COMPANIES and CORPORATIONS on common ground
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By C. S. DUNBAR,
M.Inst.T.
OWNERSHIP by the British Transport Commission of the Eastern National Omnibus Co., Ltd., Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., Westeliffon-Sea Motor Services, Ltd., and others, made it inevitable that East Anglia should receive early attention by way of an area scheme, but the Commission has by no means a monopoly of passenger transport in the area. Apart from "independent companies, seven municipal undertakings are involved; including those of Southend-on-Sea, Colchester and Ipswich, in South-east Essex. The study of passenger transport in this diStrict is particularly interesting.
Southend-on-Sea is one „of those places where the growth of the municipal transport undertaking has failed to keep pace with the development of the town. Private operators have thus stepped in, and for many years have been working districts that one would have
expected the corporation to serve. Municipal transport began with the starting of tram services on the 3-ft. 6-in, gauge in 1901, and these eventually reached a total of about 8i route miles. In 1913, in view of the growth of the northern part of the town, some motorbuses were bought, but these were commandeered in 1914 and no more were purchased until 1932.
. On October 16, 1925, however, two railless singledeck troHeybuses were put into service between Victoria Circus and Prittlewell (Priory Park) to augment the tram service, and the latter was finally withdrawn in 1927 This original trolleybus service has since been developed into a circular route, Working from Priory Park to Eastwood Boulevard and Chalkwell Schools and thence back to Victoria Circus via London Road and vice versa. On July 31, 1932, another trolleybus service was opened to Hamstel Road, This, too, now works as a circle, alternately via Southchurch Road and North
Avenue. A . third circle works Victoria Circus—. Southchurch—Kursaal—Seaway--Victoria Circus and Vice versa, while an additional short service plies between Warrior Square and Southchureh (" White Horse"). The front, from the Pier to Thorpe Bay, is wired, but no trolleybus sei vice is worked along it.
In 1932, .Southend Corporation desired to resume the operation of motorbuses and gained its point after an appeal against the refusal of a licence by the Traffic Commissioners, The corporation was, however, restricted to the eastern half of the borough, and to see why this should be so, it is necessary to refer now to the history of the company operation in the district.
39rears Ago Chars-a-bancs made their first appearance in Southend in 1910, and in 1914 Messrs. Holmes and Smith amalgamated with the Southend-on-Sea Charabanc Co. to form the Westcliff-on-Sea Motor Charabanc Co., Ltd. In 1921 the name was changed to Westcliff-on-Sea Motor Services, Ltd., and a bus service was started between Southend Pier and the "Plough;" Westcliff;. others soon followed, to Pitsea, Wickford, Rayleigh and Rochford. For some years competition was fierce as ether companies started up, but gradually Westcliff bought out all its competitors except three.
The principal acquisitions were those of Edward Hall Motors, Ltd. (1932); Thundersley, Hadleigh and District Motors, Ltd. (1933), Rochford and District Motors, Ltd. (1933); Shoeburyness Motor Services, Ltd. (1934), and Rayleigh Motor Services, Ltd. (1936). In 1933 the Westcliff company was offered to Southend Corporation, but the parties could not agree on terms, and in 1935 Thomas Tilling, Ltd., secured the majority of the shares.
The fleet to-day numbers 99 buses (76 double-deck) and 27 coaches. All 23 single-deck buses are Bristols. This mike is also represented among the double-deckers and the coaches. Other makes are A.E.C., Dennis, Tilling-Stevens, Leyland and Bedford.
Last year 27,243,821 passengers were carried and 4,727,680 miles run. In 1932 the figures were 3,857,609 and 4,038,268 respectively, so that in 16 years passengers increased sevenfold whilst mileage rose by only about 17 per cent. This great improvement in passengers per vehicle-mile results partly from the use of more doubledeckers, partly from increased post-war population, but largely from the savings produced by the acquisitions detailed above.
Eastern National Influence Eastern National and its predecessor, the National Omnibus and Transport Co., Ltd., have operated services into Southend from Chelmsford for many years. The acquisition, in 1933, of Borough Services. Ltd. (founded in 1927), gave Eastern National access to places on the west side of Southend, notably to Grays. The Grays service is now worked jointly with the Westcl i ff company.
When the corporation eventually obtained power to run motorbuses, it put on a north—south service from Sutton Road to the Pier and an east—west one from Alexandra Road to Southchurch Park. Subsequent extensions, the incorporation of Shoeburyness into the borough and the abandonment of trams on April 8, 1942„ have resulted in the following services now being worked:—L.M.S. Station to (a) Sutton Cemetery or Priory Crescent; (b) Ness Road, Shoeburyness; (c) "Plough," Westcliff, via Prittlewell; (d) Eastern Avenue (Hamstel Road), Leigh (Highlands Boulevard), to Thorpe Bay, via Southchurch and via Wood Grange Drive.
Company and Corporation Co-operate The last-named, which started on October 1, 1947. is an interesting development, as the service is a joint responsibility with both the corporation and the Westcliff company participating. The receipts are pooled. The corporation then receives a sum equivalent to the mileage run' in its territory at the average receipt per Vehicle mile before the introduction of the joint service. Next, the company takes a similarly calculated amount in respect of the portion west of Leigh Church, and the balance, if any, is divided in the proportions of 2/9ths to the company and 7/9ths to the corporation.
The corporation duplicates as necessary between Leigh Church and Victoria Circus or Thorpe Bay. Arrangements are being made to co-ordinate and pool the services to Shoeburyness of both undertakings.
The corporation fleet to-day consists of 55 motorbuses and 31 trolleybuses. Of the motorbuses, 50 are doubledeckers (all oilers, except five); the five single-deckers include three Canadian Dodge purchased from the R.A.F. They were reconditioned and rebodied by the undertaking, and made neat and useful 26-seaters. The mdtorbuses (other than the Dodge) are all of either A.E.C. or Daimler make, but with five different makes of body, whilst the trolleybuses (of which five are single-decker i) are a more mixed bag. The five single cl 2 deckers are Leylands purchased from the Tees-side Railless Traction Board, and the double-deckers are Sunbeam, A.E.C. and Gloucester (the only Gloucester trolleybus ever built, dating from 1935). Like all seaside towns, Southend has to deal with seasonal fluctuations. In a typical week the corporation trolleybuses run about 17,000 miles and the motorbuses 20,000 miles, whilst in August the weekly averages are 22,000 and 32,000 respectively. The corporation feels the seasonal fluctuations rather more than the companies, as it serves the more " popular' parts of the town and has not the benefit of serving the factory district in the north-west.
Traffic Statistics In the year ended March 31, 1948, the trolleybuses ran 978,487 miles and the motorbuses 1,264,308; the route-mileages were 11.17 and 20.665 respectively. About 15,000,000 passengers were carried on the trolleybuses and 18,000,000 on the motorbuses_ The slow progress towards joint working of services would have been greatly accelerated had the agreement entered into in 1946 between Southend Corporation, Westcliff and Eastern National ever been implemented. It was intended to pool all services within a radius of about JO miles. The corporation and Westcliff would each work 45.9 per cent. of the mileage and Eastern National the remaining 8.2 per cent. Such an arrangement would have meant the complete sweeping away of the existing protective fares, and would have greatly increased the general responsibilities of the municipal authority.
It was not found possible to include, in the scheme Benlleet and District Motor Services,-Lid.; and the City Coach Co., Ltd, which have services', in the area affected, and the operation of the agreed scheme is
suspended. Apparently, in the opinion of the City company, the corporation, in entering into the scheme, would be acting ultra vires, and as the company is prepared to challenge the corporation's action in the High Court, the municipal authorities have thought it prudent to take no further action.
City System's Long " Spine " One difficulty is the unusual nature of the City company's undertaking in that a long trunk route is its backbone and some country services have been added since. The history of the company accounts for this. In 1923, Mr. Walter Crook and Mr. W. F. Mallenden started the City Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., to operate buses in London.
. After a start on service 37, they created the famous money-maker 536 (Highgate-Beckenham). As the business grew other concerns were purchased, among them New Empress Saloons in 1928. This purchase gave City the London-Southend service which, since the establishment of the London Passenger Transport Board, and the consequent loss of 536, has been the company's mainstay. By 1930 the hourly headway had been reduced to 30 minutes. With the purchase in January, 1935, of the London—Southend service of Westcliff-on-Sea Motors, it was further reduced to 15 minutes.
The main Southend route itself carries many .shortdistance passengers, and a glance at the fare table is instructive. The route from the terminus at Wood Green is via Tottenham, Walthamstow and the Arterial Road. There is a 6d.minimum in the London Transport area until Whalebone Lane, on the Arterial Road, is reached. Thereafter, 3d. stages are in force to Brentwood, after which the minimum drops to id., except for the last i-mile from Priory Park to Victoria Circus, for which 2d. is charged to protect Southend Corporation's undertaking.
Even in Southend itself, passengers at Id. fares are being picked up in competition with the B.T.C. companies. Return fares are available throughout, with a minimum of 9d. in the London Transport area and 6d. elsewhere, whilst for workmen's day returns there are two minima-5d. east of Shotgate (near Wickford) and 6d. elsewhere. The maximum workmen's day return is 2s.
Passengers riding from London with ordinary returns are charged extra on Sundays and public holidays. An unusual feature of the company's regulations is a note of the different colours of the various ticket denominations. T h e Setright system is used, with partially preprinted tickets, and has proved satisfactory for building up traffic statistics. The present scale of fares largely arises from adjustments made from time to time with other operators, particularly with London Transport. " City" can operate in the London Transport area only with the consent of the L.T.E., but consent is not necessary for operations on the main route between 12 noon on Saturday and 12 noon on Monday (Tuesday in the case of a bank holiday).
Before the war, the decision to make Brentwood the company's headquarters led to the purchase of local services belonging to Brentwood and District Motor Services, Mr. F. H. Nugus, of Herongate, Mr. F. H. Fuller (Regent Motor Service), and Mr. T. Webster (Old Tom Motor Services), of Laindon. These were consolidated and Mr. J. Henderson's Brentwood-Hook End service was added in 1940. Finally, on February 15. 1945, " City" secured the last of the small operators in the district by taking over Mr. E. A. Curtis's Ongar and District Motor Services.
Thus to-day's services, in addition to the main route, are: (la) Brentwood-Shotgate via Ramsden Heath: (2) Brentwood-Brackenhank; (3) Laindon-Brentwood via Little Burstead; (4) Laindon-Ongar via Brentwood and Blackmore; (5) Laindon-Brentwood via Great Burstead; (6) Laindon Station circular; (9) Laindon-Wickford (Mondays only); (11) Woodman Road, Brentwood-Hook End: and (15) Laindon Station-Langdon Hills. Double-deckers are now run throughout from Wood Green to Southend, but because of a low bridge at Shotgate they have to be diverted via Runwell and Battlesbridge. This is regarded as Eastern National territory and consequently double-deckers do not pick up or set down on this section. To cover the main road between Wickford and "Carpenter's Arms," Rayleigh, when double-deckers are on the service, a shuttle singledecker service is run.
For the summer of 1949 the fleet consisted of 112 vehicles, of which 22 were oil-engined double-deckers (16 Leyland and six Daimler). Of the 90 single-deckers, 81 were oilers (53 Leyland, one Seddon, nine Commer and 18 Bedford); the nine petrol machines were Bedford 20-, 26and 29-seaters used for some of the more rural services. About half the fleet is of post-war date.
Many of the 1935-7 vehicles have been rebodied by Heaver, Ltd., of Durrington, with pleasing results. A similar type of body mounted on a post-war Leyland PS2/11 chassis, is illustrated at the beginning of this article, and shows the absurdity of the present Construction and Use Regulations. The vehicle has three axles in order to get the maximum permissible length, but the second front axle (which carries a wheel of smaller dimensions than the leading one) really serves no useful purpose. Twenty vehicles are stationed at Southend, 24 at Wood Green, and the balance at Brentwood.
Benfleet and District Motor Services, Ltd., to which reference has already been made, and Canvey and District Motor Transport Co., Ltd., are under the same ownership. The latter was formed in 1931 to take over Canvey Auxiliary Motors and has a monopoly in Canvey Island, to which it works from South Benflect. The fleet is based on a garage in the island and consists of 11 Daimler, two A.E.C. and one Leyland (all doubledeckers). Route mileage is 4.55.
In the year ended September, 1948, 397,845 miles were run and 3,813,097 passengers were carried. Benfleet and District runs 12 double-deckers (seven Daimler and five A.E.C.) on a route-mileage of 9.3. The company was formed in 1932 to take over the business of Major Pearse, and now.operates every half-hour between South Benfleet and Southend (this being additional to the Westcliff and Eastern National services), as well as a service on Mondays only, from South Benfleet to Wickford. In the year ended December, 1948, 332,617 miles were run.
4711, SCUTIAND.Ch-SEA
The nearest municipal undertaking to Southend is at Colchester, where the situation is completely different. There, the corporation, with a smaller area to deal with, has been able to cover the borough fairly well. A small tram system was started in 1904 and abandoned in 1928-9. To-day, 33 buses are employed. In 1948-9, 12,461,347 passengers were carried and 1,012,713 vehicle-miles were run.
pooling, nor does the council Vehicles work both I13)..S In to
North erd of Lloyds
receive any proportion of the receipts.
On top of this incubus, the department has to issue a 3d. return ticket (until recently 2d.), which is available not only as an ordinary " workman's' before 9 a.m., but is also issued at lunch time. The Eastern Licensing Authority has so far refused to allow the corporation to raise its fares sufficiently to avoid the deficit which seems inevitable so long as it has the statutory liability to repay its capital.
Moreover, the margin between receipts and working expenses is so small that it is impossible to buy new vehicles out of revenue, with the result that every new bus means an addition to the loan charges. There is the danger, too, that any further increase in fares may accelerate the decline in passengers carried which is now becoming apparent.
The department's position is not enviable. Some equally small undertakings are run profitably, but not under the competitive conditions existing at Colchester. With so many undertakings involved, a complete pooling and co-ordination scheme for the district is bound to be difficult, but if the corporation could come to some agreement with the two nationalized companies— Eastern Counties and Eastern National—it would go a long way towards solving its difficulties.
North-east of Colchester is the municipal undertaking of Ipswich. which has several interesting characteristics. It was described in The Commercial Motor " on August 13, 1948. Until now the fleet has consisted entirely of trolleybuses (53 double-deckers and 17 singledeckers), most of them with stippled metal panels instead of the usual painted livery. Most of the built-up area is covered with frequent services and all routes pass or turn at Electric House in the town centre.
Small, almost square, boxes are used to show destinations and, whilst numbers are employed to indicate all other services, those to the station are denoted by X. A " 6d. anywhere ' ticket is issueu every day from 6.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sundays from 2.30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The only part of the borough where the corporation does not run is north of the centre, where the Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., has been working three short routes for many years—probably since 1920, when the company first entered the town. As, however, the corporation last year carried 27,320,183 passengers and ran 2,484,583 miles, the situation is quite different from that at Southend, for Ipswich covers a much smaller area and the corporation carries the bulk of the passengers within its boundaries. An interesting decision by the corporation is to purchase six A.E.C. buses for development purposes. It is intended to run these to new housing estates until services build up sufficiently to justify the introduction of trolleybuses.
No mention has been made of Chelmsford, the county town of Essex which lies to the north of Southend. The local services are almost entirely provided by Eastern National, so that no complications arise as at the other places mentioned.
Statistics of area and population will better enable the position to be grasped when comparing the four boroughs dealt with. Southend's 10,284 acres are populated by 144,350 people, Ipswich's 8,692 acres by 100,810, Colchester's 11,333 acres by 55,550 and Chelmsford's 4,775 acres by 35,310.
At a later date 1 hope to deal in equal detail with road passenger transport in other parts of the area of the Road Passenger Executive's proposed scheme for the eastern counties. The new co-ordination arrangement between Luton Corporation and the Eastern National Omnibus Co., Ltd., is one of several interesting subjects for study.