FOOTBALL MOTOR COACHES.
Page 19
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Saturday Afternoon Incidents in Connection with the 'Transport of Football Followers in Lancashire.
IF A Southerner were to visit one of the Lancashire towns when one of the First Division football teams is playing a league match in the vicinity, and weia to witness the struggles for the motor coaches ,which run to the football ground, he. would shake his head and say : " Verily, these Northerners take their pleasures serionslY!"
The organization of Saturday afternoon coach services to football matches calls for all the resource of a calm and collected traffic manager. At, 12.30 on a Saturday afternoon there may not be a flicker of excitement, not the slightest evidence of a demand for vehicles, yet so rapidly does the want of travelling facilities' manifest itself that in less than an hour as many as 25 coaches may be suddenly called into commission. This wile the New Year's Day experience of the Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd.
Intending passengers do not trouble to book a seat in.the coach until they see how the weather will be, but when booking does start it waxes fast and furious. These burly Colliers book at the offiees of the coach companies' agents, who keep in telephonic communication with the head office at Atherton, where the movements of the coaches which pick up at Leigh, Hinnerton, and Tyldesley, are controlled.
When the coaches come on the scene the waiting, passengers take them by storm. The regulation of traffic is out of the question, and the only order of the day seems to be every man for himself if the football ground is to be reached. An official of the L.U.T. caste ally inspects passengers' tickets, and away go the buses. When the coaches are not fully loaned up at the startingoft place, they pick up on the outward journey. This rarely happens with the first few coaches, but those which follow are generally devoted to clearing off the " arrears" at the intermediate places. On the return journey passengers instinctively look out for their own coach and party. On New Year's Day, at 12.30 p.m., not.
a single football passenger had been booked by the L.U.T. CO. By 1.30 p.m. 19 28-seater coaches, one 23-seater coach, two 14-seater coaches, two buses, and one Austin car had been turned out.
The return fare from Leigh to Bolton is.ls, 3d. Originally the rate was Z.S. 6d., then 2s. Local Competitot's thought they would go one better by accepting is. 9d. The Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., then made the rate is. 3d., and there it stands.