Mexborough and Swinton Times January 25, 1929

Agreement Explained

Joint Statement by Wombwell Members

A comprehensive survey of the situation was given publicly last night by two members of the Dearne District Light Railway Committee, Mr John Belshaw and Mr Frank Collingridge. Both are members of the Wombwell Urban Council, and it has fallen to their lot to play a leading part in the negotiation.

With other members of the Committee they have attended innumerable conferences

Facing Facts.

In a joint statement Messrs. Belsbaw and Collindridge said:

“The public are familiar with the considerations that led up to a desire for a pooling arrangement. In embarking upon the negotiations that have just been brought to what we venture to suggest is a successful termination, we had to consider what the alternative would be. The Dearne District Light Railways were losing considerable sums of money. That was a fact that had to be faced. Could any other means have been devised of putting the undertaking on a sound basis? To what extent was the travelling public inclined to help us?

Then again, again, we had to bear in mind the fact that the Dearne District Light railway is confined to a circumscribed area, including the four districts of Wombwell, Wath, Bolton-on-Dearne, and Thurnscoe, whereas modern transport needs demand facilities for travelling longer distances, without the necessity of changing from one vehicle to another. Another factor making a pooling arrangement not only desirable but necessary was that keen competition involved the running of superfluous services.

In other words, to compete on anything like level terms more vehicles had to be put on than the income justified. To mitigate this effect protection fares were imposed, but the practicability of, that step may be doubted when it is remembered that while the former competitors of the Light Railway might have carried fewer passengers than were carried on the tramcars, their receipts—by reason of the charging of protection fares-were actually higher.

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