A NEW SOURCE OF COMPETITION FOR COACHES.
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Preliminary Details of a Scheme of Long-distance Operation Evolved by Manchester Taxi Drivers.
flOACHOWNERS in Manchester k Jana district may have to meet competition from a new quarter next season if anything comes of a scheme which members of the Manchester and Salford (Taxi) Owner-drivers' Association have in mind. They are of opinion that it is possible to make the taxicabs attractive to those holiday-makers who have lately come to regard the motor coach as• better than the train, considered • as a means for conveying theni to the seaside. It is proposed to set up a central booking office and to cater for travellers to Southport, Morecambe, Blackpool, New Brighton and North Wales resorts.
To enable them to make the scheme feasible they are preparing to appeal to the licensing authorities to permit their taxis to. carry five passengers, instead of four, when they are engaged upon these long-distance trips. They will also ask to be given liberty to vary the fare from that now legalized.
No suggestions as to what the fares should be have 'yet been made; it is recognized that, whilst due regard will, of course, have to be paid to the need for showing a reasonable profit to the owner, the scheme will fail unless fares are low enough to tempt the holiday maker. It is thought, however, that 10s. per passenger return fare to Blackpool will satisfy both parties.
The passengers will be permitted to return on any date within a reasonable period and any extra cost will be more than compensated for by the comfort and convenience of being, picked up at home and taken direct to the hotel or. other lodgings at the seaside, with all luggage aboard, thus eliminating all the worries attendant on the various transhipments involved in the usual procedure of cab, 'train and cab again: The scheme will of necessity be worked co-operatively, and, so operated, seems quite a feasible one.