THE BUS STRIKE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 8

THE BUS STRIKE

EFFECT ON 'PUBLIC

TAXIS AND CARS

CROWDED UNDERGROUND

(From "The Post's" .Representative.) LONDON, May 5.

Ask any New Zealander who has been in London the be:t way of seeing this -great metropolis, and he will invariably reply, "From, the top of a bus." These red double-deck coaches de luxe are,in. themselves a feature of the city they serve daily. Coronation visitors this week, while watching London bedecking its streets for the event of the year, also had the mixed experience of seeing the city dqnuded of its buses, a most unusual event. The bus strike removed 5000 buses from the streets, closed* fifty garages, saved the London Transport Board a petrol .bill for powerful vehicles covering 620,000 miles daily* but caused it a great deal of worry and. the travelling public much inconvenience. ■.".-,■■

Buses carry by far the largest percentage of London's travelling public— 5,000,000 per day. , They coyer an area of 2000 square miles within a radius of 30 miles from Charing Cross and travel 2500 route miles. Every year, a single bus travels 48,000; tniles.. The longest route is 24 miles, '", and: the shortest three-quarters of a mile. Last year the totai number of passengers who travelled by bus and the relatively small number of .coaches was 2,127,500,000. Tha number of miles covered was 280,000,000. The* amount paid in fares was £16,000,000. The importance of the buses to the Londoners. is clear!;' realised when it is revealed that of the Transport Board's four services the buses are responsible' for catering for 58 per cent, of the total passengers carried. . . :

Imagine, then, the result of half the city's travelling public finding itself without its accustomed mode of getting to and from work; Fortunately, either tram 6r underground services were available to a large percentage of people, for the board's services honeycomb the city fairly thoroughly. As it was impossible for extra services to be run at a moment's notice, however, the underground trains were packed at the "peak" hours, 9 o'clock 'and 5 o'clock. Stations were full, trains were crammed, and on some occasions straphanging was unnecessary! since carriages and compartments were so full that there was no fear .of falling. "PEAK" HOURS AT THE STATIONS.

One of the interesting results was that although the buses were oft1 the streets, traffic .conditions appeared to be little better than in normal periods. The cause, of course, was the use of ■hundreds of private cars, not usually in commission during working hours. Pavements were filled, and taxis did the best trade for many months. Visitors to the city for the Coronation saw some remarkable scenes. At some of the1 busiest underground stations it was necessary for the crowds, to be. marshalled into processions along the. pavements by policemen, shepherded into long queues in front of each, ticketissuing machine, allowed to walk down ths stationary escalators, or be held up at the bottom by iron grilles, which barred the way to the already full platforms.

As each train drew out.—expertly packed ...by the .station: staff—the*platforms were''allowed' to fill,again and the grilles closed once more. When the homeward, flow of office and.' shop. workers. w.as.'at its height it waV found.; necessary .to clpse one' station entirely^ for a short period, and the same thing" recurred: when the theatre crowds wanted to,get home before midnight.

The dispute is of long standing. For nearly two years negotiations on the busmen's claim for a shorter working day have been in progress. In July, 1935, the busmen first made a demand for a seven-hour day as an alternative to the ' modification of , running schedules. The claim was later, withdrawn and one for a 7£-hour'day substituted. The board has been'insistent that the cost of this demand—£6so,ooo a year—is beyond its resources, but has offered,certain modifications in the running schedules. The offer was not acceptable to the busmen.