Rail Not Harmed by Fast Buses
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THE Northern Traffic Commissioners. sitting at Newcastle upon Tyne on Monday, granted an application by the Northern General Transport Co.; Ltd., to modify the conditions attached to road service licences granted last August in connection with what they then called "inter-urban rapid services" (The Commercial Motor, August 14).
They asked the Commissioners to allow them to introduce additional request stops on their Newcastle-South Shields and Newcastle-Sunderland services, and to operate both services via the recently opened Felling by-pass.
Also included in the application was a _request to exclude operation of the services on Christmas and New Year's Day and Good Friday. The company further asked to amend their timetable in respect of the South Shields service to enable them to operate hourly at 37 minutes •past instead of 40 minutes past each hour from South Shields, and to advance their services by three minutes throughout the day.
The application was objected to by British Railways on the ground that if granted it would cause wasteful competition. Giving evidence, Mr. John H. Richardson, traffic manager, said that the new express services which were brought into operation last September were satisfactory. N.G.T. were, however, trying to make the transport more attractive. They did not wish to abstract passengers from the railways.
Mr. Richardson said that he had received no report of anyone having transferred to the buses in consequence of the new service which was being offered. The application would merely enable their own passengers, travelling upon stage-carriage services, to _transfer to express services.
Mr. G. P. Crowe, on behalf of British Railways—who did not object to the use of the Felling by-pass or the suspension of services on public holidays—submitted that the application seemed to have been made in a hurry as no detailed figures were available to show how the services had been operated by the N.G.T. undertaking.
Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, chairman, said that the application would be granted. The Commissioners didnot think there had been any abstraction from the railways.