PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
NEW NORTHERN IRELAND BUS REGULATIONS.
Under New Rules Relating to Buses on Country Services Route Cards Must Now be Carried. I• . ^
ADDITIONAL regulations governing country bus services have been issued by the Northern Ireland Ministry of Home Affairs, in consequence of the now famous bus pact which recently came into operation. The provisions are termed the Public-service Vehicles (Amendment) No. 2 Regulations.
One of the new regulations is that no bus shall ply for hire without a route card—indicating the route upon which the vehicle is to run—displayed in a prominent position beside the holder containing the road fund licence, and the bus shall not be used except on the route specified on the card. This regulation, however, does not apply to buses hired by an organized party or for tours where passengers, are picked up and set down at given standing places. The route car is subject to the same regulations as those which govern taxation discs, that is to say, it must be clearly visible during the day to anyone standing at the near side of the vehicle and, if affixed to the outside of the vehicle, it must be properly protected from damage or defacement by the weather.
Before any route card is granted the licensee musr give an undertaking to the Ministry that the service in respect of which it is granted will be operated in accordance with the schedule or schedules, both in relation to times and fares, approved by the Minister. Timetables showing the approved schedule of times at which the vehicle or vehicles are to be operated must be displayed in the buses. The route cards are not transferable.
It is laid down that the licensee of a bus shall not, except with the written consent of the Belfast Corporation, permit the vehicle to be used for picking up or setting down any passenger within the city of Belfast or within a quarter of a mile of the city boundary. It is also provided that, where the tramway line extends beyond the city boundary, the licensee of any bus, save with the consent of the corporation, shall not Permit the vehicle to be used to pick op and set down any passenger within the limits of the area or within a quarter of a mile of the tramway line. Where consent is given the corporation must inform the Ministry.
A rather interesting clause in the regulations is that if the service afforded by the tramway undertaking of the Belfast Corporation be not, in the opinion of the Ministry, adequate and satisfac
tory, the Ministry, notwithstanding any consent or refusal of the Belfast Corporation to permit any vehicle to he used, as provided in the foregoing clause, may direct the licensing officer to issue licences to such persons and in respect of such buses as it may deem necessary to ply for hire within the area.
The opposition to the agreement on the part of a large number of bus owners has been indicated in previous issues of The Commercial Motor, and as an instance of this opposition it may be pointed.out that only a small number of bus companies had complied, up to the day before the regulations came into force, with the request of the Ministry to give information regarding services in operation on August 27th.