WHY NOT COACH - SERVICE CONNECTIONS IN LONDON?
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Suggestions Which Will Undoubtedly Interest Those Operators Whose Coaches Run To and From the Metropolis.
IN reviewing the recent season, in the light of their experiences, operators of motor coaches to and from the Metropolis will find one question which
demands very immediate consideration. Through booking facilities, which have never before been undertaken by coach operators on the scale upon which they were worked this season, have reached a high standard of efficiency, and have undoubtedly, as many operators admit, attracted a good deal of patronage to road-transport companies. One factor, however, in this important branch of the coaching industry, which particularly affects travel between the north of England and the south coast, has not been dealt with in a manner befitting its value to companies and booking agents specializing in through bookings.
The accepted arrival and departure stands, apart from the use of coach stations, for coaches on service between London and Newcastle-on-Tyne are in the neighbourhood of King's Cross railway station and Aldwych. Coaches bound for the south-coast resorts depart, in some cases, from the Victoria Station district, Vauxhall and Charing Cross Embankment. Throughbooking facilities over such routes have proved a boon to the travelling public and have been widely employed by those people visiting Newcastle.
Appreciation of the advantages has been expressed in all but one respect.
it is estimated that the operators concerned have lost business equal to 25 per cent of their summer traffic solely on account of the absence' of direct connections.
Passengers from the north to the south, or vice versa, although they may possess through tickets, have no guarantee, arid, indeed, have too often found that there has been no connection either at Victoria, if bound for the north, or at King's Cross, if travelling south. The disadvantage of this method, especially to people without a knowledge of the Metropolis or with a quantity of luggage, does not appear to have been readily realized by the operators.
It has been the practice for one south-coast undertaking to make the connection at King's Cross with the north-bound coaches, if time could be spared, and provided that there were passengers ; but as there was no definite ruling in regard to the connection an unsatisfactory state of affairs prevailed. Service times on the south-coast routes and the possibility of traffic congestion, it was pointed out by the manager of one south-coast con cern during a conversation with a representative of The Commercial Motor, did not allow sufficient time for the coach to make the journey to King's Cross and return to Victoria. It was asserted that a more satisfactory way would he for the NewcastleLoudon coaches to make the journey
to Victoria. Whatever may be the most suitable solution is a matter for the operators themselves to discuss, and whilst, admittedly, there may be difficulties so far as unlicensed coaches are concerned, these are not insurmountable.
A further suggestion put forward is that if it were found inadvisable or impracticable for the companies to make connections between their coaches, they could, perhaps, jointly commission a coach simply for the purpose of carrying through passengers across London_ Provided there he no licensing obstacles, it seems to be a matter which coach operators would do well to consider.