THE SUPERVISION OF MOTOR COACH TRAFFIC.
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The Need for Common Sense in the Framing and Entorcing of Licensing By-laws and Regulations. Should there be a Motor Coach Branch of the C.M.U.A. ?
ROM INQUIRIES which. we have lately con
ducted in different parts of the country, as
well as from'corlaplaints which have reached Us from varibms sources, it would appear that there is an urgent, •and, we might almost add, vital necessity for co-ordinating the work of the various motorcoach licensing authorities, particularly with regard to the preparation of the licensing by-laws -and regulations.
At present the by-laws promulgated by different authorities, situated often within -a few miles of each. other, appear to be full of inconsistencies. Many of the by-laws were formulated years before the advent of the motor coach, and these have merely been amended slightly to cover this important vehicle. In those framed -in more recent times, the bigoted influence of local bigwigs with bees in their bonnets is, often, far too apparent; and, in others, the fear of competition against the municipal tramway systems can clearly he traced. The worst of the matter is that it is within the power of these local authorities to stop the issue of licences to any particular vehicle, and the motor coach proprietor is, consequently, more or less under their thumb and, for this reason, is usually somewhat nervous of publicly ventilating his grievances.
• Local Restrictions and Hindrances.
To many towns, particularly those on the coast, the motor coach is undoubtedly bringing unpreaedented'prosperity, and we should have thought that the authorities in these places would have done all in their power to assist the motor coach movement, rather than to hinder it by irritating and unnecessary restrictions. In some towns, the gage has been taken ' up by the local Chambers of Commerce, who have realized the 'benefits to traders which accrue from the motor coach movement, but it needs a More powerful body, fully representative of all motor coach proprietors, to deal with the subject, and to devote all its time to the settlement of 'those problems which beset the motor coach Only. There would appea-a to be a necessity for the formation of a Motor Coach Branch of the C.M.U.A. As several motor coach proprietors remarked to us in the course of our investigations, "We are not lawyers, and if the local authorities Ray that we are to do a thing, we are not in a position to fight the matter." Of coarse, many of these proprietors are already members of the C.M.U.A., but the troubles which beset them are often local ones, and, as such, apparently of importance to a few proprietors only. • We say " apparently " because the importance of these difficulties is really far greater than appears at first sight. In certain towns, new by-laws are
• being framed and, the older ones amended, and there is no guarantee that the example of certain towns which we have in mind will not be followed in these, and it needs a powerfulibody to point out the necessity for co-ordinating the efforts of all these local authorities. The licensing by-laws and regulations should, so far as possible, be standardized. Deviations should only be permissible in special cases and for special' purposes: for -instance, in 'certain towns, • some of theroads may be unsuitable for motor coach traffic whilst, in others, undue congestion might occur through the presence of a large number of motof coaches plying for hire. Each ease should be treated on its merits ; everyone concerned -fin the matter I should have the right to put forward his opinion.
. Those, concerned would usually be the town council el4 or corporation, the body representing the motor coach owners, and the local Chamber of Commerce.
Bournemouth is an example of a town where same of the restrictions placed on motor coaches seem unjustified. here, the maximum seating capacity for. which a motor coach is licensed by the authorities is .22; excluding the driver and conductor. As most of the coaches employed are 28-seaters, the owners are placed at a considerable disadvantage compared with others operating from towns not far away ; as a matter of fast, more motor coaches enter Bournemouth from outside than are actually licensed in the town, and these vehicles carry any number up to p3 passengers. It is, apparently, quite against the wishes of the public that this restriction is enforced, for often crowds of people are waiting for seats, and would willingly fill the vehicles to their fall capacity, but are not permitted to do so.
Hampering Regulations.
At Bournemouth, also, the coaches are only permitted to ply for hire in the Square between the hours of 10 and 11 in the morning, and between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, but even this restriction does not satisfy certain members of the committee appointed by the corporation, and one has goile so faras to suggest that each motor coach should be allowed five. minutes in the morning and five minutes in the afternoon in which to obtain its load. It is not as if the motor coaches cause any traffic congestion in theSquarejsthere is plenty of room for all, as can clearly • be seen from the illustrations which accompany an article on the Bournemouth motor coaches, which. appears elsewhere in this issue. There are other restrietioas imposed at this place, but we do not wish to enter fully into details, but to treat the subject in'
its more general sense.
Diverging for a moment from the problems engaging the attention of motor coach proprietors, we will turn to another which faces proprietors of Motor omnibus services, our excuse 'being that, on sonic routes, motor coaches are 'employed in lieu 'of omnibuses during the summer months. In certain towns, the authorities have permitted the use of omnibuses along the tram routes on condition that-the qmnibuses charge a fare 50 per cent. greater than that charged by the tramway system. This is manifestly unfair. The public should be permitted to ride on the vehielea they prefer without being taxed for so doing; although, as a matter of fact, where the buses run to places ,distant from the tram terminals they benefit to a certain extent, as the short-stage passengers confine their attentions. to the trams, leaving the buses free-to fill up with passengers for the longer journeys.
The Ministry of Transport Should Act.
Returning to the main subject of our article, • thereappear to exist among licensing authorities considerable. differences of opinion as to the " crew " to be-, carried by a motor coach. In some places,– a driver' and 'conductor must be carried on any sized coach, and some, in addition, stipulate that the conductor must also be a qualified driver where the vehicle travels more than a certain distance. All these points, and others of a. similar nature, should be settled by a central authority—the Ministry of Transport— equipped with the fullest information on the subjects. and advised by the various parties most intimatelss ' concerned in the matter. Its rulings should be ettirely unbiassed afid not one-sided, as is so often the
case at present. •