BUS ROUTES.

Evening Star, Issue 22816, 26 November 1937, Page 9

BUS ROUTES.

TO TEL EDITOR. Sir, —Cr (Batchelor’s remarks at Monday night’s meeting of the City Council indicate a somewhat unsatisfactory state of affairs as regards bus traffic interfering with other traffic at the foot of Pine Hill road. His attention, had been drawn to. the danger by the residents most affected. It is time that the whole question of bus services was looked into •by the licensing or other controlling authority, as at present it would appear that “ anything goes.” The Rattray street bus service on Sundays at the city terminus goes round Cargill’s Monument, thus crossing Princes street twice and also interfering with traffic and tram passengers in front of the old Customs office. Just imagine this happening . every ten minutes during week-days if the council decides to substitute buses on this route, or if it lets the condition of the tram service become such that it is compelled to substitute a bus service. Then again, on this rout© if a stop is required at Smith street on the. upward trip, especially with a well-filled bus, the bus runs round the garden island in front of the cathedral, thus crossing Rattray street twice. .At Arthur street the manoeuvre required to make a safe stop and start again can hardly bo described as safe and convenient for other traffic. The Stuart street service also at the city terminus crosses the main street twice to get round into its starting position; and this, every ten minutes on week days, would add to the present congestion of traffic. This route, generally, is the most extraordinary that the writer Has ever travelled on. The streets above Albert street are very narrow, and the corners necessitate the buses making such a wide sweep that they interfere with all traffic. At one corner wdiere two buses mot on one trip the driver of the down Ims had to stop until he made sure that the up bus was going to remain stationary to let him pass, otherwise they would have scraped each other. On another occasion at another corner the up bus had to back for about half its length to let the down bus got past. If the buses are about to pass on some of the narrow streets one stops; and the stop is occasionally almost an emergency stop. The writer experienced other thrills when the bus was passing private cars on corners and in narrow streets. These observations were made on just a few casual trips out of hundreds 1 that have been run by the buses since these two services started, and may, I think, he taken as a fair description of wdiat goes on all the time. —I am, etc., ’./Eneas . November 25