Bird's Eye View
Page 53
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£10m. to Burn
By The Hawk
I CANNOT imagine that the citizens of Birmingham will I take kindly to a proposal under which £10m, of their hard-earned money would be spent on bringing back the trams. The idea is that a 14-mile light railway, complete with tunnels, should be built from Rubery to the city.
The object is to reduce traffic congestion, yet this grandiose scheme would displace only 37 buses. Moreover, passengers would have to pay higher fares than they do on the buses. If Birmingham has £10m, to throw away, I can think of several more deserving causes than a tramway.
Back-hander
nIRECTLY the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced
the removal of the emergency Is. increase in fuel duty, customers began to demand the withdrawal of the surcharge on haulage rates recommended by the Road Haulage Association and the National Conference of Road Transport Clearing Houses. Bus passengers, too, felt entitled to an immediate cut in fares.
What everyone, apart from the operators, conveniently forgot was that the oil companies' surcharge remained and that rebates on bulk supplies of fuel had not been restored. It was obviously impossible to return at once—if at all—to pre-rationing rates and fares. That kind of situation requires a good deal of explaining. The Budget has not done the road transport industry a particularly good turn. If anything, bus operators are worse off, because motorists are encouraged to use their cars again.
Full Lock
WHAT, I wonder, lies behind the keenness of 33 members of the Reading depot of the Thames Valley Traction Co., Ltd., in forming a judo club? Is a heavy increase in fares in the offing, and are conductors and others training themselves for what the economists call "consumer resistance"? Is the principle of protection for the established operator being taken too seriously?
But passengers being what they are sometimes, it is probably as well that busmen should have an outlet for feelings they may often have to repress.
In Transit
AFTER accounting for the proportions of Londoners who travel to work by public transport, car, motorcycle and bicycle, a report by the London Transport Executive says that 1 per cent. use "other means." Unless Shanks' pony comes within this category, I cannot readily imagine what
this expression is intended to convey. Horse? Boat? Perhaps sleigh? Or even magic carpet? What I would like to know is who holds the record for daily mileage covered in travelling to and from work. I know many people who work in London ,and come up from the South Coast and places as far north as Peterborough, and a friend once " commuted " from Ryde, Isle of Wight, for three months.
Blackburn's Daniel
AFINE example of public. relations for bus operators was set last week by Mr. John Harrison, general manager of Blackburn Transport Department. At a meeting in Blackburn Town Hall, he confidently rose from his seat and, facing 40 women, said: "I hear you are gunning for me."
Mr. Harrison had chosen to attend a meeting of Blackburn Standing Conference of Women's Organizations, who had recently been complaining bitterly about certain aspects of the town's bus services. A Daniel in the lions' den to be sure, but from what I hear the lions were tamed. Most of the evening was spent by Mr. Harrison's answering questions on such points as the location of destination indicators on buses, allegedly inadequate shelters, and complaints about the height of bus steps and the price of fares. These may be minor points, but the fact that Mr. Harrison took the trouble to give up his own time to explain them in person must have been a salutary lesson to his audience.
Fishing for Business
LIKE almost any man who has turned his hobby to business account. Mr. E. Jeffcock, who runs Jeffcock's Coaches, of Sheffield, has been handsomely rewarded in interest and enjoyment. He entered the transport industry in 1920 and set about providing for the needs of his fishermen friends.
By using his coaches the piscatorial fraternity of Sheffield and district travel the country in pursuit of their hobby, sometimes going as far afield as Scotland, although Lincolnshire, Westmorland and Cambridgeshire are some of the more usual hunting grounds. This year a party of connoisseurs even wanted to take their favourite coaches for a week's tour of Irish waters, but restrictions on visiting vehicles put this out of court. The names of the Jeffcock fleet proclaim their connections with the disciples of Izaak Walton, for they include "Trout," "Perch," "Chub," "Pike," "Roach" and " Bream." By way of good measure, Mr. Jeffcock writes angling notes for several newspapers. With his facilities for sampling anglers' star selections, his should be a truly authoritative voice.