July 7th, 1927: The battling bus companies of 1920s Dublin

IIMII

From Irish Times, 7th July 2009

BACK PAGES: NOT ALONE did buses arrive in convoys in Dublin in the 1920s, bus companies did as well. In the days before bus and rail services were nationalised into CIÉ, competition between bus services in Dublin was intense. The issue came up at an official inter-departmental inquiry into the control of road traffic. As part of his evidence to its public hearing, assistant garda commissioner Gen WRE Murphy outlined the bus problems:
Problems of opposition bus services
[Gen Murphy:] “There were some points in connection with the question of opposition bus services which they would like to bring forward.
“One company, for instance, instituted and developed a service in a certain area. It looked like a paying proposition, and immediately another company came along and put a number of other buses on that route. The result was that half the buses were empty, disputes arose, and bad feeling was engendered. Then they had two buses racing alongside each other trying to get a bunch of passengers, and the result was that they exceeded the speed limit. Then when they got to a terminus they bumped each other, trying to get position. The whole thing resulted in dangerous driving, excessive speeds, and quarrels . . .
“The regulation of bus services would have to be undertaken by some authority, and the proprietors would have to be made responsible for the acts of their servants. Such an authority would be empowered to regulate the number and frequency and times of starting of buses on particular routes.”
Mr Flynn : “Have you any views as to who the authority should be for the licensing of buses?”
Gen Murphy: “The authority that could do it most effectively and efficiently is the Commissioner of the Garda. It will, of course, mean additional work, and special men will have to be detained for the job; but if you put it on any other authority it will always come back to the gardaí again. At the present time there are three authorities dealing with buses: the Minister for Local Government approves the routes for the Tramway Co buses; the Minister for Industry and Commerce approves the routes of the railway company buses; and the Commissioner of the Garda approves the routes for the other buses.”
Mr Flynn: “You would not propose to deal with the efficiency of one company as against another?”
Gen Murphy: “I would.”
“Would you give power of monopoly on a route to an undertaker?”
“You would have to have power in that respect.”
“That is giving the commissioner very wide powers, is it not?”
“My idea is that if you have three equal companies, and that each of them will provide three buses each hour, the only way to deal with them would be to give the company that was first on the road first choice of time, the next second, and the last third.”
“The intention is that the commissioner will decide when a route is full. Is that not a grave responsibility to put on the commissioner?”
“I say that we had better not have any camouflage about the responsibility, because it will ultimately come on to him unless there is a special staff. The fact is that something will have to be done to put an end to the present system of allowing bus services to run anywhere they like, because there is nothing but abuse.”
Chairman : “The tendency of any of these regulations will be to give a monopoly?”
Gen Murphy: “It will be in a way. There are plenty of difficulties in the way.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0707/1224250170893.html

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I've read some Dáil debates but it's fascinating to hear more of background that caused the atrocious set of Acts that still plague us. Should have guessed it was the guards' fault :pac:

In 1931 private buses in Dublin served 34.5m passengers. The Transport Act 1932 essentially wiped out the private bus industry. By 1938, buses in Dublin carried only 1m passengers. That's a hell of a market share reduction -- from 46% to 0.92%.

Victor

Where did they all go? Surely the 1930s-1940s was the demise of the tram and the rise of the bus?

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Victor wrote: »

Where did they all go? Surely the 1930s-1940s was the demise of the tram and the rise of the bus?

Yet to get my hands on a copy of the Tribunal Reports; I don't think they're online. I worked off:

Barrett (2001) and Conroy (1941).