LATE BUSES OR EARLIER THEATRES?

Grey River Argus, 29 September 1949, Page 5

LATE BUSES OR EARLIER THEATRES?

Drivers’ Views Greymouth bus drivers yesterday were emphatic that the time-tables must be observed, when they commented on published statements that the buses ought to vary their starting times accordingly as picture theatres varied their closing houses. Regarding a statement that one night this week the departure of buses on time at 10.30 had left theatre patrons stranded, the drivers questioned whether consideration had been given to those patrons who were awaiting the arrival of their bus on the routes on the outskirts of Greymouth. They considered it unfair that charges had been made against them without informing the public of the pros and cons of the matter. PASSENGERS BEWILDERED ! — Drivers, they said, had been besieged with complaints on the irregularity of bus services, caused by previous requests to delay buses for late theatre and other entertainment patrons. “People on the road didn’t know if we were coming or going,’’ declared one driver. Other drivers asserted that en route passengers, who waited on the roadside and were victims to all types of weather, were entitled to a better service than one which changed its time-tables at irregular intervals. It was pointed out that nothing had been said about night workers and other regular patrons, who could not afford to miss, or to be kept waiting by the late arrival of buses. Regularity of time-tables is a strong point among bus passengers, observed another driver. Since deciding to leave Greymouth at 10.30 at nights, patronage of his service had increased, he added. He referred to the plight of a woman waiting with a baby at the Cobden bridge, during a heavy rainstorm, for an en route bus that was 20 minutes behind the time because of a late theatre screening. EARLIER SCREENINGS Drivers, in an attempt to help solve the problem of catering for late fares, suggested that entertainments and cinemas begin the evening at 7.45 before which time all buses have arrived in Greymouth from neighbouring districts.