COACH TRAFFIC AND THE LANCASHIRE WAKES.
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Holidays which Provide Owners with Good Business.
MBE LANCASHIRE holi4ys. have provided northern coach owners with a good, if. temporary, trade turnover. Blackpool is, of course, a much-favoured
might. be encountered if making the trip by rail, the company have instituted .a regular weekly three-day tour. Passengers are taken from Newcastle, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland, the fare from the first two places being £3 15s, and from the Wearside town £4 per head, the figure including conveyance and fir.st-Class hotel accommodation, together with meals.
On the opening day of the tour the outward journey to Penrith is made via Irnrharn and Alston, and the night is spent on the banks of the celebrated destination, and during the " wakes " there is probably not a. single industrial town in the County 'Palatine that does not send some vehicles to what the advertising posters describe as "the Queen of the Lancashire Watering Places."
There are regular daily services to Blackpool, from Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, 13urn1ev, and other towns, but the " wakes towns are more than ever using theSe vehicles for getting to -Blackpool, and the competition is bringing the fares down to the lowest possible level. During the Burnley holiday week, one local coaching firm put no fewer than 21. motor Chars-a-bancs on the Blackpool service. At Todmorden the holiday week produced a burst of activity for the motor coach owners, who run trips to Blackpool..
• During Blackpool carnival week, by the way, the Todmorden Corporation hit on a new and profitable venture in the shape of a daily service of motorbuses to Blackpool. This service has been much criticised at Todmorden because it competed With the privately owned vehicles. A balancing statement has just, been prepared, showing running costs, wages, and a reasonable percehta.ge for wear and tear, from which it appears that the department has made a profit of 2s. 9d, per passenger for the whole of the week at a fare of 5s. 6d. • The distance from Todmorden to Blackpool is 43 miles, or 96 return.
Moderate as the fare-appears, it is not so cheap as the 5s. 6d. fare (if booked in advance) which some Blackpool motor chars-a-banct proprietors charge for the 110 miles to Windermere and back.
This exampleof municipal enterprise was discussed at a meeting of the Todmorden Town Council, when one member said he heartily agreed with the motorbus committee's action, because he thought it was up to the corporation to "Set the pace." If the corporation could make a, profit of 28. 9d. per passenger, lie thought that the private -owners were " overcharging," . and .added that he
heartily approved of the running of buses to Blackpool, which he hoped would be maintained by the corporation for the benefit of the "poorer ratepayers."
Manxland Methods.
This is the season of the Lancashire Wakes holidays, and thousands of people from the cotton towns are going to the Isle of Man. Some who have returned are coniplaining that the Manxland char-à-banes proprietors have increased their fares by 35 per cent, for the shorter and 25 per 'cent, for the longer journeys. Evidently they are acting on the principle of making money while the visitors are there. But is it sound business?
Edinburgh Passenger Traffic.
According to the report of the tramways committee of the City of Edinburgh, the total revenue for the year ended May 15th on the electric, cable, and bus systems maintained by the cor
poration was £806,114, compared with £834,341 for the previous year. The number of passengers carried was 106,701,131, an increase of 5,674,368.
The revenue from the motorbuses Was £167,131, the number of passengers carried being 20,627,717. 'Ihe total capital cost of the motorbuses, garage, etc., is shown in the accounts at £195.233, of which is 289,967 has been redeemed.
It is stated that the motorbuses have been invaluable to the trairnways during the past four years, in connection with cable breakdowns.