Service Not in Public Interest
Page 35
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THE general interest of the travelling .public, 'as" distinct from individual preference, requires any transport system to ' be basedon the uSe of some connetting facilities, rather than on through services, the ,West Midland Traffic Commissioners say in a reserved • decision
issued this'. Week: • -.
The observation is made.bn an application' by Harper Bros:(Heath Hayes), Ltd., :fora • new -serViee from Cannock to Birniingham.The application, Which was hotly :contested, • waS heard on four days, beginning last March.
Harper Bros already run a service from Cannock to Kingstanding, and the proposed service represented an extension of it to Birmingham city centre.
-Walsall Corporation, West ,BrornWich Corporation, Birmingham and 'Midland Motor Gmnibtis Co., Ltd:, Birmingham Transport Department and Birmingham city pollee objected. A'railway objection was withdrawn before tile hearing.
The most direct route frrim the catchment area of the proposed service .to the • centre of" Birminghain is, • the Commissioners say, provided by Harper Bros. and by Walsall Transport Department, together with the connecting ,services of Birmingham Transport Department, passengers changing at . Kingstanding. Twenty nine independent witnesses. expressed a desire for a through service.
The Commissioners think there is an unfulfilledneed for' improved facilities between the catchment area and Kingstanding, but that a through service would cause wasteful competition with Birmingham Corporation's services from Kingstanding ,to the .centre of Birmingham. The application has been refused, but Harper Bros. have, been advised to hold discussions with' the operators concerned with the Cannock-Kingstanding route, and, if .possible, to submit a new application for • better facilities.
Birmingham pollee objected to the use of the central area as a terminal point, and to the picking up and setting down of. passengers in the city centre. The Commissioners think that it would have been necessary to ban the entry of additional buses to the centre of the city as a temporary measure while the inner ringroad was being constructed. The exclusion. would not, however, have been permanent.