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Leighton Buzzard's Population is Expected to Increase Rapidly, and Business Should Grow With It
By D. R. MacGregor, B.Sc. (Econ.) WHEN a small bus operator sells his business it is usually because he wants to retire or leave the industry. But neither was the case when Mr. D. Towse sold his business at West Wrattling. near Cambridge, to Premier Travel, Ltd., a few years ago. He believed that there were better prospects elsewhere.
With this in mind he bought Buckmaster Garages, Ltd., Leighton Buzzard, who held an excursion and tours licence covering Bletchley. As Bletchley was one of the new towns chosen to accommodate London's overflow population, Mr.
Towse believed that its population would rise by 200-300 per cent.
The Buckmaster garage in North Street, Leighton Buzzard, has recently been completely rebuilt, and now there is an attractive forecourt fronting the booking office. Tw_elve feet from ground level the flat roof of the office accommodates a series of notice boards which
BI4 give details of the comnany'sexcursions.
Immediately behind the office is an open yard to take the fleet of 10 vehicles, although most of them can make use of covered sheds on one side of the yard.
The company have three doubledeckers—an A.E.C., a Leyland and a Guy —which are mainly occupied with contract work. Much of this entails providing service to Vauxhall Motors'. new plant at Dunstable.
The Leyland is of particular interest, for it is one of the two experimental rearengined buses, powered by a Comet engine, which Leyland built prior to introducing the Atlantean. The bus was sold to Lowland Motorways, Glasgow, but now it is run by Buckmaster's it still sports the distinguishing red livery which Leyland put on it.
This bus has: been of great value to the company as it can negotiate a series of low bridges in the BletchIey area which keep other double-deckers at bay. Normally, Buckmaster's double-deckers are used only in the mornings and evenings, although they are useful in Catering for a rail excursion to Woburn Abbey. Trains take the tourists to Leighton Buzzard, where Buckmaster's vehicles pick them up and carry them the rest of the way to the abbey.
In the single-deck field there are two Bedford Vegas with Duple and Yeates bodies, an A.E.C. Mark III and a Mark IV, both with Burlingham bodies, a Crossley, a Burlingham-bodied Leyland Royal Tiger, and a Leyland PS1 with a service-type body which has recently been bought from East Yorkshire Motor Services, Ltd. The fleet livery is maroon and white.
Excursions and tours form the greater part of the company's activities, although a small stage service is operated into the town on market day. They hold excursion licences from various points, such as Bletchley, Soulbury and Heath and Reach, and these are grouped so that passengers arc offered a selection of three or four different destinations each day during the summer season.
Excursions are run to most of the main coastal resorts, including Skegness and right round the coast to Bournemouth, and there are also northern services to such places as Blackpool. The popular race meetings and sports events are all covered, and there are tours to Bath, the Cotswolds, Gloucester, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon.
However, it is in the future prospects of the area that Buckmaster's hold such a commanding position. The stage services in Leighton Buzzard are provided by the United Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., who offer frequent services to Luton, Aylesbury and Bedford. But there is no link with Hemel Hempstead. 17 miles towards London. The railways do not offer a through service. and London Transport can do nothing as Leighton Buzzard is outside their area.
As Hemel Hempstead grows and the shopping centre there is completed there will probably be need for a good service between the towns. But it is in and around Bletchley itself that Buckmaster's have the greatest scope. The stage services are again provided by United Counties but, surprisingly enough, there are no express facilities.
It is anticipated that some of Buck master's excursions to . Clacton, Bournemouth. London and other popular destinations, will eventually be converted to express operation.
Buckmaster's are one of the few small operators to provide a .detailed excursions and tours brochure covering the whole of the summer season.They duplicate it themselves, together with time-tables, formsand even excursion tickets, on a new Gestetner machine. The brochure's cover shows a map of part of England, illustrating the main destinations served, and .this map is also reproduced on the rear of all coaches,
which, as the picture above shows, provides good publicity.
The brochures are produced well in advance of the season and run to about a dozen quarto pages. Besides outlining the company's summer programme they also contain a full list of their 20-odd agents—three of them looking after Bletchley bookings—and give a complete list of horse racing fixtures, noting the most well-known races.
A full page in last year's brochure was devoted to publicizing the two no-passport day excursions to Calais operated from Bletchley via Leighton and Calais. On another page,. readers were urged to watch their local newspapers for particulars of excursions to special events, particularly theatre outings to London, Northampton and Oxford.
So far, Buckrnaster's have not supplied their agents with posters, but they ensure that each one receives full details of impending excursions so that they can be chalked on the agents' display boards. . This system is employed on Buckmaster's own notice boards above their booking office and has proved effective.
When the offices were first built, Mr. Towse had some misgivings about placing notice boards so far above ground level. However, acareful • Survey of the reactions of passers-by put his fears at rest, for nearly everyone looked up at them. immediately in front of the depot is a powerful lamp, which illuminates the boards, so their message is displayed 24 hours a day. "
No Glasgow Services The company had 'hoped that they would be able to advertise a Glasgow service on their notice boards--both excursions and express operation-frOm Aylesbury—but the East Midland, Metropolitan and Eastern Traffic Commissioners decided otherwise. However, they indicated that an express application to cover peak holiday periods might succeed.
The company are firm believers in having one man to one vehicle and, as a result, no part-time drivers are employed. Each driver keeps the same vehicle and is responsible for cleaning and servicing it, although there are two mechanics for the more intricate work.
One of the drivers specializes in coach painting and he is occupied throughout the winter months repainting vehicles ready for the summer season.
The success of Buckmaster Garages is probably due to Mr. Towse's policy of trying to be one step ahead of his competitors, anticipating public demand and being on the spot to provide firstclass services with modern rolling stock. Personal supervision has also played a vital part—Mr. Towse makes it a rule to supervise the departure of every –excursion, thus creating goodwill and seeing that everything is done to make the passengers' day a pleasant one.