PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
AN ESTABLISHED BUS COMPANY'S PROGRESS.
Details of the Activities of the East Surrey Traction Co. Ltd., • In which an. Outline is Given of Developments Being Made. ....
liEsixth annual dinner of the East Surrey Traction Co., Ltd., was reCently held at Redhill, when buses were chartered for bringing employees of the company from outlying districts. The mayor of Reigate, Mr. Temple Newell, J.P., a director, presided, . and those present included Mr. A. W. Makowski, Mr. A; H. Hawkins, managing director, and Mr. B. F. Burford, the chief engineer.
Mr. G. J. Ashbee, in proposing the toast Of "The Company," said one of the objects of the directorate seemed to be to put into service the latest type of vehicle and, with this policy in view and the splendid attention given by the employees to their work, there was tittle doubt that the company would continue to make further. progress.
Mr. A. IL Hawkins, who proposed the toast of " The Staff and Employees," gave evidence of the cordial relationship existing between the chiefs of the company and its employees by referring to the fact that the company had just completed a year which had been perfectly free from any industrial troubles amongst its own staff. He had something to say concerning the imposition of a tax on petrol, the purchase of which, so far as the company was concerned, ran into something like £23,000 in the course of a year. Moreover, he said that the concern had been faced with the need for converting most of its busts to run on pneumatic tyres, and that had enabled the company to secure a rebate of 13,000 per annum off the tax.
As an offset to this additional burden he said that steps were being taken to effect economies] -which the company hoped would retrieve some of this outlay and expressed the hope that the employees would assist. He made it clear that the question of saviug petrol was, of course, an important one,
s42 and that if drivers would help in this direction he thought the company would be able to counterbalance some of this increased expenditure.
Mr. Hawkins went on to refer to the development of the company's services, and mentioned that a large proportion of the extra mileage was not remunerative. It cost the company considerable sums of money to maintain aome of the poorer services, which were operated from a policy point of view. During the past year the mileage had been increased ta approximately 7,000,000, which, he thought, was fairly big for the number of buses operated. The company's buses carried 27,000,000 passengers which, he added, reflected great credit on the traffic department. In spite of the large number of people carried by the company's vehicles, hp mentioned that
there was only one fatal accident in which a passenger was involved, during the year, and this was not the fault of the company.
Be congratulated members of the engineering department on the way in which in a few weeks about 80 buses were fitted with pneumatic tyres. This change-over was not simply a question• of taking the solid tyres off and of replacing them by pneumatics, ut it involved alterations to the bodies.
Mr. B. F. Burford, in the absence of Mr. J. W. Neale, the chairman of the company, proposed the toast of "The Chairman," and in reply Mr. Temple Newell, in alluding to the work of the drivers, referred to the correspondence which had taken place in the Press concerning bus drivers, and to the fact
that it was the general opinionthat they were entitled to he Called "the gentlemen motorists of the road,'! • The East Surrey Traction Co:, Ltd., was formed in March; 1911, and, during the intervening years, has built up :a large networkof regular service routes, and it Also, runs motor-coach trips.