AIRING GRIEVANCES IN PARLIAMENT
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JUST after Easter, when the Ministry of Transport vote is raised in Parliament, the Motor Hirers and Coach Services Association will have an opportunity of bringing before the House of Commons the grievances and views of the road passenger transport industry. The representations will be based on material gathered from operators in all parts of the country, and will be one of the results of the national conference at Blackpool in October last.
BETTER RELATIONS BETWEEN OPERATOR AND AGENT.
LAST week a meeting took place. between members of P.S.V. Operators, Ltd., and the Booking Agents Association. The former was represented by Messrs. W. F. French, F. B. Monkman, F. A. Flu and T. Davis, the latter by Messrs. C. J. Adams, T. Morris, F. J. Dowsett and F. P. Shears.
The object of the meeting was to improve the business relations between the independent operators of the P.S.V. group and the booking agents, with a view to facilitating the sale of coach seats during the forthcoming season. It is felt on both sides that such frank B36 talks_ between the two sections of the industry can have only favourable results and it is now proposed to set up permanent sub-committees with more, frequent meetings.
RATEPAYERS SUGGEST SALE OF MUNICIPAL SYSTEM.
ATRADESMEN'S and ratepayers' deputation to Pontypridd Urban District Council to protest against an increase in the rates suggested that the council should sell its trolleybus and motorbus undertaking to private enterprise.
The council replied that the undertaking was not losing money in the way the deputation appeared to infer. The £5,000 contribution from the rates, last year, was . expended on the nowsuperseded tramways, on which liabilities of £26,326 remained to be wiped off.
In the year ended March 31, 1934, the trolleybus system lost only £401, whilst the motorbuses earned a profit of £148.
DUBLIN STRIKE POSITION UNCHANGED.
THE Dublin United Tramways Co., Ltd., has rejected the suggestion made by the Speaker of the Dail that the parties in the Dublin transport dispute should meet in a round-table conference. Whilst the two Unions (the Associated Transport and General Workers and the Irish Transport and General Workers Unions) accepted the invitation, the company officials stated
that they could not enter into negotiations while the strike was still maintained.
Further efforts were made, on Saturday last, by Mr. Sean Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce, to bring about a peace settlement, and the following statement was issued by his Department :—" The Minister for Industry and Commerce has submitted the following proposal to the parties involved in the strike With a view to a settlement of the dispute between the Dublin United Tramways Co. (1896), Ltd., and its workmen, the Minister proposes that there shall be a truce for a period of seven days from on to 8 p.m. on . Services will be resumed and negotiations between the parties will commence simultaneously on the issues in dispute.'"
MANAGERS' . ONUS IN SPEEDING CASES
WHEN a Leeds. Corporation bus VV driver was fined £2 at Leeds City Police Court, last Friday, for exceeding the speed limit of 30 m.p.h., a summons against Mr. W. Vane Morland, the general manager, for aiding and abetting, was dismissed.
It was stated for the prosecution that the bus in question had travelled at an average speed of 39 m.p.h. and a maximum of 41 m.p.h. When overtaken, the driver said he had taken over the bus only a few minutes earlier and found that the speedometer was not working. In court, the driver stated that he did not think the vehicle was travelling at more than 30 m.p.h.
The Stipendiary Magistrate. (Mr. Horace Marshall) accepted the submission that Mr. Morland had no case to answer, and remarked that, in his view, a man should know when he was travelling 11 m.p.h. over the limit, and the speedometer question did not arise. A decision as to aiding and abetting might have been necessary had the bus been travelling at only 33-34 m.p.h.
SOUTH SHIELDS FIRST BUS PROFIT.
DURING the past municipal year, South Shields Corporation's bus undertaking earned a profit of £2,100, which is the first surplus to be recorded in its history.
Taken as a whole, the municipal system worked at a gross profit of £20,000 and, after deducting loan charges, a net profit of £6,000 was obtaMed, this being the highest since before the war. The traffic figures increased by 750000 and the mileage by 22,000.
LONDON TRANSPORT A PUBLIC AUTHORITY.
FOLLOWING the report published in last week's issue, Judge Beazley, at Ilford County Court, decided that London Transport is a public authority, under the Public Authorities Protection Act. The Board is stated in the London Passenger Transport Act to be a public authority and, in the judge's view, it does not trade for profit, but operates for the public benefit. The effect of this ruling is that proceedings must be . brought against the Board within six months of an accident