Two Camp Service Appeals Fail: Feeders to Railway Preferred
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UEARD by Mr. J. M. Glen on lanuary 1, two appeals concerning express services from Wattisham Royal Air Force Station to London have been dismissed with costs by the Minister of Transport. The appellants, Corona Coaches, Ltd., and Messrs. B. A. Taylor and Sons, both applied separately for licences for the route, which were refused by the Eastern Licensing Authority.
Messrs. Taylor claimed that Wattisham, 10 miles from Ipswich and eight miles from Needham 'Market and Stowmarket, justified a special road service, rather than a road-rail service. The road-rail system had been tried and found wanting. The station was a growing one, with a staff composed of 60 per cent. of men from the south of England. The airmen had refused to avail themselves of a bus link provided between the station and the railhead by the Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., and the service had been discontinued.
R.A.F Request Messrs. Taylor operated from Bibleston, five miles from the station gate in use, and were successors to another business which they had acquired. The application for the service had been made at the request of the R.A.F. authorities. They could provide the flexible service necessary and had been asked to acquire more vehicles to meet the demand. The present arrangements were not liked by the R.A.F., because they encouraged hitch-hiking.
Corona Coaches said that they operated from Sudbury, 11 miles away, although their Sudbury-London express service passed within 5 miles of the station. Messrs. Taylor were not London operators, as Corona were, and they had either to leave their vehicles in London or return empty a distance of 70 miles.
Dovetailing Traffic
Most of the Corona traffic was in the reverse direction to that in which the airmen wished to travel, and the company could dovetail the station's needs with the present service. Licences had recently been granted for services from Honington and Stradishall, in the same area, and one should be granted for Wattisham.
The Railway Executive and Eastern Counties agreed that the needs of Wattisham should be met. Following the decision of the Licensing Authority, talks had been held with the camp authorities to improve the road-rail service. Inadequate advertising had been partly responsible for the lack of support for the previous scheme, but better advertising and greater flexibility would be ensured in future.
Mr. Glen held that the arguments relating to the flexibility of the road service were not as strong as might c2 appear. The rigidity alleged applied to the trains, but there were 10 between noon and 7 p.m. on Fridays and 11 on Saturdays. The feeder service had suffered from lack of advertisement, and ou the assumption that more publicity could be afforded to the road-rail scheme and greater flexibility could be achieved, there seemed to be no reason to differ from the decision of the Liccns:ng Authority.
TRANSPORT AIDS TEES-SIDE
THE part played by transport in the remarkable post-war development of Middlesbrough and Tees-side as a centre of heavy industry was stressed by Mr. C. T. Brunner, president of the Institute of Transport, when he spoke to the Tees-side and district section, last Friday. Tees-side was now the second
greatest steel-producing centre in Great Britain, having recently yielded pride of place to South Wales.
"The prosperity of Tees-side depends now and in the future_as in the past on good transport," he said.
SINGLE-DECKERS' EARNINGS '
LLEYLAND single-deckers in Calcutta earned almost as much revenue as double-deckers, the director-general of the West Bengal State Transport undertaking said recently. An initial order is to be placed for eight Leyland Royal Tiger chassis. The models are 8 ft. wide and have a wheelbase of 15 ft. 7 in. They are. expected to be shipped in two weeks' time' I
CARDIFF BUS STATION
ASCHEME for the construction of a central bus station in Cardiff at a cost of £46.329 has been approved for submission to the Government. The station will be built on a site outside theaeneral railway station.
The provision of waiting rooms. offices and inquiry bureaux is the subject of a separate agreement with the operating bus companies. About a quarter of the area is to be reserved for use by the corporation, whose head offices overlook the site.