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PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.

4th September 1928
Page 29
Page 30
Page 29, 4th September 1928 — PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Some Particular Aspects of Motor Coaching. Some of this Season's Errors which Should be Eliminated from Next Year's Programme.

THE business of motor coaching has had a lot• of " publicity lately,especially at the hands of the daily Press, and chiefly in connection with the railversus-road controversy, arising out of the successful passage through Parliament of the Railway. Companies Bill. The sins and virtues of the coach, in comparison with those of the train, have been discussed ad nauseam . to such an extent and with such emphasis, first in the one direction and then in the other, that we have one day stood aghast at the sins of .our -colleagues in the business and the next we have heen'Proud to be asseeiated with such a Heavenguided body of public servants as those who own the motor coaches in this country.,

Self-deception No Help to -Anyone.

There is, however, no point in self-deception. Coach owners may not be—are not, as a matter of fact—the

heedless, feckless body their traducers make out: neither are they, on the other hand, so blameless and near_perfection as would appear to be the ease, judging by the panegyrics which have been written concerning thein. To imagine that any coach service, even the best, is incapable of improvement and to act on that assumption, taking no steps to modify the conditions, is to live in a fool's paradise. Such Conduct would be foolish in any event, with only ordinary competition to meet. It will be doubly so in the near future, when the formidable rivalry of the railway companies will have to be faced. The proper thing to do, the sensible course, is to revise current methods, ruthlessly weeding out those little faults and failings which, trivial in themselves, are nevertheless sufficient to deter many a potential traveller from trusting the coach and to cause him to rely on the rail.

When the railway companies commence. to run coach services—and they have not gone to the trouble and expense of obtaining road powers merely for the pleasure of having those powers—the public will turn to them aS being as trustworthy as the trains have usually been. They will argue that the railway companies will not dare, for their own sakes, to let their coach passengers down, any more than they would if those passengers travelled by train, and, therefore, any member of the travelling public who has, by personal knowledge, or even by hearsay, doubts as to the reliability of any private coach-owning concern (by "private," I mean other than railway owned) will turn to the railway company as a matter of course.

Some Personal Experiences.

The following recital of complaints which I, myself, have to make about certain well-known coach services is made not with the view of encouraging those who wish the private services harm, but is written in the hope that coach owners, reading it, will look into their

own businesses and endeavour to ensure that their own services are free from similar failings.

I had occasion, about the middle of July, to travel to Cromer from London and chose as my means of transport the motor-coach service run by a well-known company, an exPerienced concern, old-established and not, therefore, I opined, likely to let me down in these small matters Which really mean so much and Which are so often overlooked by inexperienced concerns.

An Hour and a Half to Clear London.

We .started from a spot not a great way from Victoria Station and on the North side of the Thames., To my surprise, we commenced our journey by crossing the river and _journeying via Kennington to Blackfriars. That little joy-ride—there was no ostensible purpose in it, for we picked up.no passengers—and the driver's obvious ignorance of London's little traffic problems, involved such delay that, although we left

the starting point at 9.30 a.m., we did not reach the Mile End Road unti111 a.m., so that the first hour and a half of what was meant to be a pleasure trip was spent in negotiating the worst of London's traffic.

Lunch was taken at an hotel which was evidently the recognized place of call, and where one would naturally, therefore, expect to find preparations made for our reception. There was, however, nothing to eat lint ham sandwiches. The landlord, on being asked the reason for this poverty of refreshment, answered 'that he had 92 pleasure coaches calling that day, a reply which, at its very best, was an excellent example of a tam sf,quitvr, and at its worst, a hopeless confession of ineptitude, since, with nearly 300 customers in prospect, he would have been very well advised to have made ample provision for their comfort and refreshment.

The same complete neglect of the obvious needs of the passengers was evidenced during the rest of the journey, however, for two further halts were made before reaching Norwich, and at neither of the hotels thus honoured was there anything at all to eat! Cromer was eventually reached at 6.30 p.m., and Cromer certainly benefited by the negligence of the hotel Proprietors en route, for every passenger on that coach made his first business that of finding a place where he (or she) could get a square meal.

• -A Buffet—Empty.

The return journey, made a fortnight later, began, much more auspiciously. I travelled by one of the same company's "super-buses," which was fitted with a buffet. "Evidently," I thought, "the coach owners have, found it impossible to get reasonable treatment from hotel proprietors, and are making themselves independent of outside aid."

What a frost t The beffet was empty, and the same tale of lack of sustenance had eventually to be told of the return journey as that already related concerning the outward one. This same " superbus " was licensed for the sale of tobacco, and carried two slot machines, both filled with packets of cigarettes—and both jammed!

We left Cromer at 8.30 a.m. and arrived at the London terminus at 3.40 pan. The time taken seems long, but I raise no objection to that: the existence of speed limits has te be recognised, but something' will have to be done by this company—and others similarly lax in this respect—to improve the arrangements for catering. 'As one passenger on this coach put. it, " A pint and a chunk of bread and cheese, are all right on. a 'works excursion, but hardly suitable for a party which includes ladies and children."

The provision of adequate and appetising meals is such an obvious precaution, and so easy—it is only necessary to stop near a decent restaurant, advising the proprietor beforehand of the intention to do so —that there must surely be some reason why it is not done; some reason, perhaps, like that involved in the" next story, which reached me from another source.

It appears that it is the habit of many coachowning concerns to leave to their 'drivers any such details as the provision of refreshment. The driver of each coach is supposed to select the hotels at which he will stop, and, in one case at least, he does , it this way :—He stops at a likely-looking " pub " and calls on the landlord. If the landlord is agreeable to providing him (the driver) with a good lunch, gratis, then that hotel, then and for the : future, is made the regular place of call, Without any further regard to the fare which is provided for the passengers themselves.

Local Services Also at Fault.

From yet another source I learn that" local touring

• runs, the short trips through places of interest and centred on some summer resort, are subject to -odd lapses in their regularity, lapses which should not occur and which, by their prevalence, are doing the

coaching industry much harm. Perhaps the most absurd answer to a query concerning the absence of a bus from a service of this kind is that reported to me by a friend. In this case, too, the company con• cerned was a prominent one, from which much better things might reasonably have been expected.

This particular friend found himself stranded four miles .from his temporary home—he was on his holidays---owing to the non-running of a bus, which was advertised to run in the company'S published time-tables. Subsequent inquiriesat the local office 4 elicited the response, "They must have sent it on a

, breakdown While I was having tea!" S.T.R.

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Organisations: Parliament of the Railway
Locations: Norwich, London

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