Legal Aspects of P.S.V. Operation
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"The Commercial Motor" Costs Expert Discusses Points of Interest to a NeWcomer to the Road Passenger Industry, and Describes how Work must be Arranged to Comply with the Law FOLLOWING my article in the April 4 issue of "The Commercial Motor" giving advice to a newcomer to road haulage, another reader. has written to me asking tor information on the problems facing a newcomer to coach operation.
The first thing that comes to mind is about the sort of work the operator expects to do. As a preliminary to dealing with that question it may be as well to indicate the various kinds of work in which he might engage.
First there is the use of the vehicle as a stage carriage. That purpose, put in popular• terms, is the use of the machine as a bus travelling on regular routes, either in urban, suburban or rural areas, picking up passengers at stopping places and charging them fares according to distance.
The second is the use of the coach as an express carriage. This is similar to its use as 'a bus and in fact an express carriage is merely a special and particular type of stage carriage. The difference is that an express-coach operator is called upon to charge-not less than a minimum stipulated
fare, which is usually Is. _ Next comes the use of the coach on tours and excursions— that is long or short trips from the operator's home town— day trips, half-day trips, weekly tours, fortnightly tours and so on, Finally there is the use of the vehicle as a contract carriage.
Necessary Licences
To help this correspondent make up his mind as. to which of these four categories is most likely to interest him, the licensing of passenger vehicles must be discussed. All four classes call for two licences for each vehicle. The first of these is a public-service vehicle licence. This will not be granted unless a certificate of fitness has been acquired and that is issued Only when certain prescribed conditions of fitness are fulfilled.
If the vehicle be new, the certificate Of fitness can be obtained almost automatically as the coach will most certainly have been constructed so as to comply with all the conditions. which are essential to the granting of such a certificate. The other licence, the public service vehicle licence, is issued by the Licensing Authority and is an indication,that he has examined the certificate of fitness.
If it be desired to use the coach as a stage carriage, an express carriage or for tours and excursions, another licence, the road service licence, must be obtained, and this is anything but easy to get. Application must be made ' to the Authority and he will grant the licence for the purpose for which the vehicle is intended only if he be satisfied that there is need for the service which it is proposed to run and that the use of the vehicle for the purpose specified would not create excess of facilities. In other words, the Authority must be convinced that the use of such a vehicle in the way desired will not bring about wasteful competition.
The vehicle may, however, be used as a contract carriage with only the certificate of fitness and the public-service vehicle licence.
Extreme Difficulty
In the district from which this operator writes, and where presumably he proposes to use his vehicle, I should imagine that he would have extreme difficulty in obtaining a licence to use his coach as a stage carriage, hardly less difficulty in obtaining permission to use it as an express carriage, but less if he wished to use the coach only for tours and excursions.
On the other hand, its use as a contract carriage involves meticulous adherence to a somewhat complicated set of rules, the principal purpose of which is to ensure that no contract carriage can invade the spheres of operation of the other three types.
The governing condition applying to the use of a coach in this way is that the passengers may not, save under exceptional circumstances, be carried as separate fares which might be charged according to varying distances an individual might travel: the. vehicle must be hired as a whole.
A contract carriage is for the conveyance of -private parties on special occasions. Arrangements for bringing together all the passengers for the purpose of making the journey as a party must not be made by the holder of the public service vehicle licence or a person acting on his behalf, or a person who receives any remuneration in respect of those arrangements. Finally, the journey must be made without previous notice to the public of the arrangements of the particular trip. All the passengers must, in the case of a journey to a particular destination, be carried to or near that destination or, in the case of..a tour, be carried for the greater part of the journey. -No differentiation of fares for the journey on the basis of distance or of time must be made to any individual.
In the case of a journey to a particular destination, the passengers must not include any person who frequently, or as a matter of routine, travels at or abouf the time of day at which the journey is made to that destination from the starting point or any place en route. (This provision prevents the operation of 'contract carriages on work's services.) The operator of the vehicle must, within a prescribed time, make a record of the journey, but the regulations do riot require particulars of the fares or prices to be recorded. Also, the driver of the vehicle must carry a work ticket containing such particulars as may be prescribed for the purpose of enabling the details of the journey made in the operator's record to be checked. It is now permissible for a combined work ticket and record to be used instead of two separate documents.
The following information is required on the operator's record and on the work ticket: —first, on the operator's record, there must be shown (1) the time and date of the commencement and termination of the journey, (2) the point at which the journey began and finished and a sufficient description of the route to show adequately the extent of the journey, and (3) the name and address of the person who made the party arrangements.
The work ticket must contain these particulars: (1) the name and address of the holder of the public service vehicle licence for the vehicle's Use for the journey, (2) the name of the driver, (3) the mileage and registration mark of the vehicle, (4) the. time and date at which the journey started, (5) the date on which the journey ended if other than the date of starting, (6) the point at which the journey began and a sufficient description of the ronte to show adequately the extent of the journey, and (7) the name and address of the person, who made the arrangements.
If the itipulation as to the details to be entered on the record and those which must be entered on the work ticket be examined, it will be noted that most of them are the same, and no doubt that is one of the reasons why it has just been made permissible for the combined work ticket and record to be used instead of separate documents.
The record must bc made out not later than 72 hours after completion of the journey and must be kept for six months and be available for production for inspection by any • person authorized to do so by the Authority.
• Finally, I should point out that it is also necessary for
• the 'driver of the vehicle to hold a public service vehicle driver's licence for which, in normal times, it is necessary that he should pass a medical examination and a driving test on the type of vehicle he would drive for his employer. Now to turn to the conditions involved in the granting of a road service licence. If it be intended to run the vehicle on regular services, the applicant must submit to the Authority particulars of the type of vehicle he intends to use, and time-tables and fare-tables.
I have already stated that in 'dealing with such an application the Authority must -take regard of the servicei already in operation On the route for which the licence is required, and the follciwing .matters: (1) the suitability of the route; (2) the extent, if any, to which the needs of the proposed route are already served; (3) the extent to which the proposed service is necessary or desirable in the public interest; and (4) the needs of the area as A whole in relation to traffic (including the provision of adequate, -suitable and efficient services, the 'elimination of unnecessary services and the provision of unremunerative services), and the co-ordination of all forms of passenger transport.
There are, however, other stumbling blocks in the way of an operator making an application for a road service licence for the Authority must, in addition to the foregoing, take into consideration any objections by existing operators or any local authority in the district concerned. After considering all these matters, the Authority may come to the conclusion that a licence may be granted. He may prescribe picking-up or setting-down testrictions as he may consider desirable.
A further complication arises if the proposed service operates in more than one traffic area, for in such circumstances the operator must hold a road service licence in respect of each. These licences, granted or not in other areas after the first, are described as " backings." In dealing with an application for a " backing " licence, the Authority may impose any condition and may even vary any condition attached to the original licence.
There is an exception to this rule, and that is when he route tobe followed is in what is called a "corridor area." A "corridor area " is a traffic area in which passengers will not be taken up or set down or permitted to alight for the purpose of sightseeing or for any other purpose requiring a halt of more than 15 minutes. In such circumstances, the ordinary licences may be granted to cover both the original area and a "corridor area" as if it had been " backed."
Copies of such applications are available for inspection at the offices of the Authority, and there is a Government issue of a publication bearing the title "Notices and Proceedings." This contains details of all applications, public sittings and decisions. It may be inspected free of charge.
Objections or representations Must be set out in writing and must state the specific grounds of objection and the conditions which it is desired to be attached to the licence or "backing " if granted. Such objections must be submitted to the Authority not later than 14 days after the publication of the application. A copy of the 'objections must simultaneously be sent to the applicant.
So much for the legal aspect. This, as the operator will no doubt appreciate, is only one of many problems to which he will have to give consideration and which he must Solve if he is to make effective use of the vehicles. InCidentally,. I would suggest that if he has in view the use of the vehicles , for stage-carriage, express carriage work or tours and
excursiona, he will be well advised to put in his application for a road service licence before he actually buys and takes delivery of the vehicle. In such a case he should make it clear, On the form which he will Complete, that the an. plica
tion is in respect of a vehicle to be acquired. S.T.R.