LINCOLNSHIR
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its Municipc
3us Services
By C. S. D U N BAR, M.inst.T.
4AST week I indicated the extent to which Lincolnshire depends for its
• road transport services on independent operators and on concerns operating a relatively small number of vehicles. There is, however, a number of municipally owned fleets, of which the , histories and the difficulties under which they operate, are worth investigating.
Particularly interesting is Lincoln (population 65,280), which possesses a relatively small undertaking, -but one which has called for considerable ingenuity in managerrient owing to the difficult operating conditions. The city is, in effect, an expansion from one long main street complicated by (a) an extremely steep hill at the north end which necessitates a considerable detour, (b) an ancient city gateway (Stonebow), a low arch with enough width for only one vehicle at a time, and (c) busy level-crossings over High Street and parallel streets.
It is rarely possible. to walk along High, Street withow hearing bells ringing, whereupon most of the pedestrians within earshot start running like mad. The spectacle is an amusing one at first sight, but it is not so amusing to Mr. G. Rock and the Staff of Lincoln City Transport, for every time the bells ring it 'means that the gates of the level-crossings are closing and the bus services arc being interrupted
The Stonebow difficulty was overcome in 1927 by the introduction of the first low-bridge double-decker in the country (No. 24 in the Lincoln fleet and still in service). It has since been found possible to pass the modern high-bridge type through the arch and low-bridge vehicles are not now being bought.
The Level-crossing Problem The level-crossings apparently present an insuperable problem. To replace them by viaducts would entail wholesale demolition of property and would be extremely expensive The undertaking's schedules have to be worked out on the assumption that delays may occur, with the result that if a bus is not held up in the course of a journey, it has an excessive layover at the terminus. The time-table average speed is only 8 m.p.h because of this uncertainty. Delays are sometimes so serious that buses have to be turned intermediately to restore the normal working. All services are canalized through High Street—the layout of the city making this unavoidable—so that the whole system is affected.
In addition to the normal morning and evening peaks. Lincoln has a heavy lunch-time traffic, as the engineering factories, on which the town mainly depends, are all within easy reach of the workers' homes. Instead of the ordinary workmen's tickets, weekly tickets are issued at a reduced rate, allowing either two or four journeys a day (Monday to Fkiday) and two on Saturdays. Thus, for 2s. 6d. a week a passenger can travel a regular journey which, at ordinary fare rates. would cost up to 5s: 6d; a week: • Twofeatures of the fare system are the rebooking at the city centre, although
cross-town routes are run, and higher charges on the north side of the city. Penny fares are otherwise still in operation.
Lincoln Corporation entered the passenger-carrying business in 1903, when it purchased the undertaking of the Lincoln Tramways Co. The last horsed-car ran on July 22', 1905, and electric cars started on November 23, 1905. Lincoln was one of the few places where cars were operated for any length of time on the stud system, but conversion to overhead was eventually necessary. The trams ran only from St. Benedict's to Bracebridge, a distance of nearly two miles, and the maximum rolling stock was 11 cars and two trailers, The single route was cibviously inadequate to an expanding city, and in 1921 the corporation began motorbus, services. The first routes were Burton Road (circular) and St. Giles, By 1929 it was plainly absurd to continue the tram service, and the last car ran on March 4 of that year. At March 31, 1929, the bus fleet stood at 31. Twenty years later it was 66, of which 9 were petrol vehicles (2 Leyland Lion singledeckers and 7 Titans dating from 1927). The other makes were Guy20 (including one with Meadows engine); Leyland PD1-5; PD1A8; TD4-4; TD5-18; TD7-2.
On the mechanical side, Mr. Rock has contributed materially to passenger safety by the system fitted to vehicles 18 and 23. Passengers wishing to stop the bus do not ring a bell, but press a strip along the roof which lights an amber-coloured lamp inside the bus and a blue lamp in the driver's cab. These lamps remain on until the conductor gives the starting signal by bell.
The grab stanchions and handles on the rear platform are also connected electrically with a light in the cab, which shows red when anyone is holding on. No. 23 has only recently gone into service, but No. 18 has carried 1,250,0(10 passengers without a platform accident.
The following comparisons are for the years 1928-9 (the last of tram working) and 1948-91 Total tram mileage in 1929 was 722,958 and 5,962,179 passengers were carried. In 1948-1949 buses ran 1,347,305 miles, carrying 18,822,277 passengers. Average fare per mile on the trams in 1929 was Id., and 1.13d. on the buses, whilst in 1949 the average fare per mile equalled .84d.
The undertaking is thus carrying people more cheaply than 20 years ago. Its expansion is the more remarkable, in that it is entirely confined within the borough (except for the unusual power to work excursions and tours anywhere) and has no through running or interworking arrangements with any other operator.
No two neighbouring towns could be more dissimilar than Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Grimsby has some attractive residentiatsuburbs, but it is essentially a port and business centre with a nasty legacy of the 19th century in the miles of drab_ streets. Cleethorpes, on the other hand, is an attractive seaside town which acts as a dormitory for many of the better-paid Grimsby workers and depends largely on summer-holiday visitors. The population of Grimsby is 86,340 and of
Cleethorpes 28,490. B7
Both corporations were late in engaging in transport operation, although the two towns had one of the earliest horsccar services, in the country. The Great Grimsby Street Tramway Co., a subsidiary of the Provincial Tramways Co., began working in 1875, and on December 7, 1901, changed over to electric traction on the five-mile route from Kingsway, Cleethorpes, to People's Park, Grimsby. At the same time, a branch from Riby Square to Wellhome Road via Freeman Street was opened.
It is important to note that the company's services lay in the area of the two municipalities, for this led to serious complications later on. As from April 5, 1925, Grimsby Corporation bought the tramways within its boundaries and built a new depot in Victoria Street to house the cars it took over. The company continued to own the rest of the system and kept the depot at Pelham Road, Cleethorpes. On October 3, 1926, single-deck trolleybuses superseded the trams on the Freeman Street route, and on November 20, 1927, Grimsby Corporation began its first bus services from Riby Square to Old Clee. On August 3, 1929, Grimsby and Cleethorpes started a joint service between the two towns via Weelsby Road, but until June 4, 1930, Cleethorpes had to hire buses for the purpose from its neighbour.
A Confusion of Services Henceforward a confused system existed. Both municipalities ran buses, Grimsby and the company were both running trams and the tramway company had runabouts on the front at Cleethorpes and bus services from Grimsby to Hurnberstone and Waltham. Furthermore, a Mrs. Ada Morley was also running local services.
In 1931-2 Cleethorpes obtained licences to run outside the borough to North Sea Lane, Peak's Lane and Humberstone, whilst Grimsby reached Humberstone, and Waltham, by buying both the tram company's and Mrs. 1V1orley's buses on those routes as from July 1, 1934. In 1933, the tramways company challenged the grant of a licence to Cleethorpes for a service paralleling the tram route, and the case was carried to the House of Lords, where the company eventually lost.
The situation was somewhat simplified by the council purchasing the trams in Cleethorpes as from July 23, 1936, and operating them until trolleybuses took' their place on July 18, 1937. Grimsby had already converted their portion of the route on November 22, 1936.
Various experiments were made in routeing until the position shown on the accompanying map was reached.
The joint, through trolleybus service with a four-minute headway is the backbone of the system; it differs slightly from the original tram route, having been curtailed at the Grimsby end at Old Market and extended at the other to the Bathing Pool. The service is operated jointly, each authority taking the receipts in its own area and mileage being balanced periodically.
Separate tickets are issued, but passengers pay' only once; they do not re-book at the boundary. Furthermore, overlap tickets are issued so that a passenger is not charged 21d. for what should be a lid. ride. The receipts from the overlap tickets on the trolleybuses are divided, two-thirds going to Grimsby and one-third to Cleethorpes. Similar tickets are issued on bus services 6 and 14, but in this case the division is 50-50. I commend this arrangement to some of my friends who persist in the obsolete arrangement of re-booking at boundaries.
Nominally, the Lincolnshire Road Car Co., Ltd., gives protection to the corporations, but in effect this applies only to operation between the two town centres; except for a 2d. minimum on the first stage out, there is, in fact, a duplicate service from Grimsby to Waltham.
The statistics above will enable comparisons to be made between the two undertakings.
No description of the Grimsby area would be complete without reference to the Grimsby and Immingham' Light Railway (now the property of the B.T.C.) which provides the only mean S for reaching Immingham Docks and the most direct route to Immingham Town. It was opened in 1912 and for the first mile of its seven-mile route runs as an ordinary street tramway from Corporation Bridge to Cleveland Bridge. Large single-deck cars with a luggage compartment and seating 64 passengers are employed.