READERS WRITE
Page 52
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Monopoly mind?
WE KEEP hearing about the bad time bus operators are having, but I wonder how much is due to the "monopoly mind"? The idea of "captive riders", as one speaker put it at a recent conference.
To my knowledge there is one Tilling route in this area which loses passengers worth ls. 6d. to 2s. a mile through noisy and unsprung vehicles. They are not car owners, but people who would rather cycle or travel less frequently by getting lifts or sharing a taxi. Most say, "I'm not going to pay to be deafened and shaken up in one of those things"!
How long do you think Tesco would last with a "shopkeeper's shop"? Or Leyland with a "manufacturer's truck". Yet we are always hearing of the "operator's bus". Presumably erne the customers don't like.
Wasted labour and vehicles, especially in the big firms, seem to be taken for granted. So do excessive running times—some twohour journeys could be cut by half an hour. In one eight-bus garage with 11 drivers, rearranging the times and speeding up could cut this to six buses and nine drivers. And there would be no difficulty in getting the staff to agree if they were paid straight through on all shifts—as is done in every industry except passenger transport. In this case it would mean paying the remaining drivers an average £2 a week more. Perhaps your cost expert would comment.
There is a lot of talk about improved ticket systems, but you must know there are parts of the Tilling group which go out of their way to slow things down—using a Speed Setright and insisting on all tickets being torn off separately, for example.
Having some personal experience of one-man operation, I think that the real point is often missed. Change-giving machines speed things up more than more different ticket machines. Soft springing and quiet running encourage passengers to come to the door before the bus stops.
There is, too, the extra charges made by some operators: For two people with a child's push-chair and a dog a Tilling company charges 17s. 6d. return, a BET company charges 14s. 4d. and a Ewer Group company charges 12s. These are all for the same distance, with a 6s. basic return fare.
Obviously the price goes up as the standard of comfort and service go down.
R. TOOKE, Cotton, Nr. Stowmarket, Suffolk.
Peak time
UNTIL we get more and better roads and more and better offstreet loading and discharging points, life for many of us will continue to be frustrating and costly.
What the cost of traffic congestion means to operating rates is a matter for conjecture. At best one tries to estimate this and make appropriate allowance. Some merely seem to stab at it.
So far as peak-hour traffic is concerned, I have been somewhat heartened by a recent development in Coventry; yet, at the same time I cannot help being rather apprehensive by the move.
It appears that road rollers, sweepers, gulley emptiers and refuse collection vehicles are being kept off main roads in that city during peak traffic periods.
The trial scheme just approved by the council is an attempt to maintain a steady flow of traffic between 7.30 and 9 o'clock in the morning arid between 4 and 6 o'clock in the evening.
During the trial a check will be made by Coventry officials to see that the scheme does not interfere with the efficient working of the departments involved.
Now, I must confess to a great deal of admiration-and thanks to those who have taken the trouble to try out such a scheme in the
interest of road users generally. It shows civic care and understanding, and as such cannot be too highly praised.
But I only hope it does not portend events which I am sure were not intended by Coventry when exercising such self-denial. It is more roads and road improvement schemes nationally which will provide the long-term answer to peak-time difficulties.
Meantime, while appreciative of individual efforts, we must watch carefully to ensure that such good work is not misunderstood in official places, by the introduction of more schemes of a wider nature which could affect street loading and discharging times for heavy transport generally.
TRUNKER, Essex
Centrax axles
IN COMMERCIAL MOTOR of February 3, we read with interest an article on page 92, entitled "30,000,000 ton-miles", by David Williams.
Included in this feature is mention of the application of Centrax double-drive axles to an ERF 8-wheel chassis. Mr. Williams states that ERF was the first manufacturer to employ these axles in Great Britain, but we feel that we should point out that this information is incorrect.
Atkinson Vehicles Ltd. has been using Centrax double-drive axles since early 1965 in overseas applications, and chassis so fitted became available on the home market before the end of 1965. By the beginning of 1966 several 6-wheel tractor units and double drive 8-wheelers were on the roads, employing Centrax components. M. C. LIST BRAIN, Publicity, Atkinson Vehicles Ltd., Walton-le-Dale, Preston
The 'only way'
I HAVE read with interest correspondence in recent months about the relationship between king-pin position and jack-knifing.
You could put the king-pin anywhere but you wouldn't stop the jack-knifing. I have driven most types of artic, from well-matched outfits to indifferent ones, and you will only stop jack-knifing with an anti-jack-knife device; and the Hope device is the best available today.
An artie, no matter whose unit or trailer you use, will jack-knife unless a device is fitted and I think that legislation should make such devices a compulsory fitting by manufacturers.
A. PERCIVAL, Worthing, Sussex.
Hindbad the haulier
ACCORDING TO Janus in your issue of February 10, "hauliers may trace their descent in a long line from Ali Baba". But according to my version of "The Arabian Nights", Ali Baba was primarily a fuel merchant who gained his livelihood "by going to cut wood in a neighbouring forest and carrying it about the town to sell on three asses, which were his only possession". Presumably he held a C licence, possibly a B, but certainly not an A.
An alternative ancestor is Hindbad the Porter, who may not have been exactly a haulier, but who certainly carried for hire or reward. His lament was that "I suffer daily a thousand ills and have the greatest difficulty in supplying my wretched family with bad barley bread, while the fortunate Sindbad lavishes his riches in profusion and enjoys every pleasure".
There may be plenty of hauliers to compare their lot with that of Hindbad, but how many traders today can accept the role of Sindbad?
P. E. LANDON, Hill Road, Billingham, Co. Durham.