Restricting the Liberties of the Coach-travelling Public
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DRITAIN is supposed to be a free country, yet LIthere are continual attempts to encroach upon the freedom of the public, and no more drastic example of this tendency can be found than in the case of the many thousands of people who wish to travel to and from their holiday centres by coach.
During periods of holiday traffic, instances are constantly occurring of returning passengers being put to the greatest inconvenience, owing to the shortage of vehicles resulting from the limitation on duplication.
Irt previous articles dealing with this matter, we have pointed out that some of the large operating companies have definitely been able to trace the loss of hundreds of passengers to this cause, and, on one occasion, returning passengers had to be carried free of charge because the limit of duplication had been reached. • In the case of an application of United Automobile Services, Ltd., for the renewal of its licences with modifications, including the derestricting of duplications during the summer and at peak periods, the representative of the railways actually put forward the impertinent suggestion that the road-transport companies should warn open-date return passengers that they could not be carried unless booked for particular dates, and the Traffic Commissioner asked whether it would not be possible to compel passengers when booking to signify the dates of their return, informing them at the time that, unless they did so, seats could not be guaranteed. We can imagine the horror of the railways if they were required to adopt such a scheme; but if it is to apply to road transport, it is only fair that it should do so to rail transport.
There are many holiday periods at the termination of which it is essential for passengers to obtain means for transport. The travelling public does not expect, nor will it willingly submit to, the curtailment or extension of its holidays to meet such exigencies, and the present system is throwing,passenger road transport into a disrepute which is undeserved. The facts should be widely ventilated.