BIRKENHEAD’S BUSES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 344, 3 May 1928, Page 12

BIRKENHEAD’S BUSES

NEW SERVICE LICENSED A WARY AUTHORITY The No. 2 Omnibus Licensing Authority, which met at Devonport last evening, granted another bus service licence at Birkenhead to I" M. A. Moverley and L. L. Purdy, making the fourth to be issued. The new service will be carried on with a bus seating 19 passengers. Mr. V. N. Hubble, for the applicants, traced the recent history of transport in Birkenhead. He showed that .v h ;re two companies previously operated 10 vehicles there were now only five bases. Several taxies also plied. His clients who were at present running a taxi, had previously been driving for the now defunct Marine Suburbs Bus Company, and wished to give better service by using a bus. Their application covered the route from the wharf to Pupuke Road. At present only one bus, owned by Messrs. Lynch and Halliday, ran that way. Mr. Thomas, for the latter, made a formal objection to the issue of the licence on the portion of the route from Highbury Corner to Pupuke Road, claiming that the limited population did not require three bus services, as a service to Albany also traversed the same route. Examined, Mr. L. L. Purdy admitted that there was room for only two services, but insisted that the public preferred to travel on his taxi and would travel by his btis. He ran from 15 to 18 trips daily now. Formerly the Marine Suburbs Bus Company ran only one bus, on certain trips from the wharf. After considerable discussion the application was granted. MUNICIPAL BUS SCHEME The Birkenhead Borough Council intimated that it had under consideration the question of the establishment of a municipal transit system and wished to know, if its application was submitted later, wffiat attitude the Licensing Authority would take toward the existing services. The authority declined to be drawn and Birkenhead is to be informed that when its application is received it will be dealt with according to law. Later in the year, when No. 2 Authority is re-constituted by Act of Parliament, Birkenhead will have one representative on the new body.