PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
BUSES BECOMING BUSIER IN NORTH WALES.
The Passenger Transport Activities of a Bangor Company's Summer Season Plans.
I N OUR preliminary review of motor coach and omnibus conditions in North Wales sufficient was said to indieate that enterprise and capital expenditure are not being withheld in order that the passenger transport services of the territory between Rhyl and Bangor might, this year, be improved to a greater extent than ever before. Increasing attention is being given to the operation of motorbuses, and several companies have already placed orders for vehicles of the saloon type,which seem to have made quite an impression amongst the travelling public.
Not only at Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, and Llandudno are new saloon buses to run on services which figure in the 1923 programmes of local concerns' but also at Bangor, where the Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., have their headquarters. We were informed by a representative of this company that this summer they will have six new machines in commission. Their present bus fleet consists of six vehicles, all single-deckers--two Bennie 28-seaters, two Daimler 28-seaters, one Dennis 20seater and one 14-seater.
In addition the company have a number of motor coaches, Including four 20seater Unics (two on pneumatic tyres and two on Macintosh-N.A.P. tyres), one 20seater Republic, and two Daimler 25seaters.
-Between Penmaranmawr and Bangor, and Carnarvon and Bangor, there are cow five complete journeys per day. During the summer months the service will be so augmented as to render possible one bus every hour as a. minimum. The fare to Penmaenmawr is is. 5d., whilst to Carriarvon, in the other direc tion, it is is. 4d. . .
The town service between .Bangor and Menai Bridge will be maintained. halfhourly. A fourth route is to Bethesda,
• Lake Ogwen, Capel Curie') and Bettwsy-Coed, which is covered three times a week only. This service will be adjusted so that there will be hourly journeys to Bethesda—a small slate-quarrying town on the outskirts of Bangor, not too well
supplied with travelling facilities.
The difficulty with regard to more frequent summer journeys to Bettwa-yCoed is that the local council limits the company to three journeys to and from the town each day, its object, presumably, being to save the roads from undue .a ear and tear, which reductio ad absurdum means that, to save the roads, public motorbus services must be held in check, The effect of this embargo will probably result in Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., opening an office or other premises at BettAvs to enable them to overcome such irritating restrictions. ,
From Bettws-y-Coed, the Crosville Motor Co., of Chester, who operate about 80 single-deck buses, run a service through to Chester. Thus it is possible during the summer to make the run from the extremity of North Wales—Carnarvon—via Bettws-y-Coed, through to 'Cheater, then on to New Ferry and the Wirral Peninsula generally, a matter of 90-100 miles of bus route, At Penmaenmawr the bus services of Bangor Blue . Motors, Ltd., join up with those of North Wales Silver Motors, Ltd., oi Llandudno.
A new summer service will probably be inaugurated between Llanfairfechan and Aber and Port Dinorwic, so that the ordinary service buses may be free to deal with the passengers who desire to make the complete journey between Penanaenmawr and Carnarvon. This will, to some extent, meet the difficulty which is created by buses starting off on their journey with a oomplete load. The bus that -Will work from Llanfairfechan will endeavour to deal mainly with the shortjourney passengers only. .
The total mileage of the routes (single journeys) worked "7 by :Bangor. Blue Motors, Ltd., is 80 miles. Thefares charted by the company are worked out on the basis of 14d. per, mile, which, in view of the all-the-year-round service, the sparse winter traffic and the hilly contour of the country, is surely little enough, compared with what is charged at the bigger centres of population.
On the town service the lowest fare charged is 1d., but the minimum charge on the other routes is 2d. Over 50 .per cent, of the motorbus revenue is received in 8d. fares, 3d. tickets being next in demand. Third in order of -popularity is the is. fare, fourth the 4d. fare, -fifth the 6d. one, and sixth the 2d. fare. The only conclusion one can draw from the fact that the 2d. tickets are, so low down the scale is that local people prefer to cover the shorter journeys on foot. In the summer time the longer journeys with the higher charges will be much more in demand, and, so will the shorter ones, for the bus services will be more frequent. At the time of our visit the call for is. fares was showing a very 'decided -improvement.
From Bangor to Bettws-y-Coed (the longest journey maintained by the company) the traffic is most variable, and much depends upon the number of bookings (the fare is 3s.) by the colleges and university.
Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., have depots at Llanfairfechan. Penmaenmawr, Beddgelert, and Llangollen, and booking offices at Bangor, Menai Bridge, and Beaumaris, and Avery and Roberts, Ltd., an associated company, have depots at Criccieth and Pwllheli.
At the present time a new garage, 90 ft. by 90 ft., is being built at Brynflwyd, and this will provide accommodation for about 30 of the company's buses. The garage will be equipped with repair shops, stores, and an accumulatorcharging department, etc.
Bangor is not a holiday centre in the sense that Llandudno and Colwyn Bay and Rhyl are, but it offers a better scope for private-party work than any of these places. During the winter the , charge for mach hire has been 2s, per coach-mile, irrespective of the" number of passengers carried. For summer work the charge will be 2s. 6d. per mile.
During the summer there are special day tours for single-seat passengers, who may be picked -up at Beaumaris, Menus Bridge, or at, Bangor.
So far as half-day tours are concerned, the chief run is to Bettws-y-Coed, and on the list of evening tours we notice rune to Llandudno, Penmen Priory, and Ogwen Lake.
The company arrange tours to suit email parties. For single-seat bookings, however, 12 passengers are required to constitute a load. Arrangements will be made again this year with the Festiniog Railway for cenabined rail and motor coach tours.
The system adopted by Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., for keeping records of their vehicles is most complete. First there is the drivers' daily report sheet, which contains details of supplies issued, mileage run, and driver's comment on vehicle. These details are extracted and entered up in the loose-leaf ledger which comprises a month's record. At the foot of every page a summary is compiled, showing the average • m.p.g. of petrol and oil, tetal petrol, oil, and materials used, average cost pier bus-mile iend average receipts per bus-mile. • The cost of an annual overhaul is apportioned out pro rata per month.
Each bus .conductor has to fill in a way-bill of all tickets issued, and he is checked in the course of the journeys by an inspector, whose report is expressed on a separate checking sheet. Other forms are used for entering up costs of materials and work done on the various .vehicles, and details from them are carefully carried to the account of each vehicle. Tickets and lunch vouchers are issued to single-seat passengers on the company's coaches in order that there may be no dispute as to the seat booked or what the fare includes.
Finally, all the working costa are summarized each month on a special form, which gives the totals of every item of expenditure on the coaches and buses. At the foot of this form there are spaces to show the total costs in detail :—(1) Receipts, (2) mileage, (3) cost per mile, and (4) receipts per mile.
The buses of the Bangor Blue Motors, Ltd., are also used for parcel traffic, the charges up to 20 lb. being 6d. ; up to 50 lb. is.; above this weight and according to size, pro rata, with the right to refuse. The minimum charge for light and small parcels is 3d.