RECENT HAPPENINGS IN THE TRAFFIC AREAS
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• Conferences of Commissioners.
ONE important decision which the new Minister of Transport has come to is that henceforth there shall be more frequent conferences between the chairmen of Traffic Commissioners in the various areas and himself, in order to improve generally the administration of the Road Traffic Act, 1930.
Work of the Fares Committee.
ON page 700 of our issue for last week we referred briefly to sittings of the Fares Committee, set up by the Metropolitan and South-Eastern Traffic Commissioners. We are now able to state that at the latest meeting it was agreed that there should be varying fares, as between winter and summer and between mid-week and week-end, on routes to coastal destinations, but PO variation on routes to inland destinations.
The railway representatives submitted that there should be no seasonal or weekly variation, butt that, in the event of a lower mid-week fare being allowed, then such fare should not be low enough to create :wasteful competition with other forms of transport. The representatives were asked to assure road-transport interests that the railways would not create wasteful competition at the week-ends, but they were unable to give any assurance.
At this stage it was decided to confine the work of the committee to routes within the Metropolitan, Southern, South-Eastern and Eastern Traffic Areas. The whole region is to be divided up radially and sub-committees are to be formed to explore the question as to hew far they can go towards re
commending suitable minimum fares for the routes with which they are concerned. News of subsequent meetings will be published in this journal in due .course.
The Booking Agents' Deputation to the Minister.
THE early information published on page 700 of our issue for last week concerning the deputation of the Booking Agents Association of Great Britain, Ltd., which was received at the Ministry of Transport by Lord Plymouth, was supplemented by a brief announcement on page 680 to the effect that the Minister had directed all Commissioners that they could not proceed in any action against rates of commisslim paid by operators to their agents.
We are now in a position to give further details of the conference at the Ministry. Lord Plymouth stated that the matter of limitation of picking-up points was receiving the Minister's serious attention, and that there was a great number of appeals pending on this subject, whilst more such appeals would no doubt materialize in the New Year.
Mr. E. F. Bailey, chairman of the association, who was supported by Capt. Toohey (honorary treasurer) and by the Editor of The Coaching Journal, gave facts and figures showing the fall in booking agents' turnover since the coming into force of the Road Traffic Act. This decrease of business be attributed to reduction in services and picking-up points, also the extremely low special fares instituted by the railways, which, in many cases, assumed the nature of regular fares. Standardization of Evidence.
wrna reference to the detailed in
formation given on page 684 of our issue for last week, concerning the deputation of the Motor Hirers and Coach Services Association, Ltd., to the Minister of Transport, it has now been arranged that .delegates from the association will attend a conference on January 4th to discuss a form for the submission of evidence to Traffic Commissioners, which, it is hoped, will be generally adopted by all traffic areas.
King's Bench and Licence Appeal.
A RATHER important matter has
come before the King's Bench in the past few days, this court having discharged a rule nisi for a mandamus calling on the Minister of Transport to hear an appeal by -Southern Express Carriers, Ltd., against a decision of the Eastern Traffic Commissioners (made on May 16th), refusing a road-service licence, the ground being that the Minister's representative failed to perform his duty in accordance with Section 81 af the Road Traffic Act, 1930, ,in that he considered irrelevant and extraneous matters and was influenced thereby in dismissing the appeal.
The facts stated by the AttorneyGeneral (for the Minister) were that the Commissioners gave no grounds for their adverse decision, and when the appeal was lodged the Minister issued to all parties a statement of the Commis
sioners' reasons. The appellant then learned for the first time that matters Buch as the reports of vehicle examiners (which the operating company had not seen) had been taken into consideration.
The Attorney-General agreed with .the statement made at the appeal inquiry that the Commissioners ought not to have based their decision on a matter not brought to the notice of the applicant, but the Minister's representative had sworn an affidavit that he had disregarded the reports in question.
The Court found that neither the Minister's representative nor the Minister had taken into consideration irrelevant matter.
Route-extension Difficulties in Norwich.
APPLICATION made by Norwich Electric Tramways Co. for extension of a bus route beyond the municipal boundary has, at a sitting of the Eastern Commissioners, been opposed by the Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., • Ltd., the ground of objection being that the tramways company already has protective fares in the city area and could not expect a continuance of that protection if it sought to operate beyond the boundary.
The chairman of the Commissioners made a remark that it seemed to him that the tramways company could not have it both ways, and he suggested that the two undertakings should arrange a conference to see whether a mutual agreement could be arrived at. Another application for deviation of a route was objected to by Norwich Corporation on the ground that the road was not yet ready for bus traffic.
"Midland Red" and Leicester Routes.
• 1N reserving their decision in the mat tee of the licensing applications of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., for routes within the Leicester City boundary, the East Midland Commissioners have stated that there are two main points to be decided in this difficult case. First, there is the legal aspect which has been raised by the town clerk ; the chairman of the Commissioners has said that, in his own opinion, section 122 of the Road Traffic Act repeals section 33 of the Corporation Act, this being the protective clause.
Apart from this legal point, there is the question whether the corporation is providing adequate services for the public. The Commissioners have stated that, if on inquiry they think the corporation is not offering proper services, they will take steps to see that it does so, but if it be proved that the present municipal services are adequate, then the •"Midland Red" applications will be refused.
B42 Blackpool Corporation's Express Licence.
THE application made by Blackpool Corporation for a licence to run an express service along the train route from Blackpool to Fleetwood has been granted by the North Western Commissioners.
Strong opposition was raised by the Blackpool and District Motor Coach Owners' Association, members of which were applying for licences for the Blackpool-Fleetwood route. Those licences also were granted. The ground for the opposition was that the route was catered for, so far as the corporation was concerned, by the tramways, and that the corporation was stepping into the legitimate field of private operators. The municipal attitude, however, was that the step was being taken to protect the tramway undertaking.
It was stated that the Fleetwood tram service was bought by Blackpool Corporation in 1919 for about £290,000; since 1926 the receipts from 7d. tickets had fallen from £5,016 to £3,407, and the receipts from 8d. tickets had dropped from £8,558 to £5,000. The attraction at Fleetwood is the Market and large numbers of Blackpool visitors make trips to Fleetwood to attend this market.
Taxicabs for London Sight-seeing.
WHEN the applications of Messrs. P. Hearn in respect of sight-seeing tours of London came up before the Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner a few days ago, a representation was made on behalf of the Taxi Drivers' League. It was submitted that booking agencies and tourist concerns should engage taxicabs to deal with small parties wishing to make sight-seeing tours of London. A cab would take four people on a 20-mile tour for 16s.; the smaller number of passengers would permit of a freer choice as to the places required to be visited, and the time to be spent at any one halt. The Commissioner did not consider the suggestion in relation to the problems of London sight-seeing generally.
Conditions for Glasgow Licences.
REPRESENTATIONS submitted by
Glasgow Corporation in respect of applications for road-service licences for stage and express service on routes that enter the City of Glasgow have been considered by the Southern Scotland Commissioners who, in Gazette 29 of the Notices and Proceedings, have announced a schedule of conditions in
dicating stance, route and stopping places that must be adhered to by operators of all such services. No public-service . vehicle will be allowed to remain at any stance in Glasgow for a longer period than 15 minutes, and particular care is to be taken to prevent vehicles from being driven at an excep-• tionally slow speed for the purpose of allowing passengers to enter or leave the vehicles at unauthorized places.
Wakefield Corporation and National Coachways.
THE watch committee of Wakefield Corporation has decided to oppose an application by National Coachways, Ltd., for the backing of a road-service licence to operate express vehicles between London and Glasgow, passing through Wakefield. • Tour-licence Abuse in Scotland.
THE chairman of the Southern Scot land Commissioners has found it necessary to draw attention to certain abuses which have been noticed in respect of licences for tours. Some operators, having obtained licences for tours or groups of tours, were contriving to use them to provide an alternative to existing stage services regularly run by other operators. It appears that the practice of using vehicle duplication for the purpose of competition wit,# other proprietors also has been detected in some instances. The Commissioners will make specific inquiries when licences come up for renewal.
The Brighton Position To-day.
IN our issue dated December 15th, on page 668, we published details of the general proposal to operate buses, as submitted by the tramways committee of Brighton Corporation. The generalpurposes committee of the corporation has now empowered the town clerk to negotiate with Thomas Tilling, Ltd., for that company to work the Hollingbury bus route, as sanctioned by the Traffie Commissioners, in conjunction with its No. 8 service, until such time as there may be a merger of the two undertakings or the corporation may elect to operate the service with its own buses.
Licence Applications for 193.
uP to the time of going to press, no announcement has been made By the Minister of Transport with regard to the features of administration of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, which, according to various representations made to him, are considered as requiring modification. Operators of public-service vehicles, who are watching developments closely, would do well to bear in mind the more important points that have been raised and, when completing appli cation forms for 1932 road-service licences, to consider whether the Traffic Commissioners might be requested to introduce modifications as regards the limitation of number of vehicles employed and of picking-up points, restrictions as to classes of passenger allowed to be carried, ani the attaching of a speed-limit condition to road-service licences.
With regard to picking-up points, this particularly affects provincial operators of excursions and tours, and with regard to classes of passenger, this relates to conditions prohibiting the carrying of return passengers on certain services.