PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
WHERE THE ONE-MAN-CONTROLLED BUS SCORES.
Why the Municipal Authorities at Wigan Favour Vehicles of this Type for Certain Requirements,
THE Wigan Corporation has been carefully consideringthe merits of the one-man-controlled .bus, especially .since the council decided not to reconstruct a certain length of tramway track —that to Aspull. As the district of • Aspull could not be cut adrift from Wigan altogether, it was agreed that a bus service would be the most economical form of connection. Wigan is the market town for Aspull, and about BOO passengers are set down or picked tip beyond the boundary daily, or 5,000 a week. The bus provides a service for workers travelling from one district to the other ; on that route 200 workmen's tickets are.issued daily, or Logo Eb week. Obviously, these people spend a good proportion Of their wages in Wigan.
Since the agreement between the Wigan and Aspull councils for a bus service has been entered into, the factor of competition has crept in, and now it is being advocated that the corporation will have to be in the position of corn peting and eventually controlling the new competitive service.
The Wigan tramways manager, along with, the managers of the other corporation undertakings and private companies, has been making inquiries into the possibilities of the one-man-type 20-seater bus, and as a.result a bus of this pattern was sent to Wigan for test purposes by the corporation. The results showed that 4d. a mile could be saved by the use of the one-man-controlled bus, compared -with the ordinary vehicles. This saving works out at £400 per annum per bus; in other words, the bus saves the cost of itself in two years. The present service maintained by the 32-seater bus shows a loss of £224 per annum on operating costs; the 20-seater on the present service would show a profit of £409. Thus, the two items taken together give a saving of £633 per annum per bus on the present service, or over £12 a week. The tramways committee has considered details of the experiment, and now the finance committee has passed the following resolution :—" That the tramways committee be authorized to purchase a one-man-controlled 20-seater
bus at a cost not 'exceeding £875, the purchase price to be taken from revenue account." The operating costs on the one-man-type bus are calculated at 10.44d. per mile, and the receipts are estimated at 14d. per mile. For the past 15 months Wigan has been.running buses on experimental timetables.
One of the council critics of this proposal pointed out that the large-capacity buses on the Aspull route lost .£224 per • annum. The seating capacity of the small bus was 20, the total journeys from Wigan-to Aspull 134 per week, the fare
4d. each way, and the total takings £2,327 per annum. To that was to be added £1,213 3s., representing 2d. fares between Now Springs and Aspull, Which gave them 23,540 altogether. This was the maximum stun received if the buses were oocupied every journey for the. .whole 12 months. But the buses, said this member, would not be fully loaded on every journey, and it was thought that an average of 50 per cent. would be fair, thus giving £1,770 as total earnings in 12 months. Against that it was admitted that the operating costs of the small bus would be £1,605, and that consequently a profit of only £165 would be
shown. It was added that in these figures no allowances had been made for workmen's rates.
Alderman Baucher, in council, ,spoke of the importance of the one-man-controlled bus as a competitive factor in case the bus was wanted as a feeder to or to run in conjunction with the tram service, and said that the one-man bus would he useful to the tramways department, no matter on which route it was employed. In any case, it was said, the bus could be experimented with in outside districts. The decision to purchase a one-man-controlled bus has been confirmed by the Wigan CorpOration.