Pick-me-up picks up
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THE PICK-ME-UP dial-abus service at Harlow, Essex, which started operating last August and is being run by London Country Bus Services Ltd as a public transport experiment, is proving popular. About 4,000 people are now travelling on the three buses each week. Passengers increased from 2,929 during the first week of operation to a maximum of 4,455 for the week before Christmas.
Interviews with passengers have suggested that about 40 per cent of them use the service for shopping and personal business, and about five per cent instead of their own vehicles.
The experiment is being subsidized primarily by TR RL and by Essex County Council, Harlow Development Corporation and Harlow Council. The anticipated deficit for a year's operations is £40,000. Revenue from passengers is covering only 33 per cent of total operating costs.