THE LATEST NEWS OF IMPORTANT EVENTS
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BIG NEW OFFICES FOR WEST YORKSHIRE CO. ,
THE erection has just been completed of new head offices for the West Yorkshire Road Car Co., Ltd., in Myrtle Road, [-arrogate. The building has two floors and a basement, but 'there is provision for an
additional story, if required. At the main entrance, in East Parade, there is a spacious octagonal hall. Constructed with steel framework, the building has fire-proof and soundproof &ors, and a fiat roof. The external treatment is on simple lines.
Thecompany's growth is illustrated by the fact that the number of passengers carried increased from 291,000 in 1907, to 48,971,674 in 1.933 (the latter figure includes passengers carried by the company's subsidiaries). In 1907, the number of bus-miles operated was 136,000, whereas in 1933 the total mileage was 17,244,516. FINAL CLAIM BY LONDON INDEPENDENTS.
THE last of the claims by lodependent operators in London, raising the question of whether the London Passenger Transport Board should take over garages as well as vehicles, was heard by the London Passenger Transport Arbitration Tribunal last week. The case was that of the Perkins Omnibus Co. The decision and awards of the Tribunal will be made known later.
BIG BUSINESS IN COACHING AT EASTER: SMOOTH WORKING.
EASTER holiday traffic from the four main London coach stations was satisfactory and a large volume of traffic was handled smoothly. Probably the brightest report comes from the Central London Road Transport Station, Huston, the traffic of which, The Commercial ?•1010r understands, was much better than that of last year. The long-distance traffic was extremely good, although there was no marked increase to any particular town.
Although statistics were not available at the time, an official of the King's Cross Coach Station estimated that more vehicles used the premises this year than during the Easter holiday of 1933.
London Coastal Coaches, Ltd., estimated that traffic was about the same as that of last year, but noted that more passengers travelled on Friday than usual. As in past years, on Bank Holiday the demand for seats was considerably in excess of the supply.
The London Terminal Coach Station, S.W.9, experienced a larger volume of last-minute bookings than last year and the traffic on all services was good. The Thanet Express service to Margate was particularly well booked, whilst
Mr. G. Nowell, managing director of the station concern, informed us that the
traffic on all Blue Belle and Red and White routes was extraordinary. Under the co-ordination scheme between the last-named and Black and White Motorways, Ltd., the Red and White concern carried more passengers on the route to Wales than ever before.
EXCURSIONS INSTEAD OF CONTRACT WORK. _ AN example of the trend of events in contract operation was provided by the Elgin and District Motor Bus Co., Ltd., when it applied to the North Scotland Traffic Commissioners for licences for afternoon and evening excursions. The company wished, in view of recent prosecutions, so far as possible to encourage excursions and tours, as opposed to contract work.
The objections of another operator and two railway companies showed the inconvenience that might be caused by the licensing of contractcarriage work as such.
TAXICAB OWNERS STRONGLY OPPOSE MANCHESTER BUSES. THE vexed question of bus competi tion with taxicabs in Manchester was again raised last week, when Manchester Corporation applied for the renewal of licences for its inter-station services. For the municipality it was admitted that the services have been run at a loss, the recent receipts being 3.5d. per bus-mile. It was anticipated, however, that the number of passengers would increase in the summer.
The taxicab owners alleged that it had been promised that the services would be run at fixed times, but the buses waited for the arrival of trains.
1342 The average earnings of the taxicab owners were about £6 15s. a week, of which some £5 represented expenditure. A decline of 30-35 per cent. in the receipts of the taxicab proprietors was alleged to be due to bus competition.
The Commissioners intimated that they would consider the matter and remarked that it was exceedingly harsh that the railways should charge the taxicab proprietors 13s. a month for the use of the station approaches, especially as no charge was made for the buses.
CO-ORDINATION POSSIBILITIES.
TO-NIGHT (Friday), at 7 p.m., a 1 paper on the "Possibilities of Road, Rail and Air Co-ordination" is to be read before members of the Omnibus Society, at the Institute of Marine Engineers, Minories, London, E.C.3.
BUSES BRING EXTRA TRAFFIC.,
A S a result of abandoning its trams in favour of modern petrol and oilengined buses, the traffic on the NelsonColne and Nelson-Barrowford routes of Burnley, Nelson and Colne Joint Transport Committee has, we understand, increased by 39 per cent. On other parts of the system, further evidence is available of the wisdom of adopting up-to-date transport.
The committee recently placed orders for over 40 Leyland buses, 30 of which• were equipped with Leyland 8-litre oil engines.
SOUTHDOWN TOUR PLANS.
AN attractive programme of tours has been planned for the forthcoming season by Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., Brighton, Devon, Wye Valley, Cornwall, Isle of Wight, North Wales, the Lake District, Yorkshire and Scotland are amongst the areas served by tours varying between three days' and 20 days' duration.
The charges range from £5 5s. to £36, the latter being for a 20-day tour to the Scottish Highlands. Fares include coach travel, hotel accommodation, meals and gratuities. 'The coaches are 20-seaters specially designed for long-distance touring.
HULL CO-ORDINATION POSTPONED.
THERE is now, it is stated, no hope I of the co-ordination agreement between Hull Corporation and South Yorkshire Motor Services, Ltd., being brought into operation before May 1.
CONTROLLING AND CRIPPLING.
DURING the hearing of applications for the renewal of licences of the North-Western Road Car Co., Ltd., on routes between Manchester and Warrington and Hale Barns, it was suggested, on behalf of the London, Midland and Scoctish Railway Co., that the services concerned should not run into Manchester, lent should terminate at Altrincham. " That is the difference between controlling and crippling. The Commissioners will control, but will not cripple," said the chairman of the North-Western Commissioners.
LEGAL PROFESSION'S TRIBUTE TO MR, ROWAND HARKER.
MOST of the leading lawyers who appear before the South-Eastern Traffic Commissioners were present at a complimentary dinner given to Mr: Rowand Harker, K.C., last week, on the occasion of his vacating the position of chairman of the South-Eastern Traffic Commissioners. As already -reported in The Commercial Motor, Mr. Harker has been appointed chairman of the Appeal Tribunal under the Road and Rail Traffic Act.
Mr. Alderman C. J. Knight, one of the panel Commissioners in the SouthEastern Area, occupied the chair. Those present included Sir Henry 1Vlaybury, G.B.E., Mr. Walter Monckton, K.C., Lieut.-Col. H. Bonham Carter, RE., Messrs. H. J. Briggs, who has been a Commissioner since 1932, Marshall Stevens, Deputy Commissioner since 1931, G. H. Ormerod, Deputy Commissioner since 1932, T. S. Mitchell, F. J. Privett, both Deputy Commissioners, and E. W. Phillips, clerk to the Commissioners.
Alderman Knight paid high tribute to Mr. Harker's patience with the small operators and to his unbiased judgment.
Mr. Harker, who returned to England during the previous week, after a holiday cruise, caused much amusement when he quoted a postcard that he had received from a small operator as a result of a memorandum circulated by the Commissioners, in the early days of the Act, concerning licences and certificates of fitness. The postcard read ae follows :—" I know you. I have sat on a jury at Lewes. I am not having any: I am 65 and have never had a day'S illness in my life. I don't want no certificate."
Mr. Harker said that the South. Eastern Commissioners had, since their first sitting, consistently acted on the view that Commissioners in backing areas should use impartial discretion.
With one possible exception, he continued, all local authorities in the South-Eastern Area had been of the greatest sssistance to the Conimissioners, as had the police. The number of prosecutions taken in the SouthEastern Area was quite small as compared with that in other areas. He also referred to the valuable work performed by the panel Commissioners, who do not always receive the credit to which they are entitled, and paid tribute to Mr. E. W. Phillips.
In proposing the toast of "The Chairman," Mr. Walter Monckton,
made one of the most eloquent speeches that we have heard for a long time.
RIBBLE TO CO-ORDINATE WITH MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE.
'WHEN Ribble Motor Services, IN Ltd., applied for the renewal of licences for services from Burnley, the North Western Traffic Commissioners' were informed that negotiations for co-ordination between the company and Burnley, Nelson and-Caine Joint Transport Committee were in an advanced state and that terms would be reached.
N.W. COMMISSIONERS AND LONGDISTANCE TOURS.
I MPORTANT comments concerning iong-distance extended coach tours, the charge for which included hotel accommodation, were made by Mr. W. Chamberlain, chairman of the NorthWestern Traffic Commissioners, a few days ago.
He explained that the Commissioners had been reluctant strictly to limit these tours. Moreover, the railway companies offered no opposition to them, and during the afternoon of the day in question the railway representatives were absent from the sitting for the first time in three years.
In connection with an application by W. Robinson and Sons (Great Harwood), Ltd., Mr. Chamberlain stated that all picking-up points off the direct route from the starting point to the terminus would be eliminated. When this company protested that its progressive business methods had been copied in detail by another applicant, the chairman pointed out that the oh
jector was sowing the seeds of protection. The objector's representative replied that the time had come for some measure of protection.
Mr. Chamberlain stated that the stage at which some control of these tours would become necessary appeared to have been reached earlier than was anticipated. There had, he said, been an important meeting at Bournemouth, held by local operators, to consider the question of the running of tours from that resort by concerns from other towns. This contentious point has _been raised at many coastal resorts.
At the moment the Commissioners would not, he continued, depart from the principle of permitting freedom of destination.
NO DUPLICATION LIMIT ON MANCHESTER-GLASGOW ROUTE.
WHEN Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., VY applied to the North-Western Traffic Commissioners for the renewal of a licence for its Manchester-Glasgow service, which was granted, it was announced that two other services on the route had already been withdrawn, the company having taken over the services of Mr. C. Weaver. The Commissioners had refused to allow Mr. Weaver to discontinue his Manchester-Glasgow services. The representative of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Co., asked for a limit to be placed on duplication, but Mr. W. Chamberlain, the chairman, said that controlhad been exercised by requiring occasional reports from operators and this method would be continued—at any rate, for the time being.
" TRENT'S " GOOD YEAR.
AT the 21st ordinary general meeting of the Trent Motor Traction Co-, Ltd., Mr. R. J. Howley, C.B.E., M.Inst.C.E., chairman of the company, mentioned that, last year, the company worked at a gross profit of £80,811, or a decrease of £10,642 on the previous year's figure. After adding the amount brought forward from the previous account, there was a balance of £48,218 available for appropriation.
Mr. Howley mentioned that taxation absorbed over £1,000 a week. He outlined the steps undertaken by the company to promote road safety, 396 drivers having entered in 1933 for the awards of the National " Safety First" Association. Of this number 389 qualified for a certificate--an excellent record of efficiency.
FINGLAND'S BID FOR TOURISTS.
AN enterprising method of popularizing its coach tours has been adopted by Fingland's Bookings and Coach Stations, Ltd., Manchester. Cash prizes of £3 3s., £2 2e., and £1 is. are being offered for photographs taken by travellers on any of the company's tours advertised in its tour booklet for 1934, between March 29 and September 15.
Several of the tours provide for sightseeing in London and surrounding places of interest, whilst another attractive trip is one from Manchester to Aberystwyth and Weston-super-Mare at a cost of £6 18s. The company is also responsible for Continental tours covering such places as Paris, Ostend, Brittany, and Oberammergau.
MANCHESTER'S REVENUE UP.
THERE has been a considerable in .I. crease in Manchester Corporation's transpart revenue since April 1, 1933. The earnings on the buses totalled £718,103, an increase of £65,632, whilst those from the trams amounted to £1,324,614, an increase of £12,756, BIRMINGHAM FINED IN DRIVER'S HOURS CASE.
AT Birmingham Police Court, last week, Birmingham Corporation was summoned in 13 cases for permitting bus drivers to work longer than the number of hours prescribed, in the Road Traffic Act. An inspector of the municipal-tra,mways _department was summoned for aiding and abetting. The first summons was upheld, and the corporation was fined 40s., with £10 10s. costs. The remaining cases were diss missed.
In the first case, it was alleged that a driver, after working for eight consecutive hours, was required to work for four additional hours. The driver stated in court that he worked, on the day in question, for 10 hours, 53 minutes, and not 12 hours, as stated. The extra four hours' work was in connection with the operation of a has to cope with football crowds.
Concerning these "football extra '' buses, the corporation admitted that there had been an infringement of the
letter of the law, but there had been no hardship to the men or danger to the public. It was further claimed that under the municipal schedule of drivers' hours, the men had more than the minimum periods for rest prescribed in the Act. As a result of the proceedings pending, a revision had been made to the schedule to conform with the Act, and since the alteration there had been more dissatisfaction amongst. the men than ever before. The complainants denied this statement.
JOINT COMMITTEE DISAGREES OVER LOWER FARES.
LAST week we reported a resolution of the East Yorkshire members of the Yorkshire Motor Coach and Transport Owners Association to apply to the Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners for a lower standard of fares than that applying to the rest of Yorkshire, in connection with pre-booked-party passengers.
The new pre-booked-party licensing scheme has been prepared by a standing joint committee of independent operators' associations in Yorkshire. The committee has decided that it cannot agree to the suggestion of the East Yorkshire operators, as it considers that only one scale of fares for the whole area should be submitted.