Friendly chat before the chop
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• The prospective pattern of closures of uneconomic bus services in Scotland by Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was outlined in Hawick last week when the company was given authority to eliminate nine services which have been highly uneconomic in recent years.
Before the hearing Mr A. B. Birnie, chairman of the Traffic Commissioners, said that the legal position was quite clear. Any holder of a vehicle service licence could simply surrender these licences at any time without question. For many years, however, operators in Scotland had co-operated with the local authorities and the Traffic Commissioners and had attempted to do what seemed to be the most sensible thing in all their interests.
Mr Birnie also stressed that the hearing was unusual and one which could be handled best, perhaps, in a more informal manner, as a discussion rather than as a public hearing. This was agreeable to the parties and Scottish Omnibuses proceeded to outline their case. Mr Archibald Ross, traffic manager, said that the company proposed to surrender three licences based on Selkirk but would retain school services within the area which operated under separate licences. There were no objections to the withdrawals and the counties of Selkirk and Dumfries had been informed.
The average operating cost of Scottish Omnibuses in 1970 was 50.6 old pence per mile; the Selkirk-Moffat route had earned in varying days 6.76d, 7.59d and 5.07d. Mr Ross said that the question of subsidy was put to the local authorities but they had indicated clearly that they were not prepared to subsidize. The school services would be continued under contract and would carry fare-paying passengers where this could be done but it was a fact that many of the school services were already packed to capacity.
The local authorities seemed clearly unwilling to meet the situation and had been advised as far back as November. Accepting the cancellation of these three services based on Selkirk, Mr Birnie said that with these figures before them it would be quite wrong to ask Scottish Omnibuses to continue these services.
Three routes radiating from Duns to Grantshouse, Preston and Ayton had been the subject of discussion with Berwickshire county council, Mr J. B. P. Loudon said for Scottish Omnibuses. The company had arranged with the county to continue services until Saturday May 8 so that more extended consideration could be given to a combined Duns-Preston, Duns-Grantshouse service.
For the county it was indicated that it was grateful for the discussions and was seriously considering subsidy in the services indicated. Mr Birnie said that the proposed arrangement between the two parties seemed to be sensible and they would not seek to change it.
The hearing then considered seven services radiating from Kelso and approved cancellation of these with one exception.
Mr Bimie emphasized that the role of the Commissioners had been changed by recent legislation. The people whom they had been protecting and looking after for all these -past years were perhaps going to suffer unless the local authorities assumed a similar protective attitude. "The burden has been transferred from us on to the local authorities," Mr Birnie said.
There was agreement that the closure should take effect after April 3 unless otherwise stipulated.