A NEW MANCHESTER-LONDON DAILY SERVICE.
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Details of a Long-distance Passenger-vehicle Service, Instituted by a Manchester Concern, which is Receiving Considerable Public Support.
BELIEVING that long-distance express coach services have come to stay, Eniway Motor Tours. (owned by Mr. F. Davies and Mr. J. Tipping), of . Peter Street, Manchester, are this year arranging to carry out an ambitious programme. Up to a few days ago they had been sending a coach to London four times a week. As bookings had shown a steady improvement, they came to the conclusion that it was time to make the service between the two cities a daily one. This facility has now . been instituted and is maintained by a Reo saloon seating 22 ,passengers and by a Gifford saloon which gives accommodation for 26. passengers. Duplicate machines, a Reo and a Gifford, each to seat 26 passengers, are on order and should be available for service about Whitsuntide.
Seating accommodation for the passengers is arranged in a simple and comfortable style. A central gangway runs down the length of each vehicle, and the deep and wide seats are well upholstered and liberally spaced, so as to give passengers plenty of knee room. There are two entrances to each coach, one at the front and the other at the rear on the near side. No special pre paration is made for the storage of luggage, as suit-cases and small baggage can be placed underneath the seats or in the front compartment of the vehicle, where there is plenty of room alongside the driver.
The Gifford saloon coach has a large space in the rear of the body, and a folding table can be erected in this part of the Vehicle. There are several refinements incorporated in this coach, including push-bolls near each seat for communicating with the driver.
During the next few with the coaches will be equipped with daylight signs to be fitted over the driver's cab. The signs will be 2 ft. 6 ins. in length and will show the words: "LondonManchester." At night these route indicators will be illuminated.
The approximate running time for the journey between Manchester and London is eight-and-a-quarter hours (allowing for a one-hour stop for hutch. at Birmingham), and fares are sub at about id. per passenger per mile which, be it noted, is a much better rate than is obtained for local day trips from Manchester. Bookings between Blackpool and London will be Intensively developed during the next few weeks. Eniway Motor Tours handle a big share of the traffic from Manchester to Blackpool and, accordingly, these services have been linked up with the London journeys. The' London coach is due in Manchester every evening at 5.45 p.m. and, if timetable arrangements are adhered to, it is just in time to connect up with the saloon coach which makes the evening journey to Blackpool. The Blackpool coach is delayed up to 15 minutes to await the London coach should it be behind -time.
There have been occasions when the latter vehicle has been up to 60 minutes late—it hrts, therefore, been considered necessary to arrange with the driver of the London coach to report, by talephone, his arrival at Newcastle-underLyme, which is about 36 miles away. If he arrives at Newcastle before 4.30 p.m., it is almost a certainty that passengers for Blackpool will be able to travel by the coach from London. When it is not possible to delay the coach on the Blackpool service, London passengers continue their journey by a special vehicle. Arrangements are now being made for the granting of throughbooking facilities between Blackpool and London and the proposed fares are 21s. for the single journey and 35s. for the return journey.
This is intended to be an all-theyear-round programme, as there has been a steady growth both in the actual
number of passengers booked and in the number of inquiries for seats.
Eniway Motor Tours have agents at Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Dunstable. In London they are represented by Lyne, Frank and Wagstaff, Ltd. The coaches run into the central London road transport station, near Russell Square, and, as this is the only London-Manchester service, it is probable that, when the initial organization is complete, a greater measure of publicity will be accorded to the venture. Since the inauguration of the journeys between Manchester and London, from the close of the last summer season, bookings have grown until they now average. about 16 passengers per coach.
Incidentally, it is interesting to note that, on some days, full loads have been carried. About 90 per cent, of the travellers contract for the through journey.
To avoid the risk of overloading, with its consequent discomforts to passengers, there is a system of intercommunication between the Midland booking agents, who are expected to pass on to their nearest colleagues information of bookings received. These are also telephoned to the head office, thus enabling a check to be kept. Particulars of return bookings are exchanged beiween the terminal organizations, and, as return tickets are available for 12 months, some caution has to be exercised to avoid confusion at peak-load periods.
When passengers book at Manchester, duplicate records are kept of return tickets and one of these cheeks is dispatched in each case to the Loudon agents, so that they may keep themselves informed as to outstanding commitments. At London records of bookings are made in quadruplicate, one form being a travel-ticket for the passenger, another a notification and advice to Eniway Motor Tours, a third is employed for recording purposes at the London office and the fourth comes into use when the booking has been received through a sub-agent.
Passengers from Manchester receive travel tickets and 'these are collected before the journey commences. They constitute the driver's waybill and indicate the destinations of his individual passengers. A similar procedure is followed in regard to passengers booked through agents and, on the return of the coach to Manchester, the tickets are checked against the office records and agents' advices.
or the convenience of passengers living within easy reach of Manchester and on the line of route, a modest concession is made ; provided they book in advance, arrangements are made for the coach to stop at a point on the route which is notified to those concerned beforehand. The principals of the daily service, however, prefer passengers to meet the coach at the start lug point, as this saves loss of time.
After Whitsuntide the London-Manchester daily service will be linked up with a Manchedster-Crlasgow enterprise, also on a daily basis, and the northern journeys will be undertaken by a 20seater Studebaker and a Reo. Consideration is now being given to a new daily service to the Midlands, linkingup Leicester, Nottingham and Derby with Manchester. At. one time there appeared to be a possibility of duplicating the London service by running two separate routes, one via Birmingham and the other via Leicester and Nottingham, but this plan will not be Proceeded with at present. The other long-distance service now being maintained by Eniway Motor Tours is that between Manchester and NeWcastle-on-Tyne, a distance of 120 miles. This route is worked by two Thornyeroft saloon coaches. One coach leaves Liverpool and another Newcastle-on-Tyne at 8.30 a.m, each day and is due to arrive at its destination at 4.15 p.m. The 8.30 a.m. coach from Liverpool is due in Manchester at about 10 9.111., and it leaves at 10.15 a.m. to continue the journey to Leeds, which is an important half-way rest and a place where there is always an exchange of a number of passengers.
The single fare to Newcastle from Manchester is 13s. and the return charge is 21s. 6d. About 20 :r cent. of the bookings are for intermediate journeys, principally between Newcastle and Leeds and between Leeds and Manchester. During the Easter holiday several extra machines had to be put on this service. Incidentally, • the average daily number of bookings is about 18 for the through journey.
The Manchester-to-Leeds journey is quoted at 4s. 6d. single and at 8s. 6d. return, while the fare on the Manchester-Harrogate route is 7s. 6d. single and 12s. 6d. return. There are, eight booking agents for the Liverpool-Newcastle on-Tyne coaches.
Every evening the driver of the westward-bound coach from Newcastle telephones to the head office, when be reaches Oldham, to give notice of the number of passengers who intend to continue the journey by coach to BlackpooL We now come to another important branch of the firm's organization. Apart from the long-distance services, the chief string to their bow is the Manchester Blackpool journey and, during the summer season they dispatch coaches to Blackpool four times per day, at 8 a.m., 9.30 a.m., 2.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. Passengers by the morning coach usually book day-return tickets at 6s., but if they desire to stay longer the extra fare is is. 6d. To meet the requirements of Manchester people, who desire to reach Blackpool • in time to attend one of the local theatres and to stay the night at Blackpool, the evening tours'are quoted at special low fares, namely, 3s. single, 4s. return (by the coach which runs the following morning) and 5s. 6d. long-date return.
With John Bull Motors, of Blackpool, which firm is interested in a daily service from Blackpool to Manchester, Eniway Motor Tours have a co-operative working arrangement, which yields reciprocal benefits, and, by eliminating unnecessary mileages, leaves other coaches free for listed tours. Eniway Motor Tours have '14 coaches in regular commission, but several of them are hired vehicles. Coaches are always available from the numerous small owners with whom they have contracts, and offers of vehicles are generally in excess of the number which can be usefully employed. No doubt this will strike the 'average
• coach operator as a peculiar situation. The position in Manchester is that passengers wanting to travel by coach usually go to the centre of the city, where a few companies have their headquarters and stands and are able to give full and complete informatiou about tours and road travel to almost any destination. It is obviously beyond the capacity of the small owner to rent city premises and, consequently, he very often finds it more profitable to lend his vehicles to other operating concerns for a return to cover running costs, plus a commission on fares booked, or, alternatively, for a comprehensive fee for the hire of the coach for the day.
The vehicles in the service of Eniway Motor Tours are working under strenuous conditions. They have no days off. At the end of every working day each vehicle is examined, cleaned, oiled and greased so as to be spick and span for the following day's• work. When all the daily services are in full swing their respective mileages will be as follow :—Blackpool, via Manchester and London; 236 miles ; London to Blackpool, 236 miles ; Liverpool to Newcastle, via Manchestef; 163 wiles; Newcastle to Liverpool, via Manchester, 163 miles; Manchater to Leicester, 90 miles; Leicester to Manchester, 90 miles; Manchester to Blackpool (say, three return journeys per day), 290 miles. These figure's of mileage give a daily total of 1,268:
From Whitsuntide there will be weekly departures Of coaches on extended tours to Devon and the South Coast, to Scotland, to the Cornish Riviera, and to the South Coast and the Isle of Wight. six-day tours are quoted at 18 8s., seveu-day runs at figures between £10 10s. and £11 us. and ten-day trips at £14 3s. 6d.
Eniway Motor Tours have just acquired a plot of ground in Lever Street, Piccadill.:, Manchester, for an advance loading station and garage.