PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
IMPORTANT BRADFORD BUS DEVELOPMENTS.
Opposition to the Relaying of Tram Track. More Buses on Order. Services Run by Private .Enterprise.• AirsrrElis are moving rapidly in .LYI. connection with the introduction of the motorbus into Bradford, where, before the general strike, there were only one or two cross-town services run by private enterprise, with the corporation as competitors on one route—the Lister Park to Bankfoot service—with the latest-type A.E.C. buses. This was the first vehicle of its kind the city tramways department had used, for the department had always pinned its faith to railleas vehicles for routes with a comparatively low volume of traffic.
In the past few weeks events which presage nothing short of a revolution in 'passenger transport in the city have taken place with lightning rapidity. The relaying of the tram track for a distance of about a mile along one of the chief shopping streets in the city was discussed at a meeting of the city council called Erpecially to consider the matter, in view of the strong opposition which the tradespeople in the vicinity raised regarding the effect on the local trade, and because of the arguments nut forward by a number of local bodies. These included the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club and the Motor Club, which raised objections to the expenditure of large sums on what could only be considered to be a form of transport which was rapidly growing obsolete.
The city council aid not rescind its decision to have the track relaid—and. indeed, this was scarcely likely, as the section is one of the busiest in the city —and a reaolution to abandon the track and prepare for a service of motorbuses when the leases on the track worked by the corporation under agreement with the Shipley and Biugley Urban District Councils ran out in 1923 was defeated. An amendment that the whole of the problem of passenger transport should be considered by the tramways committee and a report presented within four months was, however, acoepted. The latter coure,e appeared to meet with a considerable amount of support, not simply as a means of shelving the problem, but with a view to getting to the bottom of a difficulty which the city will have to face, in view of the large sums which are sunk in municipal trams in the city.
Municipal undertakings are financed much in the same way a business man secures a mortgage on property, and in the ease of an abandonment the unrepaid capital charges have to be met, either out of reserve funds or from the common funds of the authority, which, in the end, means the rates. Reserve funds are never big enough to meet all capital charges, unless the equipment has been in use longer than the period stipulated by the Government as the ordinary period of life of such equipment, and, consequently, the position of such undertakings as the B30 Bradford City Tramways Department can be readily understood when there is a prospect of equipment being rendered obsolete before it is worn out.
Normally it would not be difficult to face the position of competition with newer services, in view of the protection the Government is prepared to give to tramway services, but tramways authorities have been faced with the great post-war difficulty of sleeting extraordinary costa in regard to track renewals. Track renewals to-day are so expensive that the ordinary revenue returns will not provide a return ade quote to meet the annual expenditure and the yearly charges which represent the repayment of capital charges.
The tramways manager of Bradford (Mr. R. H. Wilkinson) has expressed his opinion that it is not an economic proposal to relay tramway tracks which do not carry more than a ten-minute service. The Manningham Lane tracks carry the following services:— Baildon Bridge, 7ir minutes ; Bingley, 10 minutes; Crossfiatts, 20 minutes ; Nab Wood, 30 minutes; Saitaire, 5 minutes ; Shipley Briggate, 15 minutes ; and Heaton, 5 minutes. From this it will be seen that, if there is ground for maintaining tramway tracks, it must be on this very busy route.
On. the Allerton route, however, Where there is a service varying from 10 to 15 minutes, the tramways committee itself, without consulting the council, has reversed the decision to relay the track from Four Lane End to Allerton at a cost of £20,000, deciding instead tostart a motorbus service from the city to Allerton. For some distance this service mill overlap the remaining tramway track. At one time it was contemplated that the track a should be extended from Allerton to Sandy Lane, but this proposal will not be carried out.
From the Allerton tramway terminus there is a number of private services linking up with places outside the city arranged by owners who desire to run into the city, hut were debarred. Apfarently the municipal authority has closely watched the development of these undertakings, for it is announced that the sanction of Parliament to run services outside the city will be sought. Any steps on the part of the city council to sanction the application for Parliamentary powers will be strongly opposed by private owners, and the applications of Leeds and a Lancashire borough to get these powers last year were unsuccessful.It is hardly likelY, therefore, that the 'Bradford application will be -any more successful. At the present ,time,the tramwsiys. department has four_buses.on the Lister Park and Bankfoot service and six buses are on order, In addition to a fleet of over 20 vehicles run by Messrs: Blythe and Berwick, of -Bradford,on the Illdey, Otley and Bandon services, which have Iwo, extended from Shipley upon the. ban on tbrOugh services being lifted, the West Riding .AntoMobile Co.,. of Walies field, and the Harrogate Road Car Co. are now running services into Bradford. The licensing committee has -fixed stands in Victoria Square, but, strangely enough, hell fixed circuitous routes to get to and from the stands. Presumably this has been done to avoid congestion. The licensing committee is also taking action with regard to the accessibility of the levers of safety doors, and third-party insurance risks.
Meanwhile, a Suggestion has been put forward that, in place of the old-time proposal to link up the Keigbley and Bradford tramway services, there should he a linking up of municipally owned motorbus services between Keighley and Bradford. The old idea of bnses being feeders to trams has now been abandoned.