BRADFORD'S NEW MOTOR COACH STATION.
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How the Packard Motor Services are Running their Own Fleet and Providing Accommodation for Visiting Vehicles.
BRADFORD has been provided with a motor coach station by the Packard Motor Services, an extensive site being provided in-4hornton Road, in the heart of the city, and, in fact, within a couple of hundred yards of the town hall. In connection with the services a fleet of twelve large pnenmatic-tyred coaches is used, these seating from eighteen to twenty-eight passengers.
In cities it is often almost impossible to secure a site large enough to provide the facilities required for a motorcoach station, but at the Packard garage not only has a convenient starting place for the coaches been arranged, with a booking office for reserving seats, but there are provided adequate parking space for private cars-200 cars being accommodated 'wader cover—a chauffeurs' room and a ladies' room. A full complement of fuel pumps, supplies of oil and free air and water are also available. Visiting coaches are accepted, and there is a prospect that the station will also be used for the Bradford terminus of some of the incoming bus services.
So capacious is the accommodation that when a representative of The Commer,q.ol Motor paid a visit there was parked in one portion of the parking space the large vans of a travelling menagerie, with the cages for lions and elephants. Still there was sufficient accommodation for other vehicles.
Separate entrances for incoming and outgoing vehicles are provided, with a railed-off enclosure between and the pumps at the rear of this. A neat ehrilet is provided for the manager's office and booking office, and throughout, in addition to the white facings, the colours of the Packard Motor Services, yellow and green, have been maintained, in keeping with the coaches, which are readily recognized by this colour scheme.
Day and night service is provided, and the booking office is proving very useful in connection with the motor coach services.
In the advertising done in connection with the motor coach services emphasis is laid upon the fact that this is Bradford's motor coach station, although, of course, only one fleet works from here. Persistence with this theme is having its effeet with the travelling public. It has been quickly recognized as a motor coach centre in competition with the recognized stand set out by the Watch and Licensing Committee.
The twelve Packard coaches have been regularly occupied during the season, and in view of the success met with this year the fleet will be augmented next year. Some of the coaches have been fitted with permanentside
screens, and these, with the hoods, have made them practically all-weather vehicleS.
It is believed that the regular bus services, which have been recently instituted and which travel long distances from the city, have affected what used to be considered the shorter coach trips from the motor-coach stand, but from the station work has been extremely brisk, not only with booked parties engaging one or more coaches, but with advertised trips. The dislocation of the train service brought much traffic on to the roads and attracted attention to the coaches, and the opinion is expressed that this year, more than ever before, the public is being educated to the facilities offered by motor coaches, People who had expressed themselves as afraid to travel by coach have been initiated, and, recognizing the charms of the coach outing, are becoming regular patrons.
A notable feature of the scheme is the booklet issued to advertise the tours. Forty-four tours are outlined and the fares are given in a table at the end of the book. The descriptions of the tours are not long, but into each. paragraph something informative concerning the route and the places visited has been included, and here and there are aptly worded remarks concerning the Packard coaches. The recognized titles given by the official advertising departments and the railway companies to roarly -of the places, such"as " The Queen of Watering Places" and "England's Famous Mountain Spa," in the cases of Scarborough and Buxton, to name but two, are made use of, and the attractions of the places referred to are touched upon in such a way that there is something calculated to please everybody.
In an introduction to the would-be passenger it is pointed out how conifortable and convenient the coaches 'are; for instance, it is mentioned that rugs are always carried for cool mornings and evenings, that the drivers are the best that can be got—experienced, tested and trustworthy, and that each holds the certificate of the Royal Automobile Club, and has to pass an examination to get it, the testimonials being examined by the police of Bradford.