DIRECTIONS TO THE METROPOLITAN TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER
Page 65
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Resume of the General Directions Which Replace the Banned-zone Proposal FOLLOWING our announcement that the Minister of Transport had stated in the House of Commons on March .18th his intention to stop the proposed regulations for restricting the use of motor coaches in the central area of „London, we are now able to publish a nrkis of his, general directions which have just been issued to the Traffic Commissioner for the Metropolitan Area. These directions are given in pursuance of seetion 63 (sub-section 1) of the Road Traffic Act of 1930. The most important clause is the last one, No 6, in which the Minister desires the Commissioner to consider to what extent the two. following principles may be applied :—
(a) That no service be allowed to operate to or from a motor-coach station whin the area bounded by the streets named in the appendix, other than the station which, although within the area, abuts on the streets named.
. (b) That due notice should be given to operators that after a period of, say, -one year, road-services licences will not
be issued unless terminal facilities have been provided off the public highway.
It may be noted that . the streets named in the appendix are the same as those, enclosing the outer area, which were shown in the. map published on page 693. of our issue dated December 30th, with the exception of the eastern border line from Tower Bridge to Boston Road, the new list of streets defining this part Of the boundary being as follows :--Tower Hill, Minories, Aldgate High Street, Whitechapel 'High Street, Commercial Street, Great Eastern Street, Old Street, Clerkenwell Road, Gray's Inn Road, Guildford Street, Russel Square, Woburn Place, Tavistock Square and Upper Woburn Place. . The 'Commissioner is asked to treat Alm whole of this area as one in which special: limitations. on the operation, of coach services are required,.and to pre-. vent unjustifiable use of the, highway
in this area for waiting, changing passengers, etc. Express carriages engaged in taking sightseers around places of interest in the area without picking up or setting down passengers en route form a separate category for which some concessions may be desirable.
Applications from operators who state that they have run motor-coach services in the area in the past must be considered in the light of regulations regarding restricted streets which have been made mider section 7 of the London Traffic Act, 1924, and the Commissioner will bear in mind the extent to which services have been started or developed after warnings such as that given by the Minister on September 27th, 1930.
The Commissioner will consider licensing conditions stipulating minimum single fare a of not less than Is. for stages within the area. Stopping places in the central area should he as few as possible and the selection of routes should aim at a wide dispersal of the traffie, So as to avoid congestion on particular streets.