AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

A SMALL BOOM IN BUSES.

19th July 1921, Page 25
19th July 1921
Page 25
Page 26
Page 25, 19th July 1921 — A SMALL BOOM IN BUSES.
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By "The Inspector."

/ N SPITE of the depressing outlook at the begin ning of the rear, consequent on the unparalleled

dislocation of industry in all directions., the road passenger-carrying activities of the country have since rallied to a remarkable and unexpected extent. Many of us were most pessimistic early in the year when, normally, the new season's requirements in chars-a-banes, particularly, should have been putting gingerinto all the sales department officials of companies manufacturing both the better class of machine as well as the cheaper type. The. long ipell of fine weather and the considerably reassuring labour outlook, have resulted in a mild late-season boom of a certain character, due to the determination of the Ordinary Person and his wife, to snatch as much enjoyment as they can at the lowest Dos Bible cost

before it is toe late.

' The ehar-hebancs has already established itself in the opinion of the aforesaid. Ordinary Person (not to mention his wife) as the easiest possible way of securing that end. Particularly in most of the congested industrial districts which have felt the. pinch so severely during the past few • months, have operatives,mechanics and others, abandonedin. their thousands their long-accustomed annual holidays at the sea. Blackpool and similar favoured resorts have a sorry tale to tell in that respect, But an alternative has been discovered. The worker with his wife, and often his family, have spent a proportion of their accustomed leave on day trips, frequently very long ones, by chaas-a-banes. In this way they have avoided considerable expense; there. are RD lodgings to pay for and they sleep at home. at night.

The result of all this has been a rather sudden and certainly very considerable renewal of char-iebancs activities, and quite satisfactory orders have been booked by a number of the principal makers for new machines, as the direct result of this encouragement.

Concurrently with this very welcome renewal of interest in this very important branch of passenger carrying by road, there is direct evidence all over the country that the motorbus proper, for rural services particularly, has reached a stage by steady pregression, at which it is accepted, finally and definitely, as a money-earning proposition on the main roads between the villages and towns, where train facilities at their best have been nothing to boast of, and at their worst, have been of little assistance to the local populations.

There are a great' many stretches of main roads in this country of ours which have at short intervals villages, hamlets and bigger settlements where the practice of visiting the next town has been one which has always. called for a carefully planned programme—an event for market-days only, and then, very often, by the slow and troublesome method of the old-time carriers' van, of which large numbers still are in use throughout the country. To-day, it is established that the new, motorbus services on most of the main roads in the country are encouraging those who live near them to take frequent journeys and net to limit their travels to the one market-day or to their recognized outing.

The. country-side resident is getting, in no inconsiderable measure, the habit that has for some years past been peculiar, so far, to the town-dweller ; he or she has learnt to "pop in " by bus to the next town for business or pleasure frequently. As a

result, one finds, alI over the country, renewed into of a very valuable character in inter-urban services. Developments of this kind are not by any means confined to the big operating concerns whose breadth of vision and wide-flung business, interests are always on the look-out for development work.

We find in numbers of cases local owners, who have. perhaps been engaged in a miscellaneous haulage business of some kind or another, possessing few cabs or, ,earlier, a horse char-a-bancs or so, undertaking local haulage or carriers' work and, very often, too,. the local undertakers' business. This is the class of man who has awakened to the possibility of earning revenues much in excess of those he has dreamed of hitherto, and who, with his very acute knowledge of local conditions, market-towns, 'shopping facilities and his -personal acquaintance, is able satisfactorily to establish himself as the owner of one or more single-deels buses running between his own town and residence and other villages.

Orders for single-deckers-in ones and twos are, as a matter of fact, becoming reasonably plentiful; and it is not at all unlikely that this development will go ahead at a fairly rapid pace, now that the prospects if renewed trade throughout the country are a little more rosy. This rural omnibus-business is not. a seasonable, one and in • that way is quite distinct in character from the char-a-balies business.

Instances are known where small towns, hitherto served by an occasional .carriers' wagon or a very arbitrary train service, with the local station on the main line, perhaps one or two miles away,, have already developed a habit of travelling by local omnibus, two or three times as frequently as hitherto, to bigger towns in the district. For the.first month or twoinhabitants are shy of this new method., but they soon take to it and, as in all matters affecting small communities, once a start is made, enthusiasm and progress very soon follow. Cases are known where a single bus has been put on in such a; service and ha-s run for two or three months half empty, and then suddenly the habit has been formed and the single bus proved altogether inadequate for the purpose. Rivals appear an the field and then.a little warfare starts, while buses are purchased by the original man as a result of profits he has made and his desire to retain his lucrative geedwill. Until in the end, after a period of rather drastic eoixtpetitieri, amalgamation and consolidation set in and a regular service of very considerable, proportions is finally and permanently established. So, on the whole, the passenger-carrying business on the road has, rather unexpectedly, taken on a very healthy fresh lease of life.

Finally, a word may be said on another aspect or this development, which is not inappropriate to the present article. As most of my readers will know, there have been several attempts recently made to publish a guide and time-table of all the motor omnibus and char-a-ba,nes routes throughout the country, and a particularly carefully compiled one is that known as the T.B.R. (Travel-by-Road).

While paying a compliment to the compilers of this remarkable little volume, I am a little sceptical, I must admit, as to the actual value to-the char-a-balms user and the passenger in the motor omnibus of a guide which deals with services throughout the country. With the exception of the holiday-maker taking long-distance trips—and he is not numerous

am not convinced that the ordinary person who wants to use, and generally does use, a local service, whether it be a regular omnibus service or a holiday trip, will find a guide on the lines of the A.B.C. railway guide of any use to him whatever. If he be a, local resident, he has his own local time-table, which is all sufficient for him. If he be a, holiday-maker, the proprietor of the local char-h-laancs sees to it that he has particulars of the trips in the district where he is spending his vacation.

The case is altogether different from that of the railway guide, and, in the writer's opinion, it is not likely, at any rate for a long time to come, that many people will get into the habit of making long through journeys in the country, involving changes and junctions. This practically never happens in connection with the vast network of tramways in certain parts of th.e. country. The railway is likely to reign supreme for

the hulk of long-distance passenger work, other than for purely holiday trips. So that, although one can admire the industry and the care that has been exercised in putting together a guide showing over 1,800 separate motor services throughout the country, it is doubtful whether the average man will want to know anything about more than one or two of that inspiring total.

[In this matter we entirely disagree with our critical contributor. We think that a really well-planned guide to the omnibus services of the country is likely to take a place in. general esteem akin to Bradshaw. The inter-weaving already effected of the .services is marvellous, as a gla,nce*at the map of England and Wales included in the T.B.R. guide. instanbly -shows. We would ask " The.Inspector " to glance at the map and then to allow his irnagination to run riot.—En. C. M.]

Tags


comments powered by Disqus