THE MINISTER'S SOLUTION OF BUS PROBLEMS.
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Modification in the Order Which Aims at Reducing Traffic Congestion in London. Overcoming the Difficulties Attending Long Distance Services.
HERE have been many conferences between the Ichief officials of the Ministry of Transport and representatives of local authorities and business organizations interested in one form or. another in the matter of public . passenger transport., The general opinion seems to be that the Minister is pursuing a very determined course and that the decisions, suggestions, recommendations and indications of future policy are likely to cause heartburning in some quarters, but it seems patent to us that the Minister and his staff are doing the correct thing in placing in the forefront the interests of the public. Congestion in London (to take the worst example in the whole country) is becoming so serious that any person in a hurry is unwise to take the direct and obviously correct route between one place and another, and it is becoming almost quicker to walk than to take a cab or buS.This congestion can only be reduced by the provision of an alternative route (rendered available by linking up existing streets, widening the roadways and improving awkward corners) and by keeping away from the streets all vehicles in excess of requifeements.
The London Traffic Act (1924) was passed into law early enough last autumn for those who chose to study it (and who had the ability to foreshadow the actions of the Minister!), to avoid the mistake that many bus owners appear to have made, despite the warning conveyed by this change in the law. The Minister has shown a strong desire to meet the difficulties a those owners who put new vehicles into service after January 1st (the date announced on February 18th as the stabilization date only vehicles plying on restricted streets on that date being permitted to continue to run upon scheduled routes) by agreeing to a, modification which will, at any rate help . those proprietors who deposited substituted schedules after January 1st and on or before January 13th. These proprietors will be allowed to adhere to the services shown in the substituted schedules, provided the number of buses used by each upon restricted streets is not thereby increased.
Fuller Bus Services when Traffic is Diminished.
Again, the restrictions on omnibuses plying for hire on restricted streets are entirely removed on Sundays, Good Fridays, the Saturdays following Good Fridays, and on Bank Holidays, although it will be necessary to deposit schedules and to maintain regular services in respect of those days. On Saturdays after 12 o'clock noon the number of buses plying on the restricted streets may be increased by 10 per cent. We think this should be interpreted to mean that where 10 per cent, of a fleet would be less than one bus, and where six or more buses of a fleet, are already plying for hire on the route, one additional bus should be permitted to be put into service.
The greatest difficulty, ' however, which the Minister of Transport has had to settle has been in connection with the development of long-distance bus routes in provincial and country districts. The linking up of one town with another and of the larger populated areas with country districts has grown tremendously in recent years, and with that growth have developed the appreciation and need on. the part of the public for such services. Undoubtedly, the greatest benefit that has been conveyed by the motor omnibus has been to bring the village and the hamlet into touch with adjacent towns, for this development has . encouraged the expansion of business and has vastly improved the c26 social amenities of a large body of people who, in the past, have lived semi-isolated lives—which latter fact has been greatly to the detriment of the agricultural industry. Many of the obvious difficulties are going to be removed if, by the provision of motorbus services, people can go into town and back again with ease and comfort.
The Law of Bus Licensing.
As the law. stands, before an omnibus can be used to ply for hire it is necessary to obtain a licence, under the provisions of the Town Police Clauses Acts, from the local authority of any urban district or town in which the vehicle is to be used, and it has been possible for one local authority to refuse a licence and thus break the continuity of a route by preventing the bus from passing through its area. Before the Roads Act of 1920 was passed all that an aggrieved party could do would be to approach Quarter Sessions or the High Court and to obtain a decision as to whether the local authority, in refusing the licence applied for, had acted judicially and had brought to bear upon the matter a fair and open mind. Under the Roads Act of 1920 omnibus proprietors who cannot obtain licences to ply for hire from their local authorities may appeal to the Minister of Transport, who must give a decision and who can even issue an order directing that the licence be issued to the applicant should a local authority remain obdurate in face of the recommendation of the Minister that the licence should be granted. As we mentioned in our columrrs a week or two ago, the number of appeals which had so far come before the Minister under the Roads Act was 262, of which 104 had been disallowed, 155 settled by agreement, whilst in three :cases orders had been necessary requiring the local authority to issue licences.
Bus Competition with Municipal Tramways.
The matter, of course, is complicated by the fact that Parliament has conceded the principle that the running of omnibuses is a legitimate form of municipal enterprise, and although Parliamentary sanction must be obtained for any scheme, this matter does not present any greater difficulty than that of delay,' but municipal authorities cannot operate outside of their own boundaries without first obtaining the consent of any other local authority concerned and also the consent of the Minister of Transport, and this, in practice, does produce very great difficulty. It is possible however, for a private omnibus proprietor, provided he can obtain the necessary licences, to operate in a number of adjacent districts, and it would almost seem that the best course to be adopted is for municipal authorities to grant licences for through services and to agree not to apply for powers which would aim at the development of competition from a, municipally owned undertaking in return for a suitable fee or compensation, or the municipal authority, having obtained Parliamentary powers, could lease them to a private undertaking on a mutually agreed basis. Where a tramway or trolley-bus undertaking conducted by a municipality is in existence there is naturally a disinclination to issue licences to proprietors of omnibuses coming from another district which would enable them to run parallel with the tramways through the heart of a municipal area ; but there, again, the Minister is taking the line of considering public convenience and comfort, because it is undesirable that passengers should be compelled
to alight from an omnibus.. at the _terminus of a tramway or trolley-bus service, there to make the necessary connection in order to continue the journey into a town, as neither bus nor tram service could be BO arranged that a bus always met a tram ofa tram always met a bus, and usually a tram terminus is on the extreme outskirts of a town where there is no adequate accommodation for waiting passengers.
Continuity in Long-distance Services.
The difficulty hero is being overcome by the Minister deciding in favour of continuity of a route provided tlfat the buses charge higher fares over the portion which runs parallel with the tramway services. In this matter also public convenience is served, because, were the fare on the bus to be the same as on the tramcar, the bus would be employed by people who only wished to travel a short distance, to the exclusion of the long-distance passenger. As a matter of fact, municipal authorities with powers run buses which parallel their own tramway routes and which prolong those routes into other districts themselves charge a higher fare on the buses in order that all short-distance traffic should be catered for by the tramcar, leaving the omnibus for the longdistance journeys.
Everywhere the 'tendency is to increase country services of buses. Take, for example the services conducted by the Birmingham and example, Motor Omnibus Co. which have routes extending to Kidderminister, Stafford, Leicester, Nuneaton, Shrewsbury and Hereford ; the mileage worked is over 2,500. Many of the concerns owned by the British Electrical Federation cover areas nearly as large.
The effect upon the solution of the housing 'problem by the creation and maintenance of such valuable services can hardly be estimated, because the provision of a bus service in a country district connecting up with a distant railway station justifies a town worker in the erection and occupation of a house in the country which, without the bus, would be quite inaccessible to him.