The Motor Omnibus World.
Page 3
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Dr. W. R. Ormandy, late Berkeley Fellow of Owen's College, Manchester, will read a paper to members and associates of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers, next Monday, on the subject of " Flame Propagation and its Influence on Cylinder Design and Ignition."
The City of London Corporation has referred all questions relating to heavy motor traffic in the City to the county purposes committee. This committee is to consider various questions in Bills which are to come before Parliament, and which have reference directly or indirectly to heavy motors.
.Revisions in Motorbus Regulations.
The approved regulations for Metropolitan Stage (Motor) Carriages, made after consultation with the representatives of the industry, have now been issued in their final form by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. They are .prefaced by a note that proprietors before entering into contracts for new types of motor omnibuses would do well to send the drawings to New Scotland Yard for approval as to type, and they differ only in slight details from the regula.tions as published by us in our issue of January 25th.
In regulation No. 3 the conditions as to height and breadth of chassis have been deleted, and the note at the .end of the same clause has been amended so as to read as follows : " Omnibuses which carry a less number of passengers than thirty, to be made in proportion to the foregoing measurements as to length; but the number of passengers -carried upon the outside must not be in greater proportion than seven to six inside."
To the regulation touching celluloid and xylonite fittings (No. 22), the following words have been added : " But this .does nut apply to the inside of accumulators." The only remaining alteration is in regulation No.. 26, which now reads as follows : " The steps for entrance to the inside and to the roof to be placed on the near side and at the rear end of the carriage. They must be safe and convenient ; efficient means being provided by rails or bands to assist passengers
.entering and leaving. The risers of all steps must be -closed." In the regulation dealing with chassis springs the word " applied " has been substituted for " affixed."
No substantial change, it will be seen, has been made in the conditions for obtaining a certificate of fitness for motor omnibuses, but the bold note at the end of the regulations conveys the intimation that the Commissioner of Police reserves the right to refuse a license for any vehicle which, in bis opinion, is unfit for public use. 1301d speculators in Budapest have bought a Renard train for the conveyance of persons during the exhibition period, whilst a company has been formed, with a capital of half a million crowns, to establish a motorcab service.
We extract the following reterences to a standard 2411.p. double-deck Thornycroft omnibus from a Bombay paper :— -A new departure in motoring in India is the introduction of the motorbus service, which was undoubtedly a long-felt want, and Bombay may well be proud of being the first to introduce it. The enterprising firm in Rampart Row, known as the Western India Motor Company, has imported a huge motorbus, which is the first of its kind ever seen in India. It is capable of running 12 miles an hour, and no steep road in Bombay will be a bar to its progress. At present the service will not be a regulated one as regards fixed routes, etc., but as soon as the remaining buses, which are expected shortly; arrive, the service will be a regulated one, and the buses will run in all directions. The inconvenience at present caused to people attending the various offices in Bombay, who cannot be accommodated in the crowded tramcars after their daily work, will then be a thing of the past." This extract truly reflects local opinion.
Motor van and omnibus trials are being arranged in connection with the second Swiss Automobile and Cycle Exhibition, at Geneva, from April 28th to May ist, inclusive. They will be held over five days, immediately preceding the opening Of the show, and will comprise two categories, sub-divided into classes, as follows :—
(l.)—Omnibuses : (a) with 12 seats; and (b) with 13-24 seats. These vehicles will have to cover four stages : BaselZurich-Lucerne; Lucerne,Solothurn-Berne; Berne-BielYverdon ; and Yverdon-Lausanne-Geneva. The total distance' is 440 kilometres, and the entrance fees are atio and 5oo francs for classes a and b respectively. (114---.Vans : (a) carrying r,000-1,5ookdos.; (b) carrying t,5oo-3,000kilos.; and (c) carrying 3,000-5,000kilos. These vehicles will also have to cover four stages : Basel-OltenLucerne; Lucerne-Langnau-Berne; Berne-Neuchatel-Yverdon ; and Yverdon-Geneva. The total distance is 341 kilometres, and the entrance fees are 200, 300, and 400 francs.
Awards will be granted according to regularity in workinn, hill-climbing powers (time over a particular gradient), consumption of fuel, etc. Entries may be made up to March iith, at the office of the secretary of the Swiss Motor Club, lotel M6tropUle, Geneva, Swit7erland.