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SPECIAL ROAD-RAIL EXCURSIONS
Page 91
Page 92
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AN interesting development of the past year or so has been the introduction by the railways and their associated road-transport companies of special bits services run in conjunction with rail excursions. :Applieations for licences for these facilities have been hotly contested by, independent con-. cerns, which were apparently not invited to participate in the traffic and which feared the encroachMent of these sPeciabservices on scheduled routes.
The applications were made in wide terms that aroused inuch'contrOversy, and the objections of other interests resulted in the imposition of Such strict conditions by the Traffic Commissioners that the licences granted Were not of the value anticipated. The Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner stipulated that these services should be operated only in connection with special railway mileage. This condition has, it is claimed, considerably reduced the number of occasions on which the road;rail bus se'rvices may he run, because many excursions which were formerly classified as special railway mileage are now included in the public timetables. The independent operators wish the railways to frame their applications on the lines of those for excursions and tours, specifying the ocCasions on whiCh they are intended to be run and the places to be served. The railways contend-that applications in this form are impracticable, because they have to
be lodged well in advance and at a time when precise plans have not been laid. On the other hand, the coach and bus owners find it difficult to believe that railway arrangements are devised at such short notice.
Some time ago, certain independent concerns appealed against the granting, in wide terms, of licences for road services to be run in connection with railway excursions, the main contention being that the details specified by the Road Traffic Act, 1930, had not been supplied. The appeals were dismissed.
Later, similar appeals were lodged by a number of operators in the Bath district, against the decision of the Western Commissioners to grant licences for special services to the path Tramways Motor Co., Ltd. The present Minister, Mr. L. Hore-Belisha. upheld the appeals and ruled that more precise details than those provided must be supplied to conform with the Act. Some confusion on this point hat thus been created.
We understand that further appeals concerning this matter have been lodged by Birch Brothers, Ltd., Lon
don, against the granting of licences for road-rail services to the Eastern National Omnibus Co., Ltd., and the Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd.