25 Per Cent Cut in Birmingham?
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THE number of buses operated by Birmingham 'City Transport may be cut by 25 per cent during the next five years, reported a member of the city's transport committee last week.
The probability was that the replacement of the older 54-seat double-deckers by rearengined, front entrance double-deckers seating 72 passengers would continue, to the extent that in about five years' time the city would operate 1,300 buses of the latter type.
This policy, if adopted, would suggest a considerable acceleration of the present replacement programme, which is currently running at the rate of 100 new buses each year and would bring the total of rear-engined doubledeckers to just under 600 by the end of 1968.
The spokesman said that, with the present shortage of more than 900 drivers and conductors it was impossible to operate all the city's 1,700 buses. With the larger vehicle, fewer buses would be able to do the equivalent amount of work as at present.
People might have to wait a little longer for a bus, but this seemed inevitable in view of the difficulty of recruiting platform staff.