PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS:
Page 25
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
FEATURES OF COACHING IN WALES.
Combined Road and Rail Journeys which are Proving Popular in Northern Districts.
IN previous issues of The Commercial 11fotor motor coaching and motorbus operations in North Wales have been exhaustively reviewed, especially in what might be described as the holiday area; that is, between Rhyl and Bangor, where some of the passenger transport systems have been developed to a high pitch of efficiency. Farther south, however, and especially round the Cornervonshire coast in the Pwllheli, Criccieth, Portmadoc and Barmouth secTtions, an entirely different set of conditions is encountered, for, owing to thet more limited visiting population, there is not the same incentive to enterprise as at places. like Llandudno and Colwyrt Bay, which every week have a changing population running into tens of thousaLds of people. In the less populous
parts of North Wales ample facilities now exist for enabling holiday-makers and tourists to visit many of the places of interest within the vicinity. Excepting at some of the popular coastal resorts, where 28-seater coaches still hold sway, vehicles of smaller seating capacity are held in general favour. To some extent the prevalence of this type is a compromise betweeri the six-seater touring cars, which are almost ubiquitous, and the more plebeian large coach.
Some of the resorts within the area referred to are visited mainly by families of holiday-makers, and it is a noteworthy experience of North Wales owners that parties are more discriminating in their selection of coaches than the young folk, who flock to the resorts where the 28-seater holds an unchallenged position. In the Barmouth district owners, instead of running their large coaches on solid tyres, have followed the example of their colleagues at Rhyl, and have adopted pneumatics.
An examination of the tours announcements in the Barmouth, Criccieth and Pwlllieli districts shows that owners concentrate on the same destinations as the owners running from Rhyl, these being Colwyn Bay and Bangor. Other favourite runs are to Bettivs-y-coed, Llanberis Pass, Snowdon, Lledr Valley, Aberglaslyn and Llangollen; but, whereas from the north cant the journeys are made daily, from the west coast runs are made according to a weekly programme. which schedules the tours for the enstring week.
The main tours from Criccieth are those run by A. and R. Motors, Ltd. (Messrs. Avery and Roberts), and the following list gives an idea of the nature of the tours and the fares charged :— Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., also run to a weekly programme, and in the district covered by their motorbus and motor coach services they have 13 booking offices. On the afternoon and evening tours mileages, of between 30 and 60 are covered, and full-day tours extend up to 120 miles.
From the Cardigan Bay health resorts the Great Western Railway Co, run a series of day tours, in which motor trips are combined with railway journeys. In this way much traffic is attracted to both forms of travel. In the Cornwall district combined motor and rail tours have been developed to a wonderful point of success by the Great Western Railway Co., and there can be no gainsaying that North Wales, although not possessing the same possibilities as Cornwall, does offer a good field for combined tours of this kind.
As an example of the tours the Great Western Co. are running in this area, mention might be made of that from Aberystwyth to Snowdon, Passengers leave Aberysttvyth at 7.50 a.m., and, arriving at Portmadoc, the journey is continued by motor coach, which takes parties around Snowdon via the Pass of Aherglaslyn, Beddgelert, Vale of Gwy• tiara, Pen-y-Gwryd, Llanberis Pass and lakes to Llanberis, back to Portmadoc. The motor journey is one of about 50 miles. and the total return fare from Aberystwyth is 12s. 11d.
At Portmadoc the motor coach proprietors who contract for these tours with the railway company receive private single-seat bookings. but the number they are open to accept depends upon the number of bookings made by the railway company. Another 50-mile tour by road arranged in conjunction with the railway company is that from Portmadoc to Bettws-y-coed and Fairy Glen. through Pass of Aberglaslyn, Beddgelert, Gwynant Valley, Capel Curig and passing the Swallow Falls. Railway passengers can, of course, book with the railway company for the through journey from any station between Aberystwyth and Criccieth. Roughly, the fare for independent motor coach bookings is Is., which makes the rate per mile about lid. Some of the railway motor coach excursions from Barmonth are run in connection with the Nevin Motor Bus Co., of Nevin and the Toeia Motor Bus Co. to Abersoch and Aberdaron.
Why is it, we wonder, that so many of the North Wales coach owners have refrained this season from quoting on their day-tour bills the charges for tours?
We have before us at the moment the announcements of the two principal owners in Rhyl—Messrs. Brookes Brothers, who run the White Rose fleet of Leylands, and the Rhyl and Potteries Motor Co., who run A.E.C. and several
of the smaller: types of coach. Messrs.
Brookes Brothers have a daily tours programme, which includes 25 destinations, the shortest journey being a 10-mile run, and the longest, that to gala, Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.
Messrs. Brookes Brothers, in their tours announcements, not only state the time coaches are due to lease Rhyl, but the time they are due to return, and if on any one day the whele of the tours they schedule were duly run, the total coach mileage would be over 2,100.
The Rhyl and Potteries Motor Co. run 21 ordinary everyday tours, the longest being to Barmouth, 175 miles. The total daily mileage of their tours is about 1,400. Criticism has been heard of the low fares charged at Rhyl, and. as instances of these loW rates, we can mention the Llangollen tour of 100 miles, for which a charge of 8s. 6d. is made, and the Aberystwyth tour of 212 miles, for which Lila asked. The 116-mile tour to Snowdon is priced at 10s. 8d.
At Rhyl the corporation has provided a free motor park, and here there is ample accommodation for coaches carrying passengers who desire to visit tht amusement section of the town.
After much controversy which stirred public feeling to a high pitch of excitement, . the Rhyl and Potteries Motor Co. have inaugurated bus services with A.E.C. single and double-decker vehicles, and they-have been established for a period of five or six weeks. The services which are being maintained are over routes which have been served in the past, and on which there is always much holiday traffic. " The coaching season so far as North Wales is Concerned has beena fairly good one up to the present period.