Nine-stage Plan for London Trani Conversion
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pLANS for one of the biggest conversion operations ever undertaken by a transport organization, the replacement by buses of all trams in the service of the London Transport Executive, were announced last week by Lord Latham, chairman of London Transport.
At a cost of over £9,000,000, 830 trams are to be replaced by 1,000 oilengined buses and more than 100 miles of train track will be removed. The 'conversion programme will start in October this year, will take two years 'to' complete in nine stages, and will mark the end of 80 years of tram operation in London. The nine-stage conversion will be carried out in three-monthly instalments. The first, starting on September 30, will involve trams running on the west side of London, and thereafter the change-over will move eastwards across south London. Each stage will consist of replacing blocks of about 100 cars in a given area.
Work on the adaptation of tram depots to bus garages is well in hand, and the training of tram drivers for bus work has already begun. Some 2,400 tram drivers will be receiving instruction in batches of 100 at a time, each course lasting up to four weeks. Two new bus garages are being built, one at Stockwell and the other at Rye Lane, Peckham.
New Numbers •
Entirely new numbers have been allocated to the converted tram routes, although in most cases the buses will follow the established tram routes. Fourteen out of 39 old tram routes will be extended in the course of the change, the general tendency being to bring south London passengers farther into the City and nearer the West End. Some of the new numbers will be suffixed B and W, indicating that the buses will enter the central area via Blackfriars and Westminster respectively.
The 612 trolleybus route from 'Mitcham to Battersea will be converted during the first stage of the conversion to motorbus operation because of the greater flexibility of the oil-engined vehicle. The route will also be extended, the proposed terminus being London Bridge.
London landmarks which will be disused at the end of 1952 are the KingsA2 way tunnel and the reserved tram track on the Embankment. While the conversion is in progress, the Embankment _track will be used by buses, although eventually, it is presumed, the whole width of the road will be opened to general traffic. Kingsway tunnel is unsuitable for bus operation and no decision has been made concerning its future use.
MANCHESTER R.H.A. URGES INTER-WORKING
Ik4EMBERS of the Road Haulage IVI Association in the Manchester area are being urged to take the fullest advantage of opportunities for interworking. A circular issued by Mr. W. Farnorth, the area executive officer,
states:• 'Although an operator can only offer his services up to 25 miles with his own vehicles,. he can accept traffic for the customer up to 50 miles from base by suitable sub-contracting, and thereby retain more of the customers' traffic than he could otherwise handle. The north-western and adjoining traffic area districts provide considerable quantities of this class of traffic."
The R.H.A. has issued a questionnaire to members likely to be interested in inter-working.
STOP NATIONALIZATION, SAYS 0.P.P.A.
A RESOLUTION calling upon the 1-1 Government to cease further activities involving the nationalization of road passenger transport was approved at the recent annual meeting at Newcastle-on-Tyne of the Omnibus Passengers Protection Association. Mr. C. V 1-1. Vincent, who presided, contended that the 0.P.P.A. had caused the Government to defer its plans, but he pointed out that there was still no guarantee that the British Transport Commission had suffered a change of heart.
It was reported that the 0.P.P.A. now had 104,000 members