Minister Decides to Allow One-way Use of Proposed Bus Station
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FIFTEEN operators who had appealed against the provision of a central bus station in Spennymoor, Co. Durham, and against decisions of the Northern Traffic Commissioners varying the conditions of their licences accordingly, learnt last week that the Minister of Transport has upheld the proposals relating to the siting of the new bus station. But the Minister has said that only services travelling in one direction must use the station. Services going in the opposite direction may continue to use the present stands.
The operators concerned were: United Automobile Services, Ltd., Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., Sunderland District Omnibus Co., Ltd., Durham District Services, Ltd., and 11 independent operators.
Of his decision to confirm the proposed bus station, the Minister said that he was satisfied that, with the present terminal stopping places, bus operators contributed to traffic congestion sufficiently to justify providing a bus station. Considerable changes had taken place in the traffic in and through Spennymoor since the existing stands were established. They were inadequate under present-day traffic conditions.
Referring to the services themselves, the Minister said that the considerations relating to improving traffic congestion outweighed in this case the slightly increased mileage and delay to some services that might result from the use of the station.
He noted, however, that whereas westbound through services should be able to use the bus station with little interference with traffic flow in the High Street, eastbound through services would be forced to cross the main stream of traffic twice. On the existing services, that would entail some 240 right-hand turns across traffic daily, in addition to the unavoidable number of such turns (160) made by terminal services. The Minister said that he had, therefore, decided for the present to exempt eastbound through services from using the bus station.
The. Minister emphasized that it was his intention in so doing that the Commissioners should be able to reconsider the matter at their discretion. after sufficient experience had been gained through use of the station by the terminal and westbound through services.
JAPANESE VEHICLES IN AUSTRALIA
QPEAKING to the Press in London last week, Mr. C. G. McGrath, chairman of RepcO, Ltd., the Australian component and tool manufacturing concern, discounted Japan as a serious competitor to British and American commercial vehicle sales in Australia. But if Japan did make marked inroads on this market, he did not think it would be possible for the Government to restrict imports as Japan was now Australia's largest customer for wool.
Since the Melbourne Motor Show, in May of this year, two makes of Japanese heavy vehicle have been available in Australia. One is the Mitsubishi Fuso, which has a 165-b.h.p. oil engine, and an eight-speed transmission. It is suitable for a gross weight of 13 tons I cwt. or gross train weights up to 28 tons. The smaller fsuzo has a permissible gross weight of 10 tons 17 cwt. and is powered by a 135-13.h.p. oil engine, which drives through a five-speed synchromesh gearbox.
CHEAP FARES MOVE KILLED MEWCASTLE Transport Committee
11 has decided to postpone for six months the question of promoting another Parliamentary Bill to allow oldage pensioners to travel on city buses at concessionary fares.
The committee was told by the town clerk last week that another Bill dealing with concessionary fares only, would not have the slightest chance of succeeding. A similar Bill, which Newcastle promoted some time aL1,3, was rejected.