M.T. CO. CASE TO BE REOPENED
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THE long-standing dispute between the East Kent Road Car Co., Ltd., and Maidstone and District Motor Services, Ltd., and the M.T. Co. (Motor Coaches), Ltd., which, it was hoped, had been closed, will be reopened on June 13, at the Ministry of Transport, when the East Kent and Maidstone companies will appeal against the granting by the South-Eastern Traffic Commissioners of a backing to the M.T. concern.
It will be recalled that the lastnamed company was able to prove to the Commissioners that the numerous restrictions placed on its activities had caused severe financial loss, and certain of the previous facilities were reinstated. The M.T. Co. will also appeal against the Commissioners' refusal to include Canterbury in its operating schedule.
FRIVOLOUS OPPOSITION CONDEMNED.
AWARNING to operators indulging in frivolous objection was given by the Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner, last week, when Fallowfield and Knight. Ltd., opposed the application by Geo. Ewer and Co., Ltd., under the rearrangement scheme of London pickingup points, to remove the Stoke New
ington call to Mildmay Grove. To meet the objection that the transfer would seriously injure Fallowfield's Southend service, Mr. J. H. Ewer offered to renounce the new picking-up point for his own Southend service.
The Commissioner, in advising operators that 'he would not countenance futile opposition, stated that in a co-ordination scheme of this kind, a certain amount of give and take was essential. Had it not been for Mr. Ewer's offer, the application would have been approved as submitted, but the offer having been made, it would be accepted.
B3S It transpired in the course of the hearing that the Ewer concern had paid Keith and Boyle (London), Ltd., £232 to abandon, under this scheme, the picking-up points in Dalston and Tottenham.
In the same court the Ewer application, already refused in the Eastern Area and now under appeal, to amalgamate the company's Yarmouth service, via Norwich, with Messrs. Holliday and Bangs' East Anglian services, was adjourned. A protest was again lodged against restrictive booking-agency agreements.
50 PER CENT. INCREASE IN FARES ALLOWED.
BUS fares -in the Newtown, Kelly, Llandyssil, Sam, Welshpool and Montgomery districts have been so low that increases authorized by the North Western Traffic Commissioners for Messrs. Severn Motors ranged as high as 50 per cent, without bringing the charges up to id. per mile. One run of 2'? miles in and out of innumerable villages is, in future, to be 25., instead of 1s. 6c1., and the return fare will be 3s.
EXTENDED TOURS NOT TO BE USED AS REGULAR SERVICES.
I T was made quite clear by Mr. W. Chamberlain, chairman of the NorthWestern Traffic Commissioners, at a sitting last week,. that the Commissioners will not license extended tours if it be possible for passengers to make a journey without using the hotel accommodation provided as part of the trip. He said that the Commissioners required the charge for travel and accommodation to be stated and the total fare must include both these items.
BUSES TOO FAR,FROM KERB: FIVE PROSECUTIONS.
A T Stirling Police Court, on Monday, rAfive drivers were charged with drawing up their buses too far from the kerb, thus causing traffic congestion. The Burgh Prosecutor said that these were the first cases of the kind to come
before the Court. - Deferring sentence for two months, Bailie Aitken said he thought employers should give lectures on road regulations to their drivers and conductors.
I.O.M. TRANSPORT STRIKE.
LAST Saturday night, the Transport .rand General Workers' Union declared a strike of all transport workers in the Isle of Man. The operatives are seeking a wage of 465. per 48-hour week, whilst the employers offer 42s. for a 49i-hour week. The dispute has been in progress since December last. Work was resumed on Wednesday. £3 5-,000,000 LONDON TRANSPORT SCHEME IN the House of Commons, on Wednesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. announced that arrangements have just been completed under which London Transport, the London and North Eastern Railway and the Great Western Railway will enter at once upon a programme of great improvements and extensions. An Exchequer guarantee of the loans to be raised would enable the whole programme to be undertaken at once. The necessary legislation would be introduced as quickly as possible after the Whitsuntide recess.
The programme includes the substitution of trolleybuses for tramcars on about 148 route-miles and the total cost will be about £35,000,000.
PREMIER COMPENSATION CLAIM HEARING CONCLUDED.
AT the conclusion of the hearing, on Monday, of the claim by the Premier Omnibus Co., Ltd., against London Transport for compensation for the transfer of its bus undertaking, Mr. Joshua Scholefield, I-C.C., president of the London Passenger Transport Arbitration Tribunal, stated that the Tribunal's decision would be announced.
The company claimed £340,000 in cash, with certain other payments, whilst Messrs. W. Allen, A. J. Schiffer and F. 0. Schiffer, the three managing directors, made a separate claim.
SOUTHDOWN'S PROFIT UP BY £32,000.
DURING the year ended March 31, 1935, Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., made a net profit of £113,268, which compares with £81,158 for the previous year. The distribution for the year remains at 15 per cent, a final dividend of 5 per cent., together with a bonus of the same amount, being proposed. The allocation to the reserve is raised from £10,000 to £44,000, whilst £25,969 is carried forward, as contrasted with £24,201 brought into the accounts.
CHESTERFIELD'S PROFITABLE BUSES.
CHESTERFIELD Corporation made a gross profit on the operation of both its trolleybuses and motorbuses in the year ended March 31, 1935, that on the former being £9,737 and on the latter £12,035. The revenue account shows that the income from trolleybus operation amounted to £33,258, whilst working expenses totalled £23,521; in the case of the motorbuses, the total income was £76,640 and working expenses 014,605,
The total mileage covered by the trolleybuses was 130606, and they carried 5,640,405 persons, comparable returns for motorbuses being mileage 1,700,735 and passengers carried 8,727,866. After meeting loan charges, income tax and depreciation, the balance, representing net profit for the year, amounted to £3,067, which is carried to the appropriation account.