PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
MOTORBUS PROGRESS IN CARNARVONSHIRE.
The Activities of a Prominent Company Who Run a Number of Passenger Vehicles of Va ious Types.
S0.11E idea of the imPortance of the motor omnibus services of Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., may be deduced from the fact that last year the vehicles owned by the company travelled 158,703odd miles and cartied no fewer than 5l)3,0D0 passengers. Bearing in mind that the winter traffic averages about 4000 passengers per month, it will be obvious how great is the concentration of traffic during the holiday months oi the year. , As a matter of fact, the figure for August was 96,000.
During the last 15 months or so the organization for rendering more convenient the road travel facilities between Bangor—the headquarters of the company, and the outlying districts have been thoroughly overliauled; new vehicles have been added to the fleet and accelerated time-tables arranged. That these efforts have met with popular approval is evidenced by thetraffic returns.
The motorbus fleet of Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., comprises four 30-seater Dennis vehicles, two 26-seaters of the same make, two 25-seater Daimlers, and one 14-seater Ford. Two new 30-seater Dennis coaches equipPed with roll-top roofs and drop windows have recently been purchased. In addition, -an AS30ciatcl company, A. and B. Motors, Ltd., run a 30-seater Dennis bus, which is also fitted with a sliding roof and drop windows, from Pwllheli to Oriceieth and Portmadoc.
" Altogether between 45 and 50 miles of bus routes are covered by three full services and one hi-weekly service in winter, and by six in the summer months, when the frequenoy of the journeys is increased to cope with the greater traffic which is available. The shortest regular run is the town service between Bangor Pier, the Town Clock and the Menai Suspension Bridge, about three miles. Twenty complete journeys are made. each day, and more in the summer, the single fare being Bd. Each evening a bus leaves the two local theatres immediately after the performances for the Meriiii Bridge, this'being the only means of conveyance for residents.
Seven return journeys are made each day on the Bangor, Portdinerwic and Carnarvon route, which is 10 miles long, with extras on Fridays and Saturdays, and in the summer months there are 13 daily journeys, the fare being 1s. '4d.
The Bangor, Aber, Llanfairfechan and Pcnmaemnawr route {10 miles), on which there are five journeys per day, with extras at the week-ends, provides connectionsto Bettws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay' and Llandudno. The summer service is extended to 12 journeys per day. The Bettws-y-Coed run (21 miles), for which the•fare is 3s., is only undertaken on two days .of the week for the period between November and the spring months, but in summer there are three jolitheyS per day and one on Sunday. This is largely a holiday-maker's route.
There is an hourlyservice to Bethesda in the middle months of tbe year, spread over a 14-hour day. The distance is fivo miles and the fare 6d. From this town a fleet of four-seater jitneys, comprising 33 vehicles, is operated by a number of email owners; whose vehicles rim in competition with the buses and at the same fare.
The services of Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., are so well organised that it is pos.sible for a naskenger to board one of the comnauy's buses at Carnarvon and travel through to Penmaenmawr without changing, where, after a few minutes' wait, other vehicles may be taken to Conway, Llandudno, and, if necessary, from there to Colwyn Bay, Chester and Birkenhead.
The motor omnibus fares, as charged by the Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., work out at something like 10, per passenger per mile. On 'some routes cheap return tickets are issued, yielding a saving to passenger's of about 33Jff per cent. This concession is only available in the off season. On all services, where the single fare exceeds 6.d., contract tickets are issued for short periods such as a week, ' or. a:Month; The Charges are cal:Ciliatedon the basis of one return and one single joinney per day, hut; armed with the contract, the passenger may make as many Journeys as he chooses. For the weekly "contracts a different coloured card...is available each week.' Although the company have number of booking agencies, these tickets are only issued from their head office. -Con: siderable advantage is taken of this con
cession. • .
The following is an interesting summary 'of_ percentages; representing an analysis of the variOns fares paid and expressing their relation to the total revenue received
id. 'fares, 13.8 per cent. ,431 total traffic ; 2d. fares, '21.9; 3d. fares, 17.4; 4d. fares; 16.8; 6d.. fares, 14.1 ; 7d. fares, .1; 8d, fares, 6.2; 9d. fares, '.31 ; is, fares, 6.0; is. 3d. fares, .01 ; is. 4d. fares, 1.61; ls. 6d. fares, .14; :1s. 9d. fares, .01; 2s. fares, .32; 2s:., 6d. fares, .2 3s. fares, .2. i'heae -percentages refer to last year's traffic, . when 503,221 passengers_ were carried. As showing the violent fluctuation between the load factor in summer and in winter, it may be mentioned that in 'August last, the best month of the year, and, indeed, a record month, seven buses carried no fewer than 96,000 passengers, compared with the average for each of the winter months of something like 20,000. These figures indicate the need for the drastic readjustment of the services to enable them to approXiniate to the traffic demand.
The' exact mileage of the buses for the year was 1.58,727, the August figure being. 22,829 miles and the December figure' 9,153 miles.
It needs to be explained that, owing to the load restrictions, there are only three months in• the year.wben it. is Fos
sible to run full services; for that reason cheap tickets are not issued in the midsummer months. The summer services are approximately double those of winter, with the exception of the town service, which is increased by about 26 per cent. The new Dennis buses are intended to be :employed on the popular long-distance sight-seeing runs. '
So much for ,the passenger-carrying side of the Bangor Blue I'dotors' bus services. It is interesting to learn that last year the buses carried over, 7,00C parcels. Passengers, of course, are allowed to carry. a certain amount of luggage free, but portmanteaux, finishcarts and bulky packages are charged extra, Parcels are only carried at the sender's risk, carriage paid only, and must be met at their destination. Eggs and farm produce are regularly carried, but on occasions the carcases of sheep have been transported. The usual rate fin the carriage of ordinary parcels is half the ordinary passenger fare, with a minimum of 3d.
• The motor coach fleet of the Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., consists of three 14seater Unies, three 18-seater LTnics,• two 23-seater Daimlers, and one 18-seater Dennis. Last' year the coaches travelled 26,630 miles and conveyed 9,242 passengers. The season of 1923 was a very poor one, and not only was the profitable traffic period limited, but keen competition, quite unexampled in previous years, -was experienced. The rates for the season varied between and lid. per passenger per mile, and the latter, figure will probably be the charge this year. The company have eight local booking agents in Bangor and also agencies at Menai Bridge, Llanfairfechan and Peninaemmawr. Practically all the booking offices are on the line of the bus routes, and passengers booking seats are provided with free conveyance to the starting-off point for the coach tours.
The preference of the company is for coaches of .a;' Medium passenger seating capacity, rather. thin for the smaller types of vehicle.