BLACKPOOL'S, 12 DAILY SERVICES. '
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Agreement Amongst Owners which is Likely to Prove Beneficial to All Coach Proprietors in a Popular Resort.
AT long last Blackpool motor-coach owners appear to have put their house in order, and the local association, now being 100 per cent, strong, has decided to put into operation, forthwith, a new schedule of fares to all the principal places within easy coaching distance of the town. For the first time the Blackpool and District Motor Coach Owners' Association is advertising, on behalf of its members, the daily services from Blackpool to Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton and Blackburn, and, for the information of the public, gives the names and addresses and telephone numbers of 12 operators specializing in daily services.
This is a step in the right direction, and co-ordination is long overdue. Up to a few days ago passengers desiring to travel to Manchester and other places which are served were attracted by any of the individual coach owners' announcements, and, as there are seven owners running to Manchester and to Bolton it seems ridiculous that it should have taken so long to reach a common understanding. One immediate benefit that will accrue to the motor-coach proprietors is a more reasonable revenue from fares, which had been cut so low that practically all the local owners were compelled to come into line with the various reductions. Consgquently the Manchester, Bolton and Liverpool journeys were quoted at 2s. 6d. single, 3s. return, and 4s. 6d. long-date return.
If all owners are able to agree to charge the same fares, when competition forces them down, step by step, • to the lowest, if not lower than the economic limit, why should it be difficult for them to agree upon a system of fares which would represent fair value for travel service in up-to-date vehicles? That question has been asked many times by local owners, but the answers have been always extremely elusive.
Meanwhile, prominent members of the trade have been active in formulating a better understanding and one of the first-fruits of this is a 33 increase in the fares to the Lancashire cities. The anomaly of quoting the same fare for Bolton as for Manchester, which represents an increase of 22 miles in the journey, has been removed, and a differentiation is made in the respective charges for the return journeys. Likewise for the Blackburn journey. Though the mileage for the latter is less than 60 return, owners used to charge 2s. 6d. single, 2s. 6d. return, and 4s. long-date return.
The new fares which are now in operation are :—Manchester and Liverpool (each about 98 miles, 3s. single' 4s. day return, and 5s. 6d. extended day return ; Bolton (about 45 miles), 3s. single, 3s. 6d. day return, and 55. longdate return ; Blackburn (about 60 miles), 3s. single, 3s. return, and 5s. long-date return.
Seven companies are concentrating on journeys to Manchester and Bolton and five companies on runs to Manchester, Bolton, Blackburn and Liverpool. This every day 12 companies undertake to send, coaches to Manchester and to Bolton, each loading at its own garage.
The 12 concerns operating the daily service coaches are :—Broadway Motors ; Empire Motors ; John Jenkings ; Hills Motors, Ltd. ; Landsdowne Motors; M. and H. Motors,Ltd.; S. and J. Wood, Ltd., Woods Bros., Ltd.; Standerwicks, Ltd.; Spencers Motors ; C. Smith ; and Salisbury and Sons, Ltd.