OVERCROWDED BUSES

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 17, 20 September 1928, Page 8

OVERCROWDED BUSES

(To the Editor). Sir, —Might I impose upon your generality to the extent of a few lines to draw the attention of the Railway Department to the very deplorable lack of accommodation available during rush hours? Last week I had occasion to travel to Wellington practically every day by a bus about eleven o'clock, and on fine days the overcrowding in the buses was shocking, principally for the reason that too few buses were employed on the service. One bus left the Town Hall at this time, and that one went via Petone. It was already overcrowded when it passed Main School, and it stopped to pick up passengers at every corner until it was literally impossible to hold a single one more. Then rhe driver reluctantly refused to stop any more to take up passengers, and we arrived in Petone with a full load. Waiting at the principal stopping place was another large crowd of people some of whom took the places of those who alighted, while the remainder were compelled to wait for the next bus. There was an empty bus in the stand and a driver, with apparently nothing to do, was wandering round, but apparently the two could not be connected. The atmos- j phere in the bus was insufferably hot, the windows in the back portion of it would not open, and several ladies who were travelling in this section complained of the heat. Naturally one cannot criticise the Department until one is sure that it is aware of these facts, and I hope in writ- j ing this letter that the responsible officers will take sufficient interest in the requirements of the district to see that at rush hours adequate accommodation is available. —I am etc., J. HARKNESS. I