CONTACT STATIONS AS PART OF RAIL-ROAD CO-ORDINATION
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An Interesting L.N.E.R. De velopment in the Scheme of Linking Up Train and Bus Services IN the recently issued time-table guide dealing with its summer services, which commenced yesterday (July 20th), the London and North-Eastern Railway Co. has introduced a new and interesting feature which is a logical development, considering the important interest the railways now have in passenger roadtransport undertakings. It takes the form of a small symbol, depicting a single-deck bus, which has been inserted against the 380 different stations throughout the L.N.E.R. system at which the railway now makes contact with one or more of the bus services run by associated concerns. A complete list of these services, together with the districts served by the road motors, is included at the back of the time-table.
A contact station has been defined as. one which constitutes a terminus or point of call for a bus service and where the joint rail-road service which is provided affords reasonable facilities for passengers to make through-journeys. In future it will be possible to travel by L.N.E.R. trains on the initial stages of their journeys to a contact station with the knowledge that full information and direction can be obtained of the best road bus services radiating from that station.
. There are considerably more than 2,000 stations on the company's system, and it is not, therefore, practicable to supply to each of the-se stations complete bus time-tables of all the numerous bus companies associated with the railway. Arrangements have, however, been made for the full road-service timetables and faxes lists of all these concerns to be available at 100 principal stations and town inquiry offices at the larger cities, towns and popular resorts.
As an example -of how this new contact service will work, a traveller wishing to journey from London to Weaverthorpe in Yorkshire will be advised to make the first stage of his joutaey from King's Cross to York by fast express train, the second stage by branch line non-stop train from York to Mallon, and the final stage by bus from Mallon to Weaverthorpe ; times of trains and a convenient "West Yorkshire " bus will be obtainable at King's Cross station inquiry office or any of the L.N.E.R. offices in London. .
The first rail-bus station in this country, which has just been completed, is at Norwich Thorpe, where the whole of the United Automobile Co.'s buses run to and from the L.N.E.R. station forecourt, a portion of. which has been covered with a roof and equipped with a bus-ticket office. Bus passengers have access to the station refreshmen. rooms, cloakrooms and waiting-rooms. The names of the Hants and Dorset Motor Services, Ltd., the Southern National Omnibus Co., Ltd., and the Western National Omnibus Co., Ltd., appear frequently in Gazette No. 17 of the Traffic Commissioners for the Southern Area, as applicants for licences for stage and express-carriage services and for tours. The Southern Railway Co. is the principal objector to long-distance services to the coast, etc.
Again the objectors' column in Gazette No. 18 of the South-Eastern Traffic Commissioners is well supported by the names of noted concerns, and the Southern Railway Co. is well to the fore. Elliott Bros. (Bournemouth), Ltd., applies for licences for services from London to several seaside resorts, including Bournemouth, Plymouth and Paignton. Greyhound Motors, Ltd., also applies for licences in respect of the London-Bournemouth route, and its applications are objected to by numerous operators, including Elliott Bros. (Bournemouth), Ltd., Keith and Boyle, Ltd., and Green Line Coaches, Ltd.
The latest Gazette—No. 18—of the Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner is, like many previous issues, a comparatively bulky publication, a feature being the full " objectors " column. Applications are being made for licences for services to coastal resorts, such as Eastbourne, Hastings, Brighton, Clacton and
Margate, and, as before, the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., is one of the main objectors. Practically the only unopposed applications are those of the L.G.O. Co. for permission to operate from various parts of London to Whipsuede, although in one case—Brixton Hill to Whipsnade—Messrs. Orange Luxury Coaches object.
Whipsnade is, of course, the site of the new open-air Zoo, which is proving such a powerful attraction to residents in the Metropolis and Home Counties. It is likely to draw increasing crowds and a large number of visitors will wish to travel by road instead of partly by rail and partly by road—an irritating procedure.