BUSES AND ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19028, 27 May 1925, Page 15

BUSES AND ROADS.

LONG DISTANCE SERVICES. EXPERIMENT IN AUSTRALIA COMPETITION WITH RAILWAYS. [>n.oM ourt own coruespondent.] SYDNEY. May 15. What local governing bodies outsido Sydney have boon fearing—the longdistance) motor-bus, because of tho , wear and tear of roads already bad for tho most pari—lias como to pass. A regular motor-bus service—throe times a week from Sydney, and thrco time-"? a week from Goulburn —baa been established between Sydney and Goulburn, a distance of about 130 miles. Tho service will bo maintained by a fleet of coaf/hcs, each carrying 26 passengers. E'n/Ch coach is fitted with upholstered ar/mchairs, and has other appointments, including a heating syestem, which will iriako for the comfort of thoso who prefer this mode of travelling to the trams. Councils along the road, however, are not going into ecstacics over tho new service. Although the scalo of taxation for heavy motor vehicles has been revised and 'increased, it is contended that it is still a long way off the sum which will equal the wear and tear of roads by motor vehicles of the bigger typo. IN or will tho Railway Commissioners pro--nounco their blessings upon the long-dis-tance bus, which, of course, opens up direct competition with the railways. Buses are alreay competing with tho trams in every suburb around Sydney, and the Sydney to Goulburn scrvjce has only to bo a success for other long-dis-tance services to bo opened up. The long-distance buses, if they come into general use, will also strengthen the criticism of thoso who are attacking tho Main Roads Board because of tho statement that its principal policy rnnst be maintenance rather than construction, for there was the fond belief among not a few local bodies that, with the board in exist, ence, they would wake up, Rip Van Winkle like, and find stretches of beautiful new road made for them. Of the 12,000 or more miles of roads in tho State, about 11,000 lio outsido the metropolitan area, and in many cases these roads are so badly neglected that the quality of the maintenance will almost amount to reconstruction, so the local bodies will have littlo to grumble about. The new board has a tremendous task. If it could make permanent roads for as little as, say, £3OOO a milCj it would, with the money at its com; and, reconstruct only about 180 miles out of the 11,000. The balance would have to perish for the want of timely repair.