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Glasgow Bus Take-over Inquiry
Page 66
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AJOINT committee representing transport, craft and clerical unions has been set up to investigate and discuss the offer by the publicly controlled Scottish Bus Group Ltd. to take over Glasgow's municipal transport system. ClIr. W. Lee, Glasgow transport convener, said last week that talks would start in about two weeks; he expected the discussions would be protracted and detailed.
The proposal by the Scottish Bus Group (following months of secret discussions) is to rent the undertaking on a 30-year lease, at the end of which time the Corporation would either grant a further lease, give the Group the option of purchasing the undertaking outright, or resume possession itself. If successful, the proposal would relieve the city of a huge financial millstone (Glasgow Corporation Transport lost nearly £+m. last year). In return, the £60m. bus group would pay Glasgow a fixed annual rental for the undertaking—the amount still to be agreed on. Aim of the union committee is to discuss the integration of transport services which would form an integral part of the scheme and to ensure the interests of union members, with particular reference to differing conditions of employment between the Corporation and the bus group. Mr. R. MacDonald, Scottish regional secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, has been appointed chairman of the union committee and Mr. A. M. Donnet, Scottish secretary of the National Union of General and Municipal Workers, as secretary.
Glasgow's transport committee has already appointed a special sub-committee to start talks on the proposition, despite "sell out" protests by Cllr. Donald Liddle. Under the proposed scheme, the Glasgow undertaking and its vehicles would retain their identity.
Mr. E. R. L. Fitzpayne, general manager of Glasgow Corporation Transport, told COMMERCIAL MOTOR that he saw the offer as being operationally attractive. He
said that Glasgow was suffering from "growing pains", and that new housing estates at Castlemilk, Drumcharel, Easterhouse and Barmulloch were all either outside or close to the city boundary and many of them could be adequately served by the bus group. Mr. Fitzpayne claimed that under present agreements, complete coverage was not possible.
These perimeter services, at present covered by both the Corporation and the bus group, would be the first to receive attention if the proposals went through. In many cases the services would be virtually halved.
Meanwhile Bailie Hugh Macpherson, Edinburgh, told COMMERCIAL MOTOR that the Scottish capital city was casting its eyes westwards and watching carefully the events in Glasgow. If the city could get some relief from its municipal liabilities it would be doing its ratepayers a service, he said.
F.K.M.