Gloomy Outlook for Small Buses
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THEbiggest problem facing bus operators who served remote villages was to keep existing services going, the East Midlands Transport Users' Consultative Committee were told last week. Mr. H. I. Downs, traffic manager of the Lincolnshire Road Car Co., Ltd., said that in the past five years there had been a startling drop in passengers, and now 70 per cent, of his company's services were running at a loss.
Mr. D. A. Crew, assistant traffic manager of the United Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., pointed out that 60 per cent, of their services were unremunerative. Both officials doubted whether small buses for villagers couldbe successful. Mr. Downs said a villagecarrier service, where the driver went to town to collect various items, had already been tried, but it had not worked.
Prof. Robert Peers commented: "No village operator is going to invest in a bus just to feed a main-road service. To make it pay he would want to run right into town, but this would take revenue from the bus companies and they would strongly object."
Mr. G. E. Deering (Leicestershire) said the problem boiled down to how far villagers should be expected to walk to a bus service. ClIr. S. W. Bridges .(Leicester) suggested that where buses served outlying districts the slogan should be: "Use it or lose it."
Members agreed to refer the problem to their central committee.