Manchester Imposes Ban on Standing Passengers
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AN off-peak ban on standing passengers comes into operation on buses of Manchester Transport Department on January 3. This ruling was approved by the transport committee on Monday, but will not prejudice national negotiations on the question.
Exceptions to the rule, put forward by the men's union, will allow eight standing passengers on buses for football matches, factory services and hospital visiting. The new rule will not apply to the new*77seaters,. which, the crews claim, should carry no standing passengers at any time. Manchester is now using 10 of the new large-capacity buses for training purposes.
alr. C. R. Morris, chairman of the committee, said that even if the question of standing passengers on the new buses had been settled, it was doubtful whether they would have gone into service because of the shortage of staff.
The department required 700 more drivers and conductors to operate full services without the need for excessive overtime.
TOWN MOTORWAY'S: ACTION
THE problem of urban motorways was being investigated by the Ministry of Transport, Mr. John Hay, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry, said on Monday. Speaking at the opening of the New Ferry by-pass on the A41 Birmingham-Birkenhead road, he said the Ministry was examining the possibility of guiding drivers to alternative routes between big toWns and holiday resorts next summer.
The new by-pass has two 24-ft. carriageways and cost £300,000.
OILERS NOT T,0 BLAME
rUNIES from oil-engined road vehicles
were not responsible for the increase in lung cancer, said Dr. P. J. Lawther, head of the research group on atmospheric pollution for the Medical Research Council, at West Bromwich last week. He explained that cancer-producing substances in the air would have to be inhaled for 20 years to have any harmful effect.
BUS ORDER CUT
AN order for 15 Leyland bus chassis has been cut to 11 by Stockton-onTees Transport Committee because fewer passengers are being carried. The general manager of the undertaking had advised that needs could be met with 100 vehicles, instead of 104 as originally thought necessary.
Eight old buses are shortly to be disposed of.
BUS INQUIRY GOING FORWARD A VICE-CHAIRMAN .is to be rAappointed to the Committee on Rural Bus Services to steer its work while Prof. D. T. Jack, the chairman, is engaged as a member of the Advisory Commission on Central Africa. The investigation into rural bus services will thus not he delayed.