BIG G.W.R. BUS MOVES IN SOUTH WALES.
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Amongst Other Recent Developments the Railway Company Acquires an Interest in an Established Bus Company.
A FTER negotiations extending over 1."1_a period of three months the Great Western Railway' Co. have practically concluded arrangements under which they acquire a half interest in the bus and coach undertakings of the South Wales Commercial Motors, Ltd., of Cardiff and Bridgend. The arrangement for governing the services is, it is understood, a 50-per-cent, representation of the railway company on the board of directors of the South Wales Commercial Motors, Ltd.
As a result of this arrangement the railway company is at once provided with established service rights over a wide territory. In addition, the Great Western Railway Co. will obtain, through the South Wales Commercial Motors, Ltd., half of that company's interests in bus undertakings in north and west /donmouthslaire.
Of even greater importance, as a result of the development, is the establishing of a complete chain of services between Herefordshire, east and south 3Ionmouthshire through Glamorgan centres to the western seaboard at Port Talbot. This is made possible because the G.W.R. recently took over the enterprise of Messrs. Rosser, Usk (Mon.), whose services connect the English border centres with the eastern extremity of the area covered by the South Wales Commercial Motors, Ltd.
With the exception of two or three short distances, the railway company will now have themselves, or through their interest in private undertakings, interconnecting services extending from the' Midlands through Wales to the confines of Pembrokeshire. The projected services of the G.W.R. include routes that Will fill the small gaps in this chain.
During this month the Great Western Railway Co. will extend their South Wales bus service by linking Llanelly and Drefacla, in Carmarthenshire, and Pontypridd and Nelson, and Pontypridd and Ynysybwl, in north Glamorganshire.
It will be recalled that the company already has an agreement with the Caerphilly Urban District Council for a 50-per-cent. interest in the council's haw services and those to be founded by the council (subject to the council obtaining sanction to establish them)', between Caerphilly and Newport, Caerphilly and Cardiff, Caerphilly and Rhymney Valley, etc.
Tentative proposals have been made for, an interest by the G.W.R. in the extra-boundary services of the Newport (Mon.) Town Council, and whether or not this materializes there ir already an " understanding " between the railway 'company and the Newport Council which will eliminate wasteful and unnecessary competition on routes served by both of them.
Passengers Carried Free as a Protest.
THE fact that in. four months the United Automobile Services, Ltd., carried 46,324 passengers free of charge as a protest against the action of the Tynemouth Corporation in refusing the company licences was mentioned in the course of a Ministfy of Transport inquiry held at North Shields on November 13th, when Mr. K. MacMorran investigated a dispute of longstanding between the two parties. The inquiry was the outcome of an appeal by the company against the refusal of the Tynemouth -Corporation to grant it licences in respect of a stated route through the borough by the company's vehicles engaged on a through service between Myth, Whitley Bay and Newcastle, via the New Coast Road.
Tho corporation was represented by Mr. Stanley Wilson, town clerk, and Mr. G. Beaumont, of Wakefield, appeared for the appellant company. In his opening statement Mr. Beaumont referred to the initial measures taken by the company to obtain licences so far back as August last year, when the Coast Road was nearing completion. It asked for 12 licences in respect of Tynemouth, and desired to include Preston, a residential district, in its route through that borough. The coniPany understood, from subsequent interviews with corporation officials, that the application would receive favourable consideration, but en September 27th the town clerk intimated that the watch committee had declined to grant the licences, as the arrangements already made were considered to be of a satisfactory and adequate nature.
Consequent upon this the company made a further application, with the result that it was offered two licences and those in _respect of another route through the borough, which was on the extreme boundary and in an entirely unpopulated area.
In reply to the corporation's assertion that the service given via Preston was sufficient, Mr. Beaumont said that from the date of the decision which gave the company only two licences over the alternative route, the company had worked its -service via Preston and carried passengers from that point free of charge to Newcastle. It was doing so at present, and between June 12th and October 9th it carried, as mentioned already, 46,324 free passengers. This number indicated, in his opinion, a very real need for transit facilities in the area which formed the subject of the inquiry.
The company presented a petition signed by 137 residents of Preston to indicate the need for its service.
Stating the grounds for the corporation's refusal, Mr. Wilson said services already in operation were adequate for public requirements, and that additional traffic was calculated to increase the danger to the general public. In addition, there was no hardship to the residents of the area because they had, within a few minutes' walk, a very complete service. He added, in answer to the inspector, that, if the Ministry inclined to the view that the authority had been in the right, it would give reasonable facilities to the company over the route it had already suggested.