability of road and rail tickets.
On the goods side, the 1933 Act was followed by the taking over by the G.S.R. of John Wallis and Sons, Ltd., a business of nearly a century's standing, which had held the carting agency for nearly all the railways. Since 1933, a nation-wide service has been built up by the absorption and welding together of the businesses of 150 private operators.
Rates Structure Under Way.
With licence sanction to work throughout the 26 counties that are under the jurisdiction of the Government of Eire. the G.S.R. serves the entire area. Having so wide a transport coverage as this, and including both road and rail in one organization, the question of charges is somewhat less complicated than in Great Britain. A tribunal is at work on a rates structure for all classes and distances and this is expected to be ready at quite an early date.
There are, of course, other carriers— just a few running long distances but about 900 confined to single counties or similar areas and chiefly serving the requirements of local farmers. This, plus the fact that the private trader can have as many vehicles as he pleases, without any service licence at all, effectively prevents any possibility of a monopolistic tendency.
All classes of carrying have to be undertaken, but surely the biggest single job, on the goods side, must be the highly organized transport for the beet factories, which provide approximately 300,000 tons of traffic during a season of about 12 weeks.
When the Irish Omnibus Co., Ltd., relinquishea control, 232 passenger
vehicles were handed over and by 193'7 this number had grown to 318. Leylands are the choice for most passenger purposes and the general practice is for the chassis to be imported in parts and assembled in Eire. Bodies are built in Eire and the main works for this task are situated at Broadstone and Inchicore.
The fleet includes 24 double-deckers which are used on the Cork city services. Other specifically suburban routes—those catering for the Sligo, Galway, Limerick and Waterford localities—are operated, as are the general services, by single-deckers.
Large garages are situated at Dublin, Cork and Limerick, medium-sized accommodation is provided at Galway, Waterford and Ballina, and there are smaller depots at Wexford and Listowel, with substations at Kilkenny and Clonmel. In all these districts there are facilities for repairs, but for thorough overhaul the machines are returned to Dublin.
Principal stage services link Dublin with Athlone, Ballina, Cork, Limerick, Sligo, New Ross, Waterford, Westport and Wexford; Cork with Clonmel, Killarney, Glengarriff and Waterford; Limerick with Galway, Kilkee, Lisdoonvarna, Cork and Tipperary ; Galway with Clifden, Lisdoonvarna and Sligo.
Hundreds of Goods Vehicles.
On the goods side, the lorry fleet now numbers approximately 650, a standard type being the Fordson 4-tonner, and, in addition, there are about 220 horses, with a number of carts, for very short hauls. In most cases the goods chassis now come from the Ford factory at Cork; but for particularly heavy duties Leylands are used. Various other types are included in the fleet, and as renewals become necessary the policy is to replace old models by units of the makes mentioned. On the newest machines bodywork is constructed in the company's own factory.
The headquarters of the road-transport organization, for both passenger and freight, are at Transport House, on Bachelor's Walk, beside the River Liffey, in the centre of Dublin. Here are the administrative offices, as well as a road-freight depot for the district. As with the passenger side, all goods-vehicle major overhauls are carried out in the capital, but facilities for ordinary repairs are available at Cork, Galway and Waterford. So as to maintain the condition _of the vehicles at a steady level, mechanical supervisors inspect each machine in turn.
Vehicles are spread over the country, being stationed at bus depots or railway yards in roughly 120 centres. where they can ofler service to or from the remotest village. Quite a number of freight motors is, of course, used to feed the railway and these will work up to about a 15-mile radius, thus reaching out to connect with the next delivery or collection service along the line.
Control by Station-masters.
These local distributions are controlled by the station-masters. A large proportion of the fleet, however, operates on door-to-door services and there are something like 50 direct roadgoods routes with an average distance of approximately 60 miles ; in all these cases the fleet is worked entirely independently of the railway.
Peculiar problems present themselves to both goods and passenger departments. As already indicated, the latter section takes a pride in catering for the tourist, but this traffic requires some special handling, as, for • instance, in the case of shore excursions from ships that call at the various ports. In the summer months, foreign steamers on cruises will berth awhile at Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Cobb, or Galway, and brief trips have to be arranged, taking in as many places of interest as possible, to give the hurrying visitors a glimpse of the beauties of Eire.
Sport plays a large part in Irish life ; in fact, ranks almost as an industry ; there is great excitement over races, hunting, and point-to-point meetings, so that the goods side needs to be prepared to carry at least 30 horses every day throughout the year, whilst at odd times it may be faced with vastly increased numbers requiring speedy transit.
Merchandise of all classes is carried, but, as the fairs form the orbits around which the rural areas of Eire tend to revolve, much attention must be devoted to their service and almost every G.S.R. goods vehicle is equipped with cratings so as to be easily convertible for livestock carriage. There is unlimited interchange of vehicles between the various districts, a facility made necessary by the extreme peaks of traffic associated with the fairs.
For furniture-removal purposes, containers that can be loaded on to the ordinary platform bodies are in use. In general, however, traffic tends to be of the " smalls " or part-load type, with numerous " drops," single full loads being relatively few. For this reason the really heavy machine is little needed, which is fortunate from a further point of view—the state of the roads in rural Eire, Access to isolated places is often by the direct descendants of old-time cart tracks which, together with weak and narrow bridges, sometimes constitute a serious problem for commercial drivers.
The driving staff is limited to hours somewhat similar to those enforced in Great Britain and, although not legally necessary, log-books are kept which record hours, repairs, tyre changes and similar features of importance.
Industry in Eire is developing in many spheres and Irish Dunlop tyres are naturally used extensively. Use has been made of motor spirit containing industrial alcohol from Irish factories, but fuel costs remain on a higher level than in England, whilst wage charges also are generally greater. Owing to tariffs replacements purcha,sed from Britain are subject to increased prices.