COACH SPEEDS CRITICIZED AT MANCHESTER
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AWHOLE morning of the Traffic Commissioners, sitting at Manchester, last Friday, was taken up by a strongly opposed application by the Fraser Motor Co., of Accrington, to run a workpeople's bus from Accrington and Church, to the Leyland motor works, a distance of 15 miles. The hearing had special significance because of the pronouncements of the chairman on the question of average and maximum speed, particularly on long-distance coach tours,
It was admitted that the railways charged only Is. Id.. and that most of the workers, from the area concerned, used the rail. The time involved was 1 hr. 20 mins., and the changes often meant long waits in the cold, and sometimes connections were lost One point emphasized was that the bus timings would allow passengers to have an extra half-hour in bed, and the fare would be Is, 3d. each, for 29 passengers.
That there would be abstraction from rail was not disputed, but the keenness of the objectors to prove that the applicant could not make the service pay was an amusing element of the case. The applicant's reply was that private contract, on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, would make up the difference between profit and loss.
Mr. Chamberlain criticized the time schedule, •saying it worked out at 25 m.p.h., which was too high, even in the early morning, for an area which in places, was congested. In the past, he announced, the Commissioners had insisted upon time schedules being based, for long-distance runs, on a speed, excluding stops, of 22 m.p.h. to 224 m.p.h. That applied to journeys between Manchester and London, and Manchester and Scotland. Owing to the large number of convictions for speeding and the experience of the Commissioners administratively, they were considering the advisability of reducing the 22 m.p.h. hitherto allowed.
The point was again emphasized, on the hearing of applications by the Ribble Motor Co., Ltd., for renewal of all-in tours to Paignton and Bournemouth, and; in addition, the chairman announced that the Commissioners had decided that the time occupied, en route, by all coaches which had as their destination south coast resorts, must be two days.