Will the Bubble Burst ?
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THERE are indications that the rail(vays will use their new freedom in an effort to regain from coach operators the traffic in Service personnel travelling on week-end leave. It is reported that in several instances they have already reduced their fares below those charged on the competing road services and they are believed to intend to extend this policy.
Whether the saving of a shilling or so will outweigh the advantages of door-to-door travel by road can be determined only by experience. Cost has been an important consideration in promoting the demand for coach services from military camps and it may be that, if the railways reduce their prices substantially, the Services will forgo the other benefits of road transport. Everything depends on the improvements made by the railways to their Sunday services. Often the outward journey on Friday or Saturday can be made more quickly by rail than by road, but on the return trip on Sunday the timings are so inconvenient and the delays at interchange stations so long that valuable hours on a short pass are wasted. Coach services, on the other hand, are run to enable troops to leave at the latest possible hour.
If the railways are determined to recover the traffic at all costs, they will reduce their fares to a minimum and run special trains on Sundays wherever there is a hope that they can be justified. In that event, the role of the coach operator may revert to that of a feeder to the railways.
Earlier this year The Commercial Motor made a detailed investigation of camp services and pointed out that the activity was likely to be only transitory. Operators who have made it a mainstay of their businesses may one day find that the bubble has burst. They would be well advised to begin to seek other and more permanent work.