Joint bus council is to run all PTA services within Tyneside area
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• A joint body is to be established by the Tyneside Passenger Transport Authority to run bus services inside the PT Area provided by the PTA's Executive and the National Bus Company. To be known as Tyneside Bus Council, it will comprise six representatives, three nominated by the PTE and three by the NBC subsidiaries operating in the Area.
This move is part of the Agreement which the Tyneside PTE and the companies expect to enter into shortly and which Tyneside PTA and the _ Board of the NBC have approved in principle, (CM last week). The executive is to he represented on the TBC by Dr T. M. Ridley, director-general, Mr J. B. Hurst, director of operations, and Mr D. P. C. Fletcher, director of finance. NBC representatives are Mr G. M. Newberry, chairman, Northern General Group and United Automobile Services Ltd, Mr. L. S. Higgins, director and general manager, Northern General Group, and Mr D. G. F. Rawlinson, director and general manager, United Automobile.
Announcing the details of the Agreement on Wednesday, Tyneside PTE stated that there was as yet no indication as to when the Government would implement Section 19 of the Transport Act 1968, thus transferring control over bus services from the Traffic Commissioners to the Authority and the Executive, but claimed that the Agreement had been formulated in the spirit of Section 19.
The intention was to provide a means whereby the Executive and the companies could work together to achieve the aims set out in the Joint Policy Statement, namely: O Examine all bus services on .Tyneside with a view to giving a better service to the public.
O Set up a joint scheduling team with the NBC.
O Integrate bus services through "Tyneside Bus" which will allocate services between the Executive and the NBC and reimburse costs in accordance with financial and operational agreements.
O Investigate the possibilities for joint ownership and management to give maximum flexibility and the best use of total assets.
Although the agreement provides for the examination of "joint ownership and management", the PTA's announcement states that there is no present intention that the Executive should acquire any part of the NBC undertakings.
The Tyneside Bus Council will provide the machinery whereby policy and financial decisions endorsed by the PTA will be implemented. It will be responsible for the allocation of Area services between the PTE and the companies and financial reimbursement to the NBC. The Council will also provide a forum for consultation on a wide range of other operational and planning matters.
Protection of the NBC companies will be preserved in that they will continue to run 49 per cent of all mileage wholly within the Area. Detailed proposals for the reorganization and reallocation of services will be developed by a joint scheduling team which is already in existence.
In order to ensure the effective working of the Agreement financial provisions to allow the maximum flexibility in the allocation and operation of services have been made. The NBC will receive reimbursement of an order which will correspond to the revenue per car mile they could expect to secure from Area services if the proposed Agreement had not come into operation. With respect to operational changes the NBC will now be in the same 'relationship to the Authority as its Executive.
Speaking at a Press conference on Wednesday, Aid A. Cunningham, chairman of Tyneside PTA, said: "I am delighted that Tyneside is the first of the Passenger Transport Areas to reach an agreement with the National Bus Company. As a result of the Act we inherited particularly difficult problems for the integration of the bus services on Tyneside. This is the first of a number of major steps we shall have to take."
Mr G. M. Newberry, for the NBC, said he felt very gratified that the long series of talks they had had over many months with the Executive had at last reached fruition and with such promise for the future of public transport on Tyneside. "There could be no better public demonstration of our determination and goodwill in seeking a workable understanding with the Authority and the Executive than the agreement which we have reached," concluded Mr Newberry.