The Crawling Green Line By F. K. MOSES T WO weeks
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ago I reported my arrival in London 28 minutes late on the first day of the new London Transport Green Line coach.,serVice from Tring to Victoria via Hemel Hempstead and the Ml. The treat which was still in store for me was the return trip to Tring that evening—a journey which took 126 minutes instead of the advertised 80. not to mention the fact that the coach left Victoria 23 minutes late. Anyone who knows London at all will know the reason, of course—we were travelling in the evening peak hours when traffic in London so often moves at an almost negligible pace.
Much has been heard about our new Premier's " 100 days of dynamic action ", and, goodness knows, enough has happened already. But we have heard nothing of what is going to be done to relieve this serious London traffic congestion (not forgetting the similar plight of other towns and cities in the length and breadth of the land), which makes the running of any adequate form of road public transport a near impossibility. It will, of course, take a miracle—nothing less—to put the situation right, but that should not embarrass the Government too much. It has, after all, already pledged itself to do what amount to miracles.
An Hour Late I will not embarrass readers with all the boring details of this miserable journey, except briefly to say that the 17.16 departure from Victoria actually left at 17.39, had reached the Baker Street stop at 18.08, but did not reach Golders Green until 18.40. From then on the journey was much more tolerable, Apex Corner being reached by 18.55, and the final destination, Tring L.T.B. garage, at 19.45--just 58 minutes late! The departure of a Green Line coach on the Aylesbury service. via Tring, shortly before the 727 arrived would no doubt have an adverse effect on the potential number of passengers on this, the first day of the new service. A maximum of seven " genuine " passengers was, in fact, carried, although frankly I am surprised that anybody travels on bus or coach services at all during peak times; certainly no one will out of choice.
My sympathies are constantly with bus operators who are desperately trying to keep the wheels turning, and that includes the hard-working bus crews. After the frustration of seemingly endless queues of crawling traffic, drivers are faced with the responsibility of trying to make good as much lost time as possible whenever traffic eases, whilst at the same time looking after the safety of their passengers. This is a,very " dodgy " business, and it is a tribute to our drivers that there are so few accidents. Incidentally, although my coach was driven "flat out" along the A41 and M1 from Apex Corner to the Hemel Hempstead turning, no time was recovered. It would appear that the allowance for this stretch is based on RIO maximum speed running, as there were certainly no delays in this case.
Another thing which impressed me very much was the "local " flavour of the journey—and this applied both ways. London Transport is a mammoth undertaking, and the personal touch tends to be lost. I wonder how true this really is? The new 727 is operated from Tring garage, and the coaches on the service carry bright yellow route boards above the windows. On both journeys, there was a wave from the crews whenever we passed a 727 .going the opposite way, the sort of thing I imagined happened only in remote country areas. "There is our Jim and our Sally ", you could almost hear them saying.
And the crews were obviously enjoying the new service. It was a change from the usual routine, and they were anxious to do their part to promote the new venture. The time is surely ripe for more new ventures of this sort, instead of the constant recession which is taking place. This applies to stage services and types of vehicle as well. By giving largercapacity vehicles a "new look" (and that means streamlined rear-engined buses, not square ones) and a new livery, can we not promote the busmen into true "salesmen ", anxious to sell a "new product to the public.
All this, of course, depends on the physical ability to run the buses at all. London's roads are congested from early morning until mid-evening, and not simply during the rush hour. Checks taken by London Transport on the new
727 service g week after its introduction showed that morning journeys into and out of London were running, on average, about 27 minutes late, One remedy might be to allow passengers from Tring to transfer to tube trains. at GoIders Green Station .(the coaches stop in the station forecourt) and continue into London by tube, using the same tickets. But the real remedy lies in freeing that traffic congestion which is strangling the commercial and administrative capital of Britain. Action please, Mr. Fraser!
London Transport Statement
Describing conditions on the new 727 service, a London Transport spokesman said: "This is a new route and at this early stage.the staff have not yet become fully conversant with road conditions which tend to cause delays, Furthermore, the many road works in progress cause hold-ups both in the country sections and in London. We feel confident that when the obstructions are removed and the staff have gained experience there will be a marked improvement in the timekeeping. This in turn should make the service more attractive to the public and loadings will improve also."
Roadworks along the route include three stretches of single-line working controlled by traffic lights between North Church and Bourne End, roadworks in several places on A41 connected with the construction of the M1 extension, road widening at Hendon and the construction of a new fly-over across the North Circular Road,