New town Population Densities Make Frequent Bus Services Uneconomic
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ACRITICAL look at the development of London's new towns from a busman's point of view was taken by Mr. George Dickins, traffic officer (central buses) of the London Transport Board, speaking at an Institute of Transport meeting in London on Monday.
He said that the population density of 12 persons per acre for new towns laid down by a Government committee in the late 1940s made it economically impossible for a bus operator to provide a frequent internal bus service, which the committee nevertheless said was "indispensable ".
A population double that laid down for the towns in the late 1940s was necessary to provide El traffic potential which would permit the operation of more frequent bus services. He suggested that-Sir Keith Joseph, Minister of Housing and Local Government, should consider doubling the population per acre for new towns now being planned by providing large blocks of flats.
From the bus operator's point of view, a new town should be on a rail line with a direct service to a large city —with the station itself at the town centre; within six or seven miles of an existing town of about 50,000—so people could have an outing; withaccess to a good trunk road which did not interfere with life in the new town itself; and wholly within one operator's territory. There should he a bus station and car park in the centre, and roads to be used by buses planned so that the most direct journey possible could be made between home, factory and shopping centre.