• Home
• Used vehicles
• Product news
• Dealer news
• Compliance
• Buying advice
• Archive

The Way of the Wolds

then the prospects of subsidies for better bus services seem slight By H. BRIAN COTTEE ALTHOUGH the area in which the Lincolnshire rural bus experiment (which ends tomorrow) has been held may not be completely typical, it is representative enough for the results to suggest that we can forget about subsidized bus services as a means of improving rural transport. That, at least, is my assessment.

Admittedly, examples elsewhere may show enough traffic potential to justify subsidy on a specific route or section of a route. Also, as well as the provision of railway-guaranteed replacement bus services (which are likely to confuse the subsidy issue in some places) it is, of course, possible that ' the withdrawal of further unremunerative bus services might be delayed or hatted by Government intervention. But I cannot believe that even the present administration, with its willingness to use public money for social causes, would agree to subsidies on a wide scale for improved services so hopelessly 'uneconomic as the Lincolnshire one has turned out to be.

Final figures for the Lincolnshire service, which has been undertaken for the Ministry of Transport and the Lindsey County Council by the Lincolnshire Road Car Co. Ltd. in the Louth area, cannot be known until the threemonth trial comes to an end tomorrow-if, indeed, the full figures are ever made public. But talking to some of the people principally involved, on a recent visit to the area, I learned how far short of promise the passenger traffic had fallen: and although the two areas yet to stage an experiment—in Montgomeryshire and Westmorland — differ in character from the Louth district I cannot think they will show sufficient Untapped demand for public transport on a scheduled basis to warrant financial support. What they will show, I believe, is a demand for quite different types of service.

The Lincolnshire experiment is one of four initiated by Mr. Marples during his last year at the Ministry and three of the areas were, in turn, chosen from six surveyed last year.

These surveys stemmed from the Jack Report of 1961, which itself resulted from the deteriorating position of rural bus services. Very briefly, the majority report (there were three dissentients) predicted a degree of rural transport incon

venience or hardship sufficient to warrant special steps, and recommended direct financial assistance; the cost was to be shared between the Government and respective county councils. It suggested that the county councils should administer the scheme, which should not be limited only to services about to be withdrawn.

The means of assistance proposed were an undertaking to make good an operator's losses or (preferably) a fixed sum paid to the operator by agreement. The report also recorded that the minibus had not lived up to the hopes encouraged by the relaxation of Conditions of Fitness in 1958 in favour of the 10/12-seater. I found this view supported in Lincolnshire recently, and nobody thought that the minibus offered much of a solution.

For over a year nothing obvious was done, despite repeated prodding, to implement the report; bus companies of all sizes simply went on manipulating cross-subsidization to cover the financially threadbare rural areas.

Six Surveys But in August, 1962, the Minister of Transport took things a stage further by arranging for independent transport studis in silk rural areas, these being undertaken by Marplan Ltd., market research consultants. The areas were selected as typifying some or all of the various aspects of the rural transport problem and information was gathered at the same time from bus operators and British Railways.

The six areas were: Devon, West of Crediton—a divided survey covering a cluster of villages in one case and a larger village (North Tawton) in the other; Montgomeryshire, West of Welsh pool— a scattered community on upland and valley farms; Lincolnshire, North of Horncastle—covering half a dozen small communities in the Wolds, south-west of Louth; Westmorland, North of Kirkby Stephen--a mixture of villages, hamlets and scattered farms; Kirkcudbrightshire, West of Dumfries—with a population mainly in four villages; and Banffshire, where the survey was in and around the sizeable village of Tomintoul.

House-to-house investigations showed that only about 10 per cent of all journeys in these remote areas were made by public transport, while in four out of six areas contract bus services played a much larger part than public bus and train services.

Between half and three-quarters of the people interviewed in households without private transport said they were hindered in some particular way by a lack of public transport; between a quarter and just over half said it created difficulty in getting medical or dental treatment; but only a very small number suggested that it was an obstacle in getting suitable work.

Mr. Marples evidently decided that in the circumstances there was really no substitute for suck-it-and-see, and he decided on practical trials in four areas (leaving Scotland as a separate problem for the time being). Eventually the Devon villages were dropped from the list because of the complication of possible rail closures, and a district in Northants has since made up the number.

The Lincolnshire experiment started in September this year, the Northamptonshire one on a rather different basis in November, and the Montgomery and Westmorland schemes are yet to be mounted. .The new Minister, Mr. Fraser, has said in the House that the trials are to go on, but he has added yet another cautionary note to the whole business by remarking that "the broad question of travel needs will also be taken into account as part of the national and regional transport planning studies...."

Anatomy of an Experiment Just what has been involved in running the first experiment? It is perhaps worth looking at in some detail.

The only remarkable feature of the Lincoln Wolds is the way in which this rolling, hilly countryside is superimposed on the flat and featureless plains of Lincolnshire. The widely cultivated area chosen for the bus trial is dotted very sparsely -with copses and hamlets and farms and is served by narrow but wellmetalled roads 'hat switchback over and round hummocky hills.

On the eastern side of the Wolds is Louth, a market town of under 12,000 people. As the map shows, a cluster of villages about five to seven miles southwest of Louth was chosen for the experiment; the actual test area is about five miles deep and four miles wide and contains the villaws or hamlets of Doning• ton, Market Stainton. Stenigot, Asterby, Ranby..Goulceby. Scamblesby and Cawk

well. Benniworth, although outside the actual trial area, was involved to the extent that some of the necessary bus service alterations took account of its needs. (The alterations to service 10 to aid Benniworth peopleare to remain in being after the withdrawal of • the experimental service 51.)

Having decided to mount actual experiments, Mr. Marpies arranged discussions with associations representing county and local authorities to see how they might best be organized, and later he consulted bus company representatives also. One of the County Councils Association representatives was the Clerk to Lindsey County Council, Mr. W. E. Lane, and he has been very closely—and enthusiastically—involved in the organization of the trial from that time on. Lincolnshire, incidentally, has no single county council but is controlled by three separate ones: Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven.

It was decided that the experiment should be guided by a consultative committee as widely representative as possible, and that this should have contact with the survey area through a working party. The Minister appointed Mr. A. G. Curtis (erstwhile Transport Commissioner for Wales) as chairman of the consultative group of 24 people, who represented the Lindsey County Council, the Louth and Horncastle rural district councils, the parish councils and parish meetings, the local rural community council, the W.V.S., Women's Institute, welfare organizations, National Union of Agricultural Workers, the N.F.U., the established and nonconformist churches, and the P.T.A., the M.P.T.A. and the P.V.O.A. These three passenger transport bodies were represented respectively by Mr. R. G. Howe, general manager of Lincolnshire Road Car Co., Mr. C. T. Humpidge, general manager at Sheffield, and Mr. J. T. Steel, P.V.O.A. national chairman. To date, this committee has sat five or six times.

The chairman chosen for the much smaller working party was the Rev. P. H. E. Goodrich (a very active vicar who himself is engaged in something of a Church of England experiment, as he looks after no fewer than 13 parishes in the Welds, with the aid of curates). The secretary is Mr. J. Withers, the Ministry of Transport's man-on-the-spot.

Lindsey County Council was well pleased that one of its own areas should be chosen for the experiment, not least because a local M.P. (Sir John Maitland, Cons., Horncastle) has championed the cause of rural transport in the House.

The first requirement was a detailedassessment of the demand for a bus service in the area chosen, and this came partly from information obtained by the working party. The most important result was that no fewer than 33 people gave assurances that they would make regular use of a suitable daily service.

Much detailed work, mainly by the Lincolnshire Road Car Co., resulted in a timetable and route for the new experimental daily service (numbered 51) which, as the diagram and timetable show, was to make a circuit from Louth to pick up in the villages in the morning, and to make a similar circuit in the early evening. Also, the existing No. 10 services daily between Lincoln and Louth. passing along the Northern fringe of the area morning, midday and early evening, were rearranged to pass closer to Donington, while the two twice-weekly services (14 and 47) through the Eastern part of the area were altered slightly. There had never previously been a daily service from these villages to Louth and, since they were obviously oriented towards the town with no strong rival "pull" from another direction, and since there had been such a strong promise of passenger support, some people felt that the new service might well prove a success, not least in opening up new employment.

It had already been agreed that the Ministry of Transport and Lindsey County Council would share equally any loss on the service during the experimental. period of three months. Also, the likely size of the difference between revenue and cost was sharply reduced by the Lincolnshire company offering to run the service at no more than actual direct cost, ignoring overheads completely, so passengers have really been subsidized three ways — by Ministry. County Council and bus company.

To give the service the best possible chance it was advertised in advance, while local newspapers carried stories about.it and the stalwarts of the working party made a house-to-house canvass throughout the whole area; on this they distributed brochures containing information about the new service and a complete set of timetables of all the local bus services. On the inside front cover of the brochures was the injunction: "The opportunity is now YOURS to prove by your regular use of these facilities that they are really NEEDED."

With this send-off, and every reasonable thought given in advance to the needs of all sections of the chosen communities, the service 51 started on September 7, operated by a 35-seat oneman Bristol single-decker over a trip mileage of 20.8. The first few days were a great disappointment; only a handful of passengers, other than members of the • working party keeping an eye on things, was carried. The numbers built up slowly, but eventually settled at between about five and nine passengers a journey; on most weekdays there were less than 10 on the morning run and only five or six in the evening. And, more significant, they were not the same people every day: in fact, of the 33 who promised daily patronage only one, or possibly two, people have actually travelled regularly.

Wednesday, being market day in Louth, provided a cause for encouragement at first when the traffic figures were seen. Then, as Mr. Howe, the Lincolnshire general manager, told me somewhat ruefully, it quickly became obvious that the 20 ar so who were using the experimental service on Wednesday were doing so largely at the expense of the existing IOC service. The same was generally true of the Saturday operations, when service 51 was carrying around 30.

Also, far from being used as a morning service to Louth and an evening service back to the villages, which was the type of need originally expressed, 51 has been used largely as a means of getting longer shopping times. Housewives have been coming into town on the 51 and going back to the villages at midday on the 10 service. A similar sort of thing has happened with the twice-weekly services on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Comparing the ticket returns has shown a clear pattern, with traffic on .services IOC, I OD and 14 going down on the very days that it increases on service 51. The inference is too clear to be missed, but also perhaps raises the question of why a new daily service should be started in an area where the population apparently feels the existing buses are near enough to be usable.

Jugglings with the timetable, to provide different picking-up points made little difference to the loadings, while extending from Donington to Scamblesby the 9 p.m. service 47 on Saturdays, to cater for an alleged demand, resulted in three passengers in all using the extension during a period of seven weeks!

Not surprisingly, the takings on 51 have far from covered even the low direct costs at which the service was put on by the company, and the average weekly deficit has been over £13. Any public subsidy for a permanent service would need to cover more realistic financial outgoings.

Lindsey County Council, for its part, is preserving an open mind about the results and about the next step; this was made clear to me by the County Clerk, Mr. Lane. but he also made it pretty clear that the county had put forward its share of the guarantee for the experimental service very much on a "without prejudice" basis, and subsidy for a permanent uneconomic bus service would be a very different matter, depending very much on what the Government was prepared to pay.

The county is, however, genuinely concerned to discover what are the extent and the nature of the true needs for rural transport. In the third week of November, for instance, a questionnaire distributed to actual users of the 51 bus asked for more details about why they used the service.

Meanwhile, the county is going ahead with three other schemes which may offer a better chance of meeting the needs of this sort of area at a less uneconomic level. First, school contract buses will, from Monday next, be licensed to carry fare-paying passengers where seats are available, the revenue being retained by Lincolnshire Road Car. To give these buses stage-carriage status, timetables have been published (service numbers 51 and 5IA are being used) for morning and afternoon journeys from Welsdale Bottom and Donington to Louth and back, and from Cawkwell and Scamblesby to and from Louth also. This system (recommended in the Jack Report) may well cater for some of the shopping and medical and dental needs of the villagers.

The second scheme is to be an experimental use of a pooled welfare car service which may help old people needing treatment and also cater for the occasional emergency need. The third scheme, not necessarily limited to the Louth area, is for chartered transport under contract to the county to carry mothers and young children from outlying districts to clinics.

These three methods, plus existing bus services, would seem to cover most of the immediate public transport needs of people wishing to visit Louth for shopping, pleasure (use of central amenities) and, to some extent, health and welfare purposes. The health and welfare services could perhaps be carried a stage further by adopting something on the lines of the sitting-case car service which is run in the Montgomeryshire survey area. Emergencies apart, " grouped " medical appointments are arranged for people in each area so that the cars are full on each journey.

This leaves travel to and from work, which is obviously not a great practical problem in the Lincolnshire experimental area; this, indeed, was suggested by the Marplan figures. Some people have said that a service which is known to be only experimental is unlikely to attract people to it as a means of travelling to a new job; but the very tiny regular daily use made of the 51 bus suggests that the few people interested in work

ing in Louth (most of the village folk must he closely connected with the local agriculture) manage to get there by their own transport or by sharing with friends.

In another area of Lincolnshire I was told that a farmer keen to maintain his local labour force by keeping the community contented has put his personnel carrier at the disposal of the village, and this is a trend which may gather support. At least it means that the main beneficiary is the man who has the principal need in the long run—the local employer. • As for subsidized bus services, what next? Well, in the Lincolnshire trial the bus company is obviously confirmed in a widely held view that the traffic simply isn't there, and only last week the Minister of Transport referred in the House to its withdrawal " because of the extremely small support from the public ". The County Council (and the very conscientious committee and working party, who have put in a great deal of time and effort) must be disappointed at the result hut are keeping an open mind and may adopt other measures, as I have suggested.

The Government will obviously wait at least until the other three experiments have been completed before making a decision. When it does, the immediate need 's surely going to be the maintenance of the most important of the existing rural services, perhaps by a straight mileage allowance.' Whether this will happen, and how long a subsidy might be maintained as traffic falls successively lower, is in the last resort a political decision, but cross-subsidization within the companies themselves must surely be near to the limit now as the profitability of urban services declines. Over half of Lincolnshire Road Car's serViees and mileage are uneconomic, and this is by no means unusual today. It seems likely that in many areas traffic will fall to the point where private transport has to take over, possibly with services other than a regular bus service to meet the essential needs of people without their own form of conveyance.

On the practicability of improving rural transport by subsidized bus services, however, which seems to be the object of the present experiments, I can only repeat my opening opinion; thumbs down