P.T.A. Members Operate 45,000 P.s.v.s.
Page 44
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WJITH the return of the Tilling and ri Scottish Omnibuses companies to membership of the Public Transport Association the total number of members now stands at 429, the operating members (excluding those overseas) being responsible for running 45,092 public service vehicles. This is revealed in the annual report of the P.T.A., which shows that the membership comprises 99 company operators, 44 municipal operators, 178 contractors, 97 associate members, seven overseas members, two extraordinary members and two honorary members. As reported earlier, when Tilling and Scottish Omnibuses applications were accepted interim arrangements were made to give their representatives positions on the Council; to give these two groups fuller representation on the Council, Mr. F. W. Hodgkinson, Mr. R. G. James, Mr. F. K. Pointon and Mr. S. J. B. Skyrme have now placed their resignations in the hands of the Council, to take effect after the Conference in May, and at its June meeting the Council will be invited to elect Mr. W. Alexander, Mr. R. F. Bushrod, Mr. T. W. H. Gailey and Mr. I. R. Patey in their stead. After these changes the 20 council seats to which company operators are entitled will be: seven representatives from B.E.T. companies, six from Tilling Group companies, two from Scottish Omnibuses companies and five representatives from other company operator members.
The report reveals that the P.T.A. and the three other passenger operator assoB26
ciations have unanimously opposed any change from a left-hand to right-hand rule of the road in this country; in replying to the Ministry of Transport's request for their views they set out estimates of the enormous costs to the industry of changes made after 10-year and 15-year warning periods and said that a warning period of only five years (one of the periods suggested by the Ministry) would be so impracticable as to make any estimate of cost impossible. It was also assumed that if any change were (regrettably) made, then the cost would be met from public funds.
The Association was also asked by the Halsbury Committee to give its preference in the matter of decimal currency, should such a system be adopted. Together with the M.P.T.A., P.V.O.A.„ the Tilling Association and L.T.B., the P.T.A. strongly advocated a 10s.=100 cents system.
Route Charting TO consider the feasibility of providing a bus service up the Esk Valley in Yorkshire, Sir Alexander Spearman, M.P. for Scarborough and Whitby, accompanied officials of United Automobile Services Ltd., the local operator, on a journey up the Valley last week. If the Beeching plan went through, Whitby would be one of the Yorkshire coastal resorts to lose its rail link. The United company operates extensive networks in the district but, because of the contours of the Esk Valley, it has not been thought suitable for bus traffic.