• A SOUTH WALES BUS INQUIRY.
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An Important Investigation by the Ministry of Traniport into the Applications of a Number of Leading Bus Companies.
SEVERAL of the leading Saudi NVales bus companies and the Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council were interested parties in a public inquiry held at Merthyr On September 10th by Mr. F. 0. Langley, acting on behalf of the Ministry of Transport. The refusal of the Merthyr Council to grant licences to several proprietors for bus services
on mutes north, south, east and west of the borough was the basis of the inquiry.
The case of Western Services, Ltd., Tredegar (Mon.), who appealed against • the rdusal of licences for the inaugura_ lion of services on 'a through route between Merthyr, Dowlais and Abergavenny, was strenuously opposed by the local authority. Licences for four buses to ply for hire on this route were applied for. The council Contended, through the chief constable, that an additional service would cause great congestion in High Street, the main thoroughfare of the town, which was only 1.5"/ ft. wide in parts and at its broadest point was but 25 ft. wide.
Messrs. C. Davies and Sons, bus proprietors, Dowleis, also opposed the granting of licences on the score that their Dowleis to Abergavenny service, which was authorized by the Merthyr Council, would be jeopardized. This company claimed to be able to cope With all public demands on this service and stressed their.claims to consideration as pioneers of the route.
After some argument it was stated that the council would not object to a service by Western Services, Ltd., from Dowlais to Abergavenny, but Mr. T. B. Jenkins ,(South Wales Bus Owners Association) contended, for the company, that such a route would not prove remunerative.
Mr. Jenkins, who is secretary of the appellant company, said that they would under:.ake to pass through Merthyr on any route prescribed by the council and not to pick up passengers on the routes served by the tramcars. .
A report to the Ministry will be made by Mr. Langley and a decision promtilgated. in due course.
The Aberdare Motor Service, Ltd., appealed against the council's refusal to allow an increased service on their routes (a) Aberdare-Merthyr-Cefn Coed and (b) Aberdare-Merthyr-Brecon. It was stated that three buses were used on the Merthyr route by the company, who rim multiple services on other routes. They now wished to ply for hire with six additional buses through Merthyr and by. this means establish a half-hourly service between the large Merthyr and Aberdare centres and enhance the value of the MerthYr-Brecon service.
In this ease the commissioner mediated with good effect, his suggestion that the Merthyr watch committee should reconsider the matter at its next meeting being adopted.
A proposed service by Messrs. Phipps Motors, Glynneath, between Merthyr and Cwrngwrach, was considered on.the company's appeal against the refusal of the council to give its sanction.
The representative of the council announced that if applicants would submit a time-table and a proposed list of fares the watch committee would reconsider the question at its next meeting.
Important proposals in connection with services on the Merthyr-Pontypridd route via Treharris, a distance of some 15 miles, were set forward by the Imperial Motor Co., Abercynon, and objected to by the council. The company wished to run a half-hourly ser vice from termini on this route. At Present buses Tull by private enterprises ply for hire from Pontypridd to Treharris, whilst the Merthyr Council services run from Treharris into Merthyr. There is no through service, a change of vehicles being imperative at Treharris.
Mr. D. F. Adey (bus superintendent to the Merthyr Borough Council) gave evidence. He contended that the needs of the public were adequately served between Merthyr and Treharris. The council, it was further adduced, had spent 120,000 in establishing its services, and an important point for the consideration of the Ministry of Transport was whether the ratepayers' money was to be endangered by licensing a service to run in opposition to the municipal undertaking. In this case the Ministry decision is reserved.
A second appeal by the Imperial Motor C.o. was based on the refusal of the issue of licences for a service between Pontypridd, Treharris, Nelson and Quakers' Yard Station.
In this instance opposition was forthcoming from the Gellygaer Urban District Council, which protested that about one mile of the route from Quakers' Yard to Pontypridd would enter the Gellygaer area. It would not be possible to serve the intermediate districts of Trelewis and Nelson without encroaching on the Gellygaer area. The Gellygaer Council opposed this on several grounds: the lack of necessity for the service ; the adequacy of communications in the Gellygaer area and the unsuitability of the route.
In this ease, also, a report will be made to the Ministry and a decision issued at a later date.