Operating Aspects of
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PASSENGER TRANSPORT
PENALTY FOR PRIVATECAR -BUSES"
" MOT guilty—I am absolutely
I lignorant of having done anything wrong," said Mr. Benjamin Kirk, Hodthorpe, near Worksop, when summoned at Worksop Police Court, recently, for having used his two private cars as public service vehicles, and as stage carriage vehicles, without the proper licences. Mr. F. B. Pears, for
the Traffic Commissioners, said that when the cavalry camp of two regiments was held at Welbeck recently, defendant was seen to pick up soldiers and convey them in his cars.
Mr. Kirk said he was asked to bring his cars by men who could not get a ride, owing to the buses being crowded. He did so to oblige them, and took about 30s. on the day concerned. If one man had hired the cars and taken his friends, everything would have been all right. He was fined 20s. • GREEN LINE AND " COUNTRY " FARE REVISIONS.
A DJUSTMENTS to Green Line ricoach and country bus fares, it is announced by the London Passenger Transport Board, are to be introduced on August 27, that is, next Sunday.
A38 Green Line single fares will continue to be based on the Id. per mile standard and will remain unchanged except in a few isolated cases. Certain coach return fares will be increased, and as they must, for practical reasons, be fixed in multiples of 3d., the amount of such increases will be 3d.
Season-ticket rates on Green Line coaches will be increased only where return fares are increased" or where some charges are below standard The standard basis of approximately .8 mile for one penny for country-bus single fares will be retained. Only on certain routes in the Guildford area will changes (including reductions) in the single fares be made. Oidinary return fares on country buses, at less than twice the ordinary single fare, will be withdrawn, provided that their withdrawal does not involve an increase in charge amounting to more than id. in each direction, in the case of journeys covered by fares under 9d. single, or more than 2d. (3d. in exceptional cases) in the case of longer journeys.
Weekly tickets covering six return journeys are issued only in the northern country area. The basis of charge will be raised from eight to nine times the ordinary single fare.
GLASGOW DRIVERS RESENT CIRCULAR CONSMERABLE resentment is fe't, ...among Glasgow Corporation bus and tram drivers, by the issuing to them of a circular stating that " drastic treatment " may be required to diminish city accidents.
The circular is in the following terms:—" The Transport Committee, management, and public alike, are becoming alarmed and dismayed at the frequency of major accidents on our 4_,IN II system. Apart from other accidents, collisions are costing the Department more than three times as much as all the other accidents put together. Collisions are past the stage of being accidental, and appear to be becoming chronic. This can be cured. Drastic treatment may be required; on the other hand, the general manager believes it can be cured from within. The care lies in your own hands, and the general manager now asks you, in your own interests, to see that the remedy is applied "
The men indignantly repudiate the suggestion that the accidents are caused by any negligence on their part. They blame vehicles, time-tables and traffic conditions.
POSITION OF BARROW'S BUS PROFITS.
DURING the year ended March 31, 1939, there was a gross surplus of £25,385 on the operation of Barrow-inFurness Corporation's buses. After deducting interest on mortgages and adding bank interest, the balance carried to the appropriation account was £24,844.
STOCKPORT-HYDE TRAMS SUPERSEDED.
BUSES will supersede trams, in the near future, on Stockport Corporation's Stockport-Hyde service, and the fares will remain at the same level as at present. Some of the buses on the service will run to Stalybridge and Ashton-under-Lyne.
TRADE SLUMP AND BUS RETURNS
GROSS income on the operation of the buses of Burnley, Collie and Nelson Joint Transport Committee, in the year ended March 31, 1939, amounted to £276,002 and, as working expenses totalled £223,923, there was a .balance of 252,079, which, after the deduction of certain items as shown in the net-revenue account, reduced the amount carried to the appropriation account to £48,179.
The decline in trade affected the corporation bus receipts, the revenue falling by £4,744, but in spite of this, a sum of 222,816 has been paid to the constituent authorities, after providing for interest and sinking-fund charges.
The number of passengers carried during the year, at 42,861,338, was lower by 571,946 and, owing to the reduction in the demand for travel, economies were effected by decreasing the mileage run by 79,971; in the past year it was 5,106,719. The committee operates 141 vehicles, consisting of 115 Leylands and 26 A.E.C.s, a large percentage of them being oilers.
SAFETY MEASURES FOR GERMANY'S BUSES.
UNDER a new regulation, which -).recently came into operation in Germany, all buses in that country must in future have bodywork of allmetal construction; windows must be of safety glass; buses carrying more than 25 passengers must have two entrances; an emergency door or window must be provided; the use of folding or emergency seats in the gangways is prohibitede and all buses, the total
• weight of which is over 5i tons, must be equipped with three brakes.
STILL MORE TROLLEYBUSES IN ITALY.
THE Italian journal Etettrotecnica reports that a fleet of 30 sixwheeled single-deck electric trolleybuses is being built by the Alfa-Romeo Co., of Milan, for service in Rome, the electrical equipment being supplied by the Ercole Marelli Co, of the same city.
LEIGH'S LEYLANDS DO WELL.
IN the year ended March 31, 1939, the 139buses—mainly Leylands—in the service of Leigh Corporation were operated at a gross profit of £8,817. The net profit, after meeting all charges and setting aside £6,366 for depreciation and renewals, was £1,791.
The vehicles covered an aggregate mileage .-of 1,341,344, made up of 831,486 miles on local services, 509,307 miles on co-ordinated services, and 551 on private ,hire. The mileage run by double-deckers represented 74 per cent. of the total and, in considering this fact, it must be borne in mind that, out of the total fleet, 28 are of this type. The number of passengers carried was 9,539,623.
NOTTINGHAM BUSFARES PROTEST DROTESTS at the bus fares into the
city centre, made by tenants of Nottingham Council estates, look like taking a more organized form in the near future. The matter is almost certain to be an issue at the next municipal elections. At Bilborough, Aspley, Lenton Abbey and Archdale Road, the charges reach the city-boundary limit of 3d.
As a large proportion of the people has been transferred under slum-clearance orders, it is clear that their position is made harder.
CHESTERFIELD INVESTIGATES PRODUCER-GAS.
CHESTERFIELD Transport Council is to fit te'ohin Poulenc gas-producer equipment to one of its old double-deck buses, and the transport manager is to make extensive investigation into the use of this method of propulsion.
GLASGOW GETS " TROLLEYBUSCONSCIOUS."
GLASGOW Transport Committee has asked a sub-committee to report whether any grant can be obtained, from the Ministry of Transport, in respect of the conversion of the tramways system to trolleybuses and with respect to the estimatedcapital cost, maintenance charges and life of trolley vehicles.