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'Tell the public about threat
Page 48
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of Transport Authorities' By Derek Moses AN admission that the passenger transport industry failed to get its message over to the public and an insistence that the public must be made aware of the likely effects of Passenger Transport Authorities was reflected in the discussion on the paper by Mr. D. W. Glassborow, head of economic research, THC, at the Public Transport Association annual conference (CM, last week).
Mr. D. S. Deacon, Hants and Dorset, said that the present generation was obsessed by the car as an object of possession. It had never known the high standards of bus services which obtained in the late 1930s. People would use public transport which was efficient, reliable and freely moving—for example, the London Underground.
Mr. J. W. Womar, Midland Red, said the Minister had no idea how her Transport Authority plans would work out, but he could tell her: they would be a complete disaster for both ratepayers and passengers. Mrs. Castle claimed a "large measure of agreement had been reached", said Mr. Womar. This meant that one or two had agreed and the rest stayed silent.
Throughout the country there were many people who knew Mrs. Castle was wrong. Mr. Womar said they should speak up before it was too late.
Mr. C. T. Humpidge, Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee, said that the trained mind had come into the industry far too late. Economists, he said, were "snakes in the grass". Civil engineers were coming into their own and they would soon have the say on where buses should or should not run.
The railways. said Mr. Humpidge, were right to suggest scrapping return tickets and have simple single fares so that passengers could travel one way by bus and the other by rail. This was fundamental to road/rail co-ordination.
He suggested the use of a "micro bus" with slightly higher fares and runhing at a higher speed. The industry, he said, did not tell the public often enough that wages constituted 70 per cent of costs.
Sir Robert A. Cary, MP, Lancashire United, said that Mr. Glassborow's paper was "sensible" and, together with Mr. Litde's speech the day before, made a most admirable brief for the Opposition in Parliament. Here was the text by which the Bill should be kicked out, he said.
Mr. W. M. Dravers (BET), past chairman of the council of the Association, said that if he had to accept or reject the charge of lack of public relations in the industry, he would accept it. It was not always easy to put the industry's views across to the Press, however. He stressed that everyone must be made aware of the possible effects of Mrs. Castle's plans.
In his speech to the conference, Mr. W. M. Little, chairman, was critical of the Ministry of Transport, and the way in which it impeded the industry's progress. He referred to the current spate of regulations introduced in the name of safety, and pointed to the long p.s.v. record of safety. It had been more closely controlled for much longer than any other class of vehicle user. Operators could, he thought, reasonably resent the fact that many new regulations were forced on them for the sake of uniformity.
Uniformity was the simple way for the administrator, he said, but it brought unnecessary cost to the passenger and it inhibited experiment and progress. This was the industry's interest and reason for action —a basic fact which did not seem to register.
tt was disheartening, said Mr. Little, to know that this country could and did produce some of the best p.s.v. in the world, to be told this frequently by the Minister herself and then to be prevented from using them by failure—over years—to
RESTITUTION
ENGINEER Harold Colin Oliver, 28, of Gordon Street, Hull, pleaded guilty at Bradford magistrates' Court to stealing £74 18s 6d while working three years ago as a bus conductor for Bradford Corporation. He was fined 120 and ordered to pay full restitution at the rate of El a week.
REWARD OFFER
AN INCREASING incidence of seatslashing and damage on buses on all services, including school buses, has led Western SMT Bus Co., which operates in Scotland and into Cumberland, to offer rewards for information.
Mailbus for Westmorland: A GPO mailbus service similar to that operating in Wales is being considered for the Stainmore district of North Westmorland. It would link nine villages at present without bus services.
get sensible amendments to regulations.
Things the industry had asked for had been totally disregarded, he said. Abolition of conductors' licences; simplified tax arrangements if fuel tax there must be; statutory enforcement of bus stop markings; speed limit increase.
Things which did not seem difficult but which would mean much, had all been ignored. Instead the industry was given even further taxation and threatened with a paralysing cut in driver's hours which nobody had asked for.
• See pages 54-55 for more of Mr. Glassborow's views.
READING WANTS CHEAPER BUSES
THE PURCHASE of 28 more single-deck buses is being considered by Reading Corporation transport committee. Estimated cost is just under £200,000, but the transport department has been instructed to try and negotiate better terms with the suppliers.
If agreement is reached, delivery would start during the middle of next year. Reading already has 14 similar buses on order for use when the proposed traffic management scheme comes into operation and more trolleybuses are scrapped.
Ten Ambulances: Newcastle upon Tyne Corporation has taken delivery of 10 dual-purpose ambulances, biggest single delivery in the city's history. The ambulances-5 Commer Walk-Thrus and 5 BMC LDs—costing £20,000, replace eightyear-old vehicles which have each covered about 160,000 miles.
Ashok-Leyland £1,370.000 Order: Contracts worth more than £1,370,000 have been secured by Ashok-Leyland Ltd., Leyland Motor's Indian associate, for a total of 606 Comet bus chassis with 0.370 engines and full air-pressure brakes.