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The Motor Omnibus World.

10th December 1908
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The Malvern Urban District Council has rejected proposals for the installation of a system of trolley-wire electrobuses, An animated correspondence is taking place, in the columns of the " Yorkshire Herald," with reference to the terms upon which electrobuses may be introduced in the streets of York.

Numerical Route Indication.

By the application of numerical identification to its horse omnibuses, it leeks as though the London General Omnibus Company might, before long, reach " Service 'oh" We have seen " Service 5L " already.

Halifax's Costly Tram Smash.

"f he tramway disaster of October, 1907, ,r. Pye Nest, Halifax, has already involved the Corporation in the payment of 4-10,000, by way of damages, in addition to the sum of 41,000 received from an insurance company.

Peebles to Galashiels.

Th, North British Railway Company recently discontinued its Sunday service of trains on the Peebles to Galashiels branch. but the Peebles Motor Compuny has come to the rescue with public-service road vehicles, between Peebles and Selkirk, and in the opposite direction, morning and evening.

Latest Parisian "Single-decker.'

We illustrate on this page the latest type of motorbus to appear in the streets of Paris. This handsome vehicle has been put into service by the management of les Grands Magasins des Galeries Lafayette, an undertaking which, it will be remembered, conducts a very large stores business in the French capital. A 15-minute service is being maintained, during the Salon "de l'Automobile et du Cycle," between the Lafayette establishment and the Exhibition buildings in the Champs Elyetces, for the convenience of wouldbe cestomers of the stores. The vehicle is a .o-eoh.p. Charron, of similar type to these that have been running in Lon i London since last May. The most nteresting: feature of the machine is the provision of twin pneumatics on the front wheels, and triple tires of the same type on the rear wheels ; all these are of Michelin manufacture, and the inner tine of each front pair is of the metal-studded non-skid variety. The body is luxuriously fitted in the " Pullman " manner, and it has armchair aceatermaxlation for it passengers. As may be seen in the photograph which we reproduce, the coachwork is surmounted by a handsome illuminated adveteieleg device.

News from Eastbourne.

Ett,thourne Town Council is to purchase three de Dion-Bouton omnibuses from the Associated Omnibus Co., Ltd., provided the company will accept a lower sum than that suggested by ir. .1 contract has been arranged with the British Petroleum Company, until the end of 1909, for the supply of petrol at: 61d. per gallon.

Electrobus Debentures.

Following upon the offer of 6 per cent. debentures to its own shareholders, who, as announced by us a fortnight ago, subscribed some .4.9,000 odd, the directors of the London Electrobus Company, Limited, at the beginning of this week, issued a prospectus to the public in which subscriptions are invited for 140,000 of 6 per cent. convertible, first-mortgage, debenture stock, in multiples of Li. The stock is exchangeable, at any time within three years, for ordinary shares, or is repayable, on the 31st December, 1919, at £1 10 per cent. The reports and figures which we published on the 2601 ultimo convey, practically, the basis upon which the issue is made, and we have reason to believe that the company will be successful in obtaining at least twothirds of the capital which it is thus seeking. With the risk of uncertainty

as to the cost of battery maintenanc removed, the company's prospects ar certainly much brighter than they were Road Traction Engineers.

Members and friends are reminded c the smoking concert, at the I lothor Restaurant, on Friday, the t8th install Before that date, a paper will be reat at 112, Piccadilly, on Monday next, th 14th instant, at 8 o'clock p.m., by Cal tam n H. Riall Sankey, R.E. The pap( will be entitled : " Some workshc tests for steel." Applications for a< mission by non-members should be at dressed to the Secretary, Mr. C. I Esse, at 112, Piccadilly, W.

Manchester's Motorbuses.

Mr. William Stanway, of Cromwe Buildings, Blackfrairs Street, Manche ter, the northern agent for the Ryl nield Motor Company, of Burton-or Trent, contemplates the early estal lishment of a service between Nord enden and Sale, His tentative licenst for three months, which recently pired, have been renewed by the Mal chester Council, and we learn that E many as 9,000 passengers have bee carried in a single week on the Chor ton to Stretford route, This is report€ eo compare with only 2,000 passengers wo.ek, over the same route, in the dar. of the Manchester and District Mot Omnibus Company, Limited.

" The Manchester Courier," we at happy to be able to record, common' thus upon the situation : " It may taken for granted that, unless une: petaled developments arise, the ne

'buses are to be permanent. Ma people will be well pleased with the r sult. At the present day, it is idle l suggest that the automobile has no come to stay. The new form of tra don presents many advantages, all o which will be recognised and adopted I a progressive age. Not the least of 11 benefits of the system is the facility affords for comfortable and healthy a eess to country districts—a great boon all dwellers in great cities. We belie there is a great fueure for any form o locomotion that succeeds in bringin back to the British people some of tl delights of the open road. And the am ticipated success will not be lessened speed of transit can be combined wit open-air movement. It is to be hop( that the country districts may be brougl into connection with the. town by meat of the motorbus, rather than by the sy tern of trackless trams, for the install; tion of which the Corporation is seel ing powers. Indeed, many citizet would not be sorry to see Institut( some form of competition with the Co poration trams. The tramway syste is not all that is desired. Complain are constantly heard as to the arreg larity and infrequency with which mat of the cars are run. Much of this Le satisfactory state of things, no doul might be largely remedied by ti healthy competition of private ente arise, and on these different ground if for no other reasons, success may I wished to the new motorbuses." No Scottish Bills (either municipal or for companies) will come before the next Session of Parliament in regard to motor omnibuses, so there are, we regret, no additions to be made to our list of last week.

Vanguard Liquidation.

A proportion of the holders of the various denominations of stock in the Vanguard Motorbus Company, Limited, met, on the rd instant, to discuss the matter of an application for the compulsory winding-up of the company by the Court. Those present agreed to supply a sum equal to 3 per cent. of any shares which they held in any of the four companies that were amalgamated under the above title, and resolved to approach other holders of shares and debentures in order to secure their support on the same terms. It looks as though there were going to be some interestingdevelopments—if no monetary return.

Electric Omnibuses for Brighton.

On Monday, the 3oth ultimo, thc first of three new accumulator-propelled omnibuses for the Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company, Limited, left the works of J. and E. Hall, Limited, at Dartford, where this new type of machine has been designed, built, and delivered in the short space of nine weeks. The general appearance of each bus closely resembles that of the " HaIlford-Stevens " petrol electric, and the final drive to the rear wheels is on the same lines as that particular vehicle, which was described and illustrated in our issue of the 16th January last. Considerable impiarvements have been made, however, and one of these consists. of the enclosing of the propeller shaft, so that it now runs in an oiltight casing, which casing also serves as a. radius rod and torque rod. The battery ionsists of 48 Tudor cells, and its capacity is sufficient to allow of ii 30-mile tourney with full load aboard the double-deck body. The controller is of the Stevens type, and is situated under the usual form of bonnet, which renders it very accessible.

The vehicle is to be known as the " Hallford-Stevens " electric omnibus, and we hope to be in a position fully to describe and illustrate the details of this particular chassis in an early issue. It is expected that two of these machines will be in service, in Brighton, by the rime this paragraph appears.

A Home-defence Experiment.

Some 120 men of the 5th Essex Battalion of the Territorial Army were experimentally conveyed, ill Clarkson motorbuses, from Chelmsford towards the Dingie Peninsula, on Sunday last. Notification had been sent round, a few clays in advance, that a call would be made, and the alarm was given at 9.15 a.m. Two omnibuses and a van were available, each vehicle of the first type carrying 4o men, whilst the van conveyed to, as well as sundries. Twenty-four men went by cycle, and the officers by motorcar. The scene of action was supposed LO be fixed at a place called Latchingdon, 14 miles from Chelmsford, which was reached shortly after 11 ii. m., and the men alighted here for subsequent defence manualsires. The rcsalts are stated to have been both informative and satisfactory.

Traffic Competition in London.

The amalgamated companies which now form the London General Omnibus Company, Limited, have been forced, as participants in the London Traffic Conference, which was inaugurated on the 23rd July, 1907, to break away from the agreement as to fares that was arrived at between the principal omnibus coMpanies and the various Underground Rflil V COM parties of the Metropolis. This arrangement, in 1907, necessitated the shortening of many of the old omnibus ,stages, which action was equivalent to an all-round raising of the fares. The omnibus COITIrmies now lied that this revision has not, on the whole, paid them, and, as they consider that, by the introduction of faster and more-frequent services, and el interchangeable crossroute tickets, the railway companies have not kept to the spirit of the 1907 compact, no objection can be raised to popularising of the omnibus routes by a reversion to the old penny stages, and the inaug,uration of certain new ones. The Central London " tube " will now, possibly, again consider the adoption of penny fares, a scheme which was dropped when the omnibus stages were shortened in tote?. If this innovation takes place, it is not unlikely that the omnibus companies may inaugurate Id. fares on the competing routes, while

other routes in ottt-lying districts 'nay have to bear higher rates.

An interesting feature of these competitive skirmishes was the contrastinoheadlines adopted by certain of our daily contemporaries for their reports of the revised fare schemes. The majority of the morning papers bore the headline " Cheaper Bus Fares "; the " Daily Mail," with a keen scent for trouble, heads the same report " Higher Omnibus Fares," preferring to emphasise the possible raising of certain suburban fares, rather than the general -reduction on the main routes. This journal states that 73 millions of capital in the various London passenger-carrying branches is yielding only two per cent. per annum.

Aldershot and Farnborough Motorbuses.

The Aldershot and Farnborough Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, has recently inaugurated a service between Aldershot, Ash, North Camp, Deep Cut and Blackdown, in addition to the service which it commenced, last July, between Aldershot and Farnham. The new service should be a great convenience, to enable soldiers and their wives to get into Aldershot conveniently. The vehicles are 2o-2411.p. A:Lines-Daimlers.

Property Appreciation and Depreciation: More People to the Acre.

" The Morning Post," in its issue of the 1st instant, contains some interesting notes, in the course of an article on the subject of "1he Government and Property." After remarking that, before the real property investor condemns all mechanical means of traction, he must look further afield than the West End mansion or the better-class suburban villa, the writer of the article proceeds : " If the motor omnibus has played havoc with those upper-class residences in the London streets which it taps, the motorcar has created a keen demand for oeuniry houses and small estates-. and, after all, there are good grounds for the hope that the noise and other defects of the motor omnibus may soon be overcome. . . ." When the trains pass along a road sacred la the 2C;too a year villa, they undoubtedly empty the houses and drive away the tenants, but only to replace them by others. The Balham High-road is a striking case in point, where new means of communication, instead of destroying property, have trebled it in value. It is not so much the actual street along which the trams pass that benefit as the " back land " which is utibsed for the creation of lateral roads. Trams and.

motor omnibuses may alter the character of a district, but, speaking gener

ally, they do not depreciate the security of property. What the landowner wants is " more people to the acre." We have frequently drawn attention to the readiness with which property owners overlook the appreciation of pro perty by the increase of _facilities for travel, and we are glad that it is be ginning to he realised by others that, while some owners of property may suffer temporarily the balance of gain is largely in their favour as a class, but this fact is one which is tardily recognised by estate agents and others who deal with rentals.


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