PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
AN IMPORTANT BUS AND RAIL COMBINE.
The Great Western Railway Co. and the National Omnibus and Transport Co., Ltd., Amalgamate to Form a New Company for the Co-ordination of their Passenger Services in the West of England.
JT was officially announced one day last week that an agreement bad been arrived at between the Great Western Railway Co. and the National Omnibus and Transport Co., Ltd., under which a new concern had been formed with an authorized capital of £1,000,000. • All road motor services for passengers now being run by the respective concans in an agreed area in the western counties, this comprising the districts south and west of ,Exeter, so far as the extremities of Cornwall, excluding those Parts served by the Southern Railway, will be taken over by the new company, the . title of • which is the Western National Omnibus .Co., Ltd. • The two amalgamated concerns will have an equal repreSentation on the board of threctors„ the chairman •of, which will be Sir John 'Jarvis,Bart., who, it should be mentioned, is the present chairman,of the National Omnibus and Transport Co., Ltd.
The agreement, which has only been rendered possible by the new road. powers recently conferred on • the 'railway companies by Parliament, will effect the co-ordination of road and rail transport communication in a big part of the West of England, and it is anticipated that there will be a considerable extension of the existing facilities provided for the travelling public, including through bookings to cover rail and road services to -and from the more important villages throughout the area.
The new undertaking will embrace the first regular motorbus service to be run-in Great Britain, this having been inaugurated by the Great Western Railway Co. in August, 1923, between Helston and the Lizard.
It is stated that the -new company will cammence its activities with the running of 350 buses, which will provide regular services on over 40 routes, this number being approximately the same as that maintained in the past by the two concerns.
Our readers will hardly need a reminder of the fact that the National Omnibus and Transport Co., Ltd., has had a lengthy association with the passenger transport industry. Tha company was registered in March, 1911, under the title of the National Steam Car Co., Ltd.; the name being changed to the present title in February, 1920. Many transport operators will recall that at one time the company ran steam buses in the London area, but its activities in this direction ceased when it was decided to concentrate ,upon the development of bus. services in certain provincial areas. The "grewth Of the company has been continuous and during the course of itsprogress many businesses have been absorbed and developed. In February of last year, the capital of the company was increased from £500,000 to £1,000,000. Its gross profits for the year ended :December 21st, 1927, were £128,611. The, number of passengers carried during that year was 45 millions and the buses ran in the aggregate a mileage of 15 millions, a big proportion being in connection with services in the west of England.
The Great Western Railway Co. have also had much experience in running passenger-carrying motor vehicles, their earliest services having been established so long ago as August, 1903. During the intervening years the services have been very appreciably .extended and at the commencement of 1928 about 110 regular daily services were in operation on an aggregate route mileage of 1,350; the buses serving 'mita of the counties of Berks, Brecon, Bucks, Cardigan, Carmarthen, Caruarvon, Deni high, Devon, Dorset, Glamorgan, Gloucester, Merioneth, Monmouth, Montgomery, Pembroke, Shropshire, Somerset and Wilts. These services are augmented during the summer months by excursion tours. The vehicles used for passenger work include large numbers of A.E.C.s, Bnrfords, Guys, Maudslays and ThornycroftS, and, from information which has been published in our columns during recent weeks, it will be known that very. considerable additions are being Made to the company's fleet of bnees, the directors having lost no time since the railways were granted extended road powers in interpreting their plans for the future.