Operating Aspects of
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PASSENGER TRANSPORT
RAIL PROFITS FROM BUS PROSPERITY
ACCORDING to the annual report of the directors of the Great Western Railway Co., the company has obtained dividends and interest amounting to £268,215 from its investments in motorbus and other road-transport undertakings. The following are the details, the figures in parentheses being the amount of the company's investment :—Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., £42,000 (411,500); Carter, Paterson and Co., Ltd., £14,963 (335,749); Oxford Motor Services, Ltd., £12,469 (6123,868) ; Crosville Motor Services, Ltd., £10,988 (148,212); Devon General Omnibus and Touring Co., Ltd., £5,115 (62,945); Hay's Wharf Cartage Co., Ltd., £24,737 (210,059); Thames Valley Traction Co., Ltd., £9,220 (C93,710); Western National Omnibus Co., Ltd., £116,308 (1.263,378); Western Welsh Omnibus Co., Ltd., £32,415 (£196,520).
P.S.V. LICENSING BEFORE AND AFTER 1930
rrO-DAY (Saturday), at a meeting of I the Omnibus Society, to be held at the Express Dairy Co., Ltd., 18, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.2, at 2.80 p.m., Mr. A. F. R. Carling, assistant traffic manager of Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., will read a paper on " P.S.V. Licensing Before and After 1930."
The chaotic state of affairs before 1930 with many Licensing Authorities, who imposed different standards on bus and coach owners, but, in many places, granted licences to all corners, will be contrasted with the 1931-1940 period and war-time arrangements.
BUSMEN FINED FOR INTERIOR. LIGHTING OFFENCES
ALTRINCHAM (Cheshire) magistrates were in something of a quandary when four bus drivers and four conductors appeared before them on summonses for permitting interior lights on their vehicles to be visible
from the outside. They were each fined 10s.
Posers before the Bench were :—If the interior lights of a bus are visible from the street, who should be prosecuted—the bus company, or corporation, or the driver and conductor? If the lights are controlled from the driver's cab, can the conductor be answerable in law?
The magistrates decided to fine each of the defendants, but the chairman, Sir Arthur A. Haworth, said of the North Western Road Car Co., owner of the vehicles concerned in some of the summonses, " The case against the )2.8 company is not before us, but it is unsatisfactory, in the opinion of the Bench, that the company should turn out buses in such a condition as these vehicles. If these defendants had been in a position to bear the whole of the responsibility, the fines would have been larger."
FLEET BUYERS OF A.E.C.s
ANA N order from the Notts and Derby Co. for 10 A.E.C.-E.E.C. trolleybuses is included among contracts recently received by the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd. The company's trolleybus fleet has been 100 per cent. A E C since the first vehicles were purchased in 1932.
Another contract received by A.E.C. is for nine Regal single-deckers and comes from Enterprise and Silver Dawn Motors, Ltd., of Scunthorpe. In this company's fleet, all the big-capacity coaches are of A.E.C. manufacture.
N.I.C. DISCUSSES PAY OF WOMEN CONDUCTORS
THE National Industrial Council for the road passenger-transport industry recently discussed, at the Ministry of Labour, rates of pay for women conductors employed by municipal transport undertakings. No settlement was arrived at, but it is understood that the question of arbitration is under consideration.
HARROGATE DISLIKES THE DOUBLE-DECKER
THE use of double-deck buses in Harrogate has apparently disturbed the susceptibilities of certain members of the town council, who, seemingly, think that such vehicles are not in keeping with the character of the town. The council is discussing the matter with the West Yorkshire Road Car Co., Ltd.
Double-deckers are used on the Harrogate-Bradford route, on which the traffic is particularly heavy in the evenings. Many of the villages which are served now have populations increased by evacuees. The doubledeck bus solves many of the problems of dealing with peak-load traffic, and the fact that it has a 50 per cent, greater seating capacity than an average singledecker should overcome objections to its use, more particularly as it is urged that such vehicles should be used in Harrogate only as a war-time measure.
BOOKING AGENTS PLAN DANCE rIN March 6, a meeting of the V Booking Agents' Association will be held, and afterwards a contingent of agents will attend a dance at the Victoria Coach Station. The evening will provide an opportunity for those attending to talk things over with the B.A.A. executive and with agents. Tickets for the dance, price Is. 6d. each, may be obtained at the door, or in advance from Mr. B. Andrews, publicity department, London Coastal Coaches, Ltd., Victoria Coach Station, London, S.W.1.