PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the lius and Coach World.
CO-OPERATIVE MUNICIPAL BUS SERVICES.
Details of the Far-reaching Powers Sought by a Welsh Authority In an Application to Parliament.
PRIVATE bus proprietors and municipal authorities running bus services will find important proposals embodied in a supplementary Parliamentary Bill which the Mynyddislwyn (Mon.) Urban District Council is promoting for sanction to introduce, by way of amendment, an addition to the Bill which it "has deposited for Parliamentary approval. The new proposals constitute far-reaching departures from established municipal bus-trading policy and seek an advance on any concession of running powers so far made by Parliament to local authorities. Private owners especially will watch with anxiety the fate of this special petition for leave to introduce the additional -clauses.
In brief, the proposals constitute a request for the devolution of such powers to certain named and unnamed urban councils as will enable them to institute co-operative ownership and trading in a wide area, i.e., the districts of several adjoining authorities.
In the wording of the draft of the supplementary Bill sanction is sought "to set up and constitute a Joint Omnibus Board for the purpose of providing and running omnibuses." This means that, just as a number of authorities combines for the better management and control of works to form joint sewerage boards and joint water supply boards, the Mynyddislwyn, Abercarn 'and Bedwellty Conneils seek powers to trade with buses, by the proportionate division of establishment costs and profits, in and outside their _areas. There is, however, a very important difference between the joint management of public works, such as water supply, sewers, etc., and the
operation of buses; it is, on the one hand, that no private competition to municipal works obtains, whereas, on the other, private owners in large number are competitors of, municipalities running motorbuses.
, The Ministry of Transport has expressed the view that where authorities have combined for the purpose of bus licensing nothing could be done to empower a joint committee, per se, as a
competent authority for issuing or refusing licences and that joint committees could only act as advisory bodies to constituent councils. It will be of interest, therefore, to see how such a proposal as that set forward in this supplementary Bill fares at the hands of Parliament.
From the private proprietors' standpoint the importance of the issue lies in the extent of an enterprise that combined local authorities would, by pooling resources, be able to institute. They are also concerned with the effect that ownership on such a large scale would have on applications by private proprietors to these joint authorities for sanction to set up new or expand existing services.