Operating Aspects of
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PASSENGER TRANSPORT
STRONG CRITICISM OF BRITISH RAILWAYS
DRAWING attention to the prospect of increased demand for holiday travel facilities owing to the holidayswith-pay movement, Mr, G. L. Reakes, of Wallasey, made a vigorous attack upon British railways in a speech at the summer meeting of the Association of Health and Pleasure Resorts, at Bridlington, last week.
The story of the railways to-day, he said, was one of slow motion transport, dirty railway carriages, a disregard for the convenience of the travelling public, and out-of-date rolling stock. The railway time-table to-day was much the same as it was 39 years ago. Overcrowding was now a permanent feature of long-distance trains during the holiday season.
Declaring that railway passengers had to pay to stand, Mr. Reakes said that, through lack of catering facilities, they had to remain hungry and weary for hours. Night travel meant night starvation. A day-excursion resolved itself into a half-day by the sea. Hours were spent shunting in" no man's land.Evening trips for holiday-makers had sordid endings, and complaints led passengers nowhere.
DEFICIT OF £81,018 IN GLASGOW. DESPITE the fact that Glasgow had a record year in gross receipts, as reported in The Commercial Motor last week, there is a deficit of £81,018 on the transport undertaking. This is attributed to the running of non-paying services during the period of the Empire Exhibition, and to an increased wages bill.
The last time the department showed a deficit was in 1930, when the loss was 217,000.
BUSES BENEFIT RAWTENSTALL RATEPAYERS.
IN the year ended March 31, 1939, the buses. of Rawtenstall Corporation were operated at a gross profit of £27,088, which is slightly higher than that for the previous 12 months. Traffic receipts totalled £86,277 and working expenses £59,189. After meeting depreciation (£5.855), income tax (Z5,276), loan charges (£3,556) and certain other expenses, the net profit came out at £10,520, which is a little more than £1,000 below the comparable figure of the previous year. From the net profit, £8,000 was used for rate aid, so that £2,520 was left to be added to the renewals and reserve fund. In the year under review the vehicles covered an aggregate mileage of 1,465,357, and carried 12,834,231 passengers.
At the time that our analysis of municipal bus fleets was publishedin 58
March last, Rawte n stall Corporation was operating 48 Leyland buses, mainly double-deckers, and nearly half of them oilers.
BRITISH BUSES FOR OVERSEAS.
A CONTRACT to supply 10 Albion CX21-type buses has been received from the Mozambique railway administration by Albion Motors, Ltd.
IPSWICH TRAMS A BURDEN.
APROFIT of £3,715 on the buses, and a deficit of £3,450 on the tramways, for the year, is reported by Ipswich Corporation Transport Committee.
SALFORD MAKES A NET PROFIT OF £13,180.
THE annual report of the transport undertaking of Salford Corporation reveals a net profit of £13,180 for the year ended March 31, compared with a surplus of £20,141 for the previous year.
SHEFFIELD BUS STATION TO COST £172,500.
A SCHEME for the construction pf a /-1 central bus station, in Pond Street, at a cost of £172,500, is to be proceeded with, as soon as possible by Sheffield Corporation.
LEICESTER HAS A GOOD YEAR,
A SURPLUS on the year's working, of £4,240, despite a further deficit on the trams, of £2,738, is announced by the Leicester Corporation. The buses showed a profit of 26,897 as compared with £5,659 in /937-8, whilst the deficit on the trams decreased, from the 1937-8 figure of £8,868.
The total number of passengers carried was 77,250,000, this being a record for the undertaking. Revenue came out at £451,350, the highest yet recorded, whilst the mileage figure, at 7,419,000, exceeded that of any previous year.
HARD TIMES FOR ABERDEEN TAXI-DRIVERS.
THE introduction of small taxis has resulted in many Aberdeen taxidrivers, who ply for hire in the street, not seeking renewal of their licences. This fact was mentioned at a licensing court held in Aberdeen last week.
When Deputy Chief Constable Murray opposed an application for a licence, he said that only 24 applications for renewals of licences were before the court. This number was 30 fewer than a year ago, and was due to the introduction of the smaller taxis. "The existing men are finding difficelty in getting a livelihood," be added. The applicant did not appear and his application was refused.
ADDITION TO ABERDEEN'S BUS FLEET
WHEN the 20 new buses, ordered W some time ago by Aberdeen Corporation, are brought into service, this summer, the corporation will be running as many buses as trams.
The 10 double-deck vehicles are already on the streets, as are two of the single-deck buses. Four others will be delivered in the course of a few weeks and the remaining four are expected in August.
Some of them will replace old vehicles and others will be used to augment the present fleet of buses. When they are delivered the corporation's fleet will number 110, with a like number of trams.
-CENTRAL BUS STATION FOR DURSLEY. OWING to the need for relieving traffic congestion in Dursley (Glos.) , a £12,000 scheme is under consideration by the council for providing a combined central bus station and pleasure park.
COACH TOURS THAT ARE NOT PUBLICIZED.
complaint that there were not Tenough six-day or seven-day coach tours from Aberdeen, and that those tours which were available were not widely enough known, was made in evidence, on an application by Mr. J. A. S. MacIntyre, Bucksburn, at a sitting of the Traffic Commissioners in Aberdeen last week, for a licence for tours to the Wye Valley and the Thames Valley.
The railway companies objected to the application, but after evidence had been heard, the two tours were granted.
LEEDS MAKES A NET SURPLUS OF £16,420.
A LLUSION to the considerable rise ti in the working expenses of the transport department was made by Mr. W. Vane Morland, general manager and chief engineer of Leeds transport undertaking, in a report on the results of operations during the financial year ended March 31.
The number of buses operated by the department has been nearly doubled during the past five years, and the number of passengers carried has now reached more than 200,000,000.
The fact that receipts during the past year increased to £1,291,519, as against £1,267,077 for the previous year, is attributed mainly to the continued development of bus routes and services. The year yielded a net surpius of £16,420.
ABERDEEN BUS TOUR REGULATIONS
A'agreement, setting out the conditions for those who run bus tours from the stance in Guestrow, Aberdeen, was reached at a meeting of the Traffic Commissioners for the Northern Area of Scotland, at Aberdeen, last week, Mr. Henry Riches stated that there was a slight modification in regard to the time or the departure of' tours, and there was now a clause to the effect that no operator shall be entitled to use, or have more than one vehicle in his group, on the front rank of the stance. " The patience of the Commissioners has been tried," he said, adding: "We hope this agreement will be accepted without a grouse."
On behalf of the larger operators, exception was taken to the condition whereby a man, with more than one vehicle, was precluded from serving the public with more than one vehicle at a time, The conditions laid down for bookings were also criticized as they did not allow the public to choose the tours it might want nor did they allow the proprietor to give the tour that might be wanted.
For the smaller operators it was said that the revision of the agreement had
been necessitated by the bigger operators trying to " get around " the former agreement. It was drawing a red herring across the path to say that the public was being deprived ofreasonalrle facilities.
DARWEN PREPARES FOR. ITS CHANGE -OVE R .
TN preparation for next year's changelover front trams to buses, Darwen Corpora lion is building a new garage on the recently acquired site of the former Rattan Croft Mill.
There %sill be accommodation for 24 vehicles and a recreation-room for the employees is to be provided.
P yin o th Corporation Transport Committee reports a net profit for the year of £12,816.
Plymouth Corporation is to enlarge the t4ar ge s at the Pottery Quay and Prince -RLicit depots at a cost of £3,000.
Leigh (Lanes) Corporation has appointed Mr. R. Le Fevre, assistant engineer, Plymowth Corporation transport depar1merit, as general manager of the transport undertaking.
BUSES BEAT TRAMS Al' MANCH ESTER
ANET loss of £37,583, for the year ended March 81, is shown in the annual report of Manchester Corporation's Transport Department. Although bus receipts produced a surplus of £101,114 and a profit of £5,857 emanated from trolleybus services, a deficit of £94,140 was sustained on the trams.
The report reveals that, during the year, 210,982,844 passengers were carried by the buses and the receipts totalled £1,541,200—an increase of £234438, whilst trolleybus receipts, from 23,708,953 passengers, amounted to £133,345—an increase of 2128,998.
In addition to the loss sustained on the tramways, another main contributor to the deficit is an item of 281,636. incurred by considerable wage increases to the staff.
Referring, apparently, to the time Manchester City Council spent in agreeing to the complete abolition of the trams, Mr. R. Stuart Filcher, the general manager, in his annual report states that '' The report dealing with the proposed conversion of the tramways system was delayed five months, thereby making it impossible to arrest the increasing trainways deficit."