Operating Aspects of
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Passenger Transport
PUSHED OFF ROAD: NO COMPENSATION
WJE, learn that Holliday and Bangs, VV Ltd., London, S.W., proprietor of the Limited-Stop Pullman service and a pioneer of the road between London, Bury St. Edmunds and King's Lynn, has been compelled to withdraw its service, and the route becomes another combine monopoly.
Attempts were made by Holliday and Bangs, Ltd., to dispose of this service to the Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., as a going concern, but the offer was pot accepted. George Ewer and Co., Ltd., subsequently made an offer and, pending the Commissioners' decision, operated the service from the beginning of the year. It was obvious that, as licensed, the service could not pay its way and it was the Ewer company's intention to embody certain sections in its East Anglian time `tables. • The scheme as submitted to the Commissioners was hotly opposed by both the combine and independent operators using the road, and a subsequent modified scheme met with the same fate. The Commissioners of the Eastern and Metropolitan Areas having refused to grant the application, George Ewer and Co., Ltd., had no option but to withdraw its offer.
Behind these bare facts lies the story of the failure of a pioneer long-distance independent service to pay its way against the keen competition of the combine group. Equally unsuccessful has been the attempt to dispose of the goodwill and, consequently, the service has had to be withdrawn without compensation.
BIG STATION SCHEME AT LEEDS.
DEFINITE proposals for the provision of a modem central bus station in Leeds have now been formulated as part of a £250,000 plan for extensions to the Leeds municipal markets. The
MO idea has been approved in principle, and the city council's confirmation of recommendations from the committees concerned is now awaited.
If, as is probable, certain proposals be carried into effect, the station will cover a site at the junction of Eastgate, St. Peter's Street; and George Street, and a second site surrounded by York Street, Somerset Street, and St. Peter's Street. The bus-station scheme involves an area of about three acres. It is suggested that the station shall be used by all buses, with the exception of those on a few cross-country services .which do not enter the city.
It is computed that on a normal day there are more than 2,000 departures of buses from the centre of Leeds. At present, there are about 10 bus stands in the streets in the central zone.
The station will be of one storey, with covered platforms.
Y.M.C.O. TO JOIN NEW ASSOCIATION?
ALTHOUGH no official announcement has been made, it is understood that negotiations are proceeding with a view to Yorkshire Motor Coach Owners, Ltd., an organization chiefly composed of operators of _excursions and tours, becoming linked up with Associated Road Operators, the new body formed by the amalgamation of the Motor Ifirers and Coach Services Association and the Road Haulage
Association, The Y.M.C.O. became affiliated to the M.H.C.S.4. two or three years ago.
BRADFORD INSISTS ON UNIONISM AMONGST WORKERS.
rvr Tuesday, Bradford City Council klapproved, by three votes, the action of Mr. C. R. Tattam, the tramways manager, in posting, at depotS, a notice suggesting the advisability of all employees joining an appropriate trade union. The notice said that it would appear desirable for employees having a rooted objection to joining a trade union to seek employment elsewhere.
Mr. George Carter, chairman of the tramways committee, defended Mr. Tattam's action and stated that harmonious relations had been disturbed because certain employees had objected to becoming members of a union. The trouble, however, no longer existed.
EXETER'S BUSES A GOOD INVESTMENT
DURING the tear ended March 31 last, Exeter Corporation's bus undertaking, which is managed by Mr. W. Y. Smith-Saville, worked at a net profit of £5,229. The total receipts increased by £853 to £76,760, whilst the working expenses rose by £1,909 to £60,975, repairs and maintenance and wages being responsible for the main increases in expenditure.
The gross profit was £15,786, but interest and sinking-fund charges absorbed ,£10,557. From the net profit, £3,255, in respect of displaced tramways, and £138, for revenue contributions to capital, had to be deducted, leaving £2,015.
The buses carried 13,996,526 passengers, or 423,519 more than in the previous year. The mileage covered rose by 56,977 to 1,317,408. Mr. SmithSaville states that the tramway and road-reinstatement charges continue to be a heavy burden.
NO YORK TRAMS AFTER NOVEMBER.
IJINDER the scheme for the joint 4.--loperation of local services by York CorpOration and the West Yorkshire Road Car. Co., Ltd., it is hoped to complete the replacement of trams by buses by the end of November.
ALL-WEATHER COACHES FOR "MIDLAND RED."
ALTHOUGH the saloon-type coach has, in most cases, displaced the all-weather vehicle, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., is producing a batch of 25 touring coaches of the latter type. The vehicles, which have 30-seater bodies mounted upon S.O.S.-type chassis, have been designed by Mr. L. G. Wyndham Shire, the chief engineer, and are being manufactured in the company's works at Edgba.ston. The vehicles will be used during the summer on extended tours in the south to Devon and Cornwall, and as far north as Aberdeen.
The folding hood can easily be operated by the driver and conductor. and, in the case of a sudden storm, the coach may be converted into a saloon in less than two minutes.
THREE BIG LONDON TRANSFER AWARDS
Oo Monday, the London Passenger Transport Arbitration Tribunal announced its award to the Lewis Omnibus Co., Ltd., Watford, in respect of the transfer of part of its undertaking to London Transport The company is to receive £49.771, less the sum already paid, in accordance with the London Passenger Transport Act, 1033, with interest at 5 per cent:, per annum, The Tribunal was triable to grant a declaration that the Board was liable to carry out the obligations of the Lewis concern in connection with a contract of _service between the company and Mr. Frederick Lewis, Half the share capital in the concern was held by Mr. Lewis and the other by•
the North Western Land and Transport Co., a nominee of the Metropolitan Railway Co. The Lewis company claimed £80,000.
An award of £199,500, less £20,599 already paid on account, with interest at 5 per cent., was made in favour of the Premier Omnibus Co., Ltd., for•the transfer of its bus business to the Board; the company originally claimed £340,000 in cash.
Premier Line, Ltd., the subsidiary coach business of the Omnibus concern, sought also to be transferred to the Board, and the original scheme contained a .claim for £155,000 in cash and an • indemnity in respect of the managing directors. Under a revised agreed seherne, the Board is to pay £60,006 in full satisfaction of the claim, and the Tribunal has approved thi.3 arrangement.
MOTORBUSES . FOR BRIGHTON?
BRIGHTON Corporation's general purposes committee. recommends the provision of a summer bus service from Saltdean to the Hove lagoon, which will necessitate the purchase of eight low-loading petrol-engined vehicles at a cost of about £900 each. These will be the first motorbuses to he run by Brighton Corporation. As recently reported in The Corn rixerczal Motor, the municipality is also seeking trolleybus powers.
BIG L.U.T. SHARE INCREASE.
IT is proposed to raise the capital of the Lancashire United Transport and Power Co. to £600,000 hy the creation of 100,000 £1 ordinary shares, which are to be offered to the holders of deferred debentures. The paid-up capital of the company, which has large motorbus and trolleybus interests, is £492,878.
BIG NEW GARAGE SCHEME.
ATENDER has. been provisionally accepted by Newcastle-on-Tyne Transport and Electricity Committee for the erection of a bus garage and
offices in Shields Road, Newcastle. The building wilt be 568 ft. long, with a span of 114 ft.
The corporation has now 109 buses, in addition to an approximately equal number of tramcars, MORE BRITISH TROLLEYBUSES FOR PENANG.
VUE learn that Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies, Ltd., Ipswich, has recently received a fourth order for trolleybus chassis from the municipal authorities of Georgetown„ Penang. The chassis will have 42-seater singledeck bodies constructed by the Georgetown tramways department.
BRIGHTON AND CO-ORDINATION
THE general purposes committee of Brighton Corporation has decided not to entertain the idea ot reaching an agreement with Thos. Tilling, Ltd., on the lines of that in force between York Corporation and the West Yorkshire Road Car Co., Ltd, At a recent meeting of the committee, it was decided to continue correspondence with the Tilling concern regarding a proposal to purchase certain of the company's routes.
The committee considers that the time is not ripe to consider any other scheme of co-ordination.
TRAM DEBT NOT TO BE SHIFTED.
GREAT YARMOUTH Corporation's GREAT
committee has considered a suggestion that it should be relieved of the debt incurred by the tramways, with a view to facilitating the early review of fares, but decided that, having regard to the fact that the only way of extinguishing the debt would be to charge it against the general rate fund, and that losses are automatically paid out of that fund, it could not agree to the suggestion.
ANOTHER "WESTER NATIONAL" ACQUISITION. E Western National Omnibus Co., 1 Ltd., has applied to the Western Traffic Commissioners for permission to take over the licences of the Red Car Motor Co., Ltd., in respect of various stage-carriage and excursion and tour serviced in Cornwall.
DEADLOCK BETWEEN "UNITED COUNTIES" AND WORKERS.
KIEGOTIATIONS which have taken I N place since Christmas between the United Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., and 500 employees have again reached a state of deadlock by the rejection by the workers of the company's offers. At a mass meeting, the men reiterated their demands and a strike is proposed before the August holidays unless they are met.
Despite the advice of union officials, who pointed out that a. strike would he unofficial and pay might be withheld, the men refused the company's latest offer of an hourly rate of is. 3d. for • drivers and Is. Oirl_ for conductors, with a bonus of 4s_ a week for top-rate men, a week's holiday with pay, and. overtime after 54 hours. Alternatively, the company proposed the present daily rates of 13s. Gd. and us. 6d. for drivers, and Ils. 6d. and 9s. 6d. for conductors.
The men demand a flat rate of Is. 5d. an hour for drivers and Is. 3d. an hour for conductors, for a 48-hour week, payment at the rate of time-arida-half for work on Sundays arid Bank Holidays, double pay for Christmas Day, and eight days' holiday with pay. The position is to be discussed with the union executive.
BUSES IMPROVE MUNICIPAL FORTUNES
A COMPLETE change in the policy
of Middlesbrough Corporation's transport undertaking, the general manager of which is Mr. Frank Lythgee, A.M.Inst.T., took place in the past financial year, and the result has been most satisfactory, for the motorbus revenue has risen considerably. The trams, on the other hand, showed a deficit of £19,061.
After June 9, 1934, buses superseded trams on all the municipal services, and, since that date, routes have been reorganized and the undertaking has expanded. The working expenses amounted to £66,012 last year, as against £56,643 in 1933-34, but the receipts rose from £68,511 to £93,217. The gross profit, at £27,205, was £15,337 higher than in the previous ynat,. The buses showed a net profit of £7,360.
On the motorbus expenditure side, the traffic expenses amounted to £30,352, fuel, etc., cost £14,701, repairs and maintenance £10,023, general expenses £6,429, and licences £4,450. The total income was £93,217.
The buses operated in the Middlesbrough area by Middlesbrough and Stolckton Corporations covered 1,774,974 miles, whilst those run by Middlesbrough Corporation travelled 1,781,303 miles. The total of 14,809,077 passengers was carried at a cost of 8.9d. per mile and at a revenue of 12.57d. per mile. The petrol-engined buses of Leyland, Daimler and Guy makes averaged 5.372 miles per gallon of petrol, whilst the Leyland oilers covered 8.435 miles per gallon of fuel. LIVERPOOL'S TRAMMINDEDNESS I N an address to Liverpool 'Rotary Club, Colonel A. Jerrett, transport manager of Lewis's, Ltd., attacked Liverpool Corporation's transport policy. " It seems an anachronism to talk of transport development," he said, "when those responsible for the transport of a city like Liverpool— which, in turn, owes its greatness to transport—should be allowed to commit us to tram tracks for years to come.
" The city of London, with its proposed Government loan of £40,000,000, is devoting a considerable amount of that money to the conversion of 90 miles of tram route to trolleybus working. Birmingham is already nearly free, and Glasgow—almost as obstinate in its attitude as Liverpool—is, at last, voicing the death of the tramcar."
A Ministry of Transport inquiry into the corporation's proposal to extend the tramways was conducted on Tuesday by Mr. A. D. Erskine.