Services That Will Never Pay
Page 19
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MINE timetabled services which were.
unremunerative throughout the year were being run by the East Kent Road Car Co., Ltd., said Mr. Alfred Baynton, 0.B.E., in his presidential address to the Omnibus Society, last week. Some of the services operated would never pay under prevailing conditions, he added.
Referring to difficulties of bus operation in an area that catered largely for holidaymakers, Mr. Baynton said that an August last year, the East Kent corn' pany carried 10,123,968 passengers. compared with 5,708,605 in November. During August and September all the 540 vehicles in the fleet had to be licensed, whereas in October, when the winter timetable came into operation, a substantial number of buses was taken off the road. Before the war, the company laid_ ul:e 230 vehicles during the winter. Mr. Baynton mentioned the difficulties associated with the provision of excursions and tours at a time when the demand for regular services was at a peak. The public taste an excursions was not easy to assess, because, each resort had its own likes and dislikes as regards routes and departure times.
One of the greatest seasonal problems was connected with staff, and the position had become more difficult since the war. Before the war, an appreciable number of employees returned season after season, eventually to be taken on the permanent staff. Others were found work during the winter months mainly on the painting of bodies.
Now, many of those who were stood off as redundant at the end of the season found other employment during the winter and were not willing to take work as drivers Or conductors for only a few months. Because of the competition for labour, it had been found necessary to start recruiting staff Months before it Was actually required to begin work.
Mr. Baynton stressed the importance Of the personal and local touch in the operation of services in an area handling great seasonal traffic.
He described also the services provided for miners and said that the existence of coal in the county was, perhaps, the cause of one of the greatest changes that had taken place in East Kent. Modern villages had been built at Snowdown, Betteshanger, Tilmanstone. and Chislet, and were provided with bus services. In some instances new services had been inaugurated, and in two cases services had been taken over by the East Kent Company from other operators in December, 1942.