PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 65
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
BUS ACTIVITIES IN BARROW-IN-FURNESS. Some Details of the Facilities Provided by the Municipal Authorities and by Private Undertakings.
1DRIVATE enterprise was first responsible for the institution of bus services in the Barrow-in-Furness district, but the municipal authorities have held the requisite powers to run trolleybuses and petrol buses since 1925 and in that year their first bus service was in ugnrated.
It may be mentioned here that, although the tramways in Barrow are now under municipal control, they were originally constructed by the British Electric Traction Co., Ltd., and were purchased by the corporation at the end of. 1919.
With one exception all the bus services at present run by the corporation are operated within the borough boundaries and are arranged as follow :—
Approx. Approx. Through Route, length. headway. fare.
The last-named service runs via Rampside, Aldingham and Bardsea and, as part of its route is situated outside the borough, application had to be made to the Ministry of Transport and to the local councils concerned for consent to the working of the route, this being obtained in 1925. The corporation recently applied for permission to run on the main road to Iliverston, via Daltonin-Furness, but the sanction of the Ministry of Transport was not given in this case, as permission was not granted by certain of the councils through the areas of which the service would have been operated and this decision was subsequently upheld.
Guy saloon buses constitute the present corporation fleet. Of these there are 12, all being four-wheelers with front-entrance bodies arranged for oneman control. Incidentally it is interesting to note that this type of vehicle has also found considerable favour with private operators in the district.
The main road out of the town to Illverston forms the route upon which all privately operated vehicles are worked. A 20-minute service is provided over this route by the Furness Omnibus Co., Ltd., of Dalton, which employs a fleet of 13 Leyland vehicles, of the Leveret, Lioness and Lion types, whilst a further 20-minute service (making a combined service operating at intervals of 10 minutes) is provided by the Lonsdale Omnibus Co., Ltd., of Ulverston, which uses Studebaker six-cylinclered saloon vehicles. The Barrow Bus Co., Ltd., also runs 14-seater Chevrolet buses on this route.
Barrow boasts two long-distance ex
press services to Manchester, via Myersten, Carnforth, Lancaster and Preston, the Furness Omnibus Co., Ltd., providing one bus in each direction on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during the summer months and the Lonsdale Omnibus Co. a bus each way on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The latter company has also operated on this route during part of the winter months.
The single journey to Manchester occupies approximately five hours and the buses leave Barrow at 7 a.m., returning from Manchester at 6 p.m. on the same day. The through single fare of 7s. and the return charge of 10s. compare very favourably with the ordinary third-clam railway charges of 10s. 10d. single and 11 is. 8d. return for comparable journeys.
The railway journey, moreover, does not save the amount of time that might be expected, as the best trains occupy from about 34 to 4 hours in travelling in either direction between Barrow and Manchester, a change of trains sometimes being necessary at Carnforth.