PTEs opt for the bus
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by Martin Hayes
• A firm commitment to keep the bus as an integral part of their passenger transport systems is provided this week by the West Midlands and SELNEC Passenger Transport Executives. In accordance with the provisions of the 1968 Transport Act, both have presented development plans to their PTAs.
The West Midlands plan — which covers the next five years — predicts that the bus will be the major weapon in the battle against the private car. But for its most effective use the plan calls for the speedy rationalization of all bus services in the area — by implication a plea for the integration of Midland Red services into the PTE.
SELNEC's plan — entitled"Lifeline 2000' — is in two stages. This first covers the next five years and suggests that the bus, helped by road priority measures, including extensive bus lanes, can stop the decline in passengers (which has cost the PTE over £6m in the three years since its establishment). The second stage, covering the period from 1977 to the end of the century, sees the bus filling a three-part role: local services, collection and distribution for a drastically improved railways system, and trunk hauls to non-rail served areas. The bus was "the only satisfactory solution" to the conurbation's inner three or four miles.
Both plans have certain common aims, like immediately halting the decline in passengers. Both stress the need for making the bus a workable and attractive alternative to private cars by giving it priority over other traffic and thus avoiding the crippling effects on schedules of peak-hour congestion. The reports say that fare-paying passengers should not have to bear the full costs of operating expenditure.
Full details, ;lazes 29 and 30.