By F. K. MOSES T HE longer holiday period at Christmas
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this year, together vviith the relatively good weather up to Christmas Eve, encouraged more people than ever to travel on the long-distance coach 'services. Seven coaches left Victoria for Glasgow on the 19.30 departure and 11 on the 20.30 departure on Christmas Eve, for example. whilst no fewer than 17 coaches left for North East England the same night. With the extended holidays enjoyed by many people now, however. the actual rush was spread over several days. More comfortable coaches, faster journeys, in many cases taking advantage of motorways, and better last-minute booking facilities have all added to the inherent advantage of long-distance coach travel—return fares at about 45 per cent the cost of second-class rail fares—to make this more popular than ever.
I went along to Victoria Coach Station in time for the breakfast-time rush on Christmas Eve, and found crowds milling everywhere, with luggage all over the place. Coaches were being loaded, and wen moving out as soon as possible to make way for others, and there was a general air of hustle. One might have imagined that it was confusion too, but in fact everything was under control, with the "today departures" booking office, left luggage office and cafeteria all coping without any serious queueing. Before very long the crowds had-almost miraculously—disappeared, and the station became quiet again.
Most popular destinations were the West Country, with 16 departures for Plymouth: whilst South Wales, Scotland and Northern England were close behind.
It was the Plymouth services which were to run into trouble with rather too fervent seasonal weather towards the end or the holidays, but even on the worst days the .coaches got through, although some arrived back at Victoria about 11 hours late. Despite widespread publicity about bad weather, all other services were running to time, including those from Wales.
At the moment, Victoria Coach Station is in the throes of reconstruction. A large extension to the forecourt is taking place beneath a new office block under construction, and this valuable floor space should he available by Easter. Meanwhile, to keep things moving, traffic in the station is moving on a one-way basis, and all arrivals are setting-down Samuelson's garage on the side of Elizabeth Street opposite to the coach station. Coaches from the north approach via Eccleston Street and Eccleston Place, without touching the congested Buckingham Palace Road, and all coaches leaving the station head northwards as well, thus avoiding any clash between arriving and departing vehicles. Considering that 400 coach departures an hour (an average of 3,000 passengers) are handled at the height of holiday neaks, the smoothness with which the services have operated is very • creditable. Between 800 and 900 coaches were expected to leave between the time of my visit and 10.30 p.m.
An interesting point arising from the eeplacement of older coaches by new 36-ft. vehicles is that not only are the vehicles themselves being made More comfortable,but fewer coaches are required to handle greater numbers of people-800 as against 1.000 ten years ago.