What the Passenger Wants to Know
Page 13
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READ with much interest the article "Where Do We I Go From 1-tere ? " in "The Commercial Motor" dated March 11, and I bope that this article will exercise good influence upon those responsible for destination indicators and route numbers To my mind, the basic requirements are: (a) That the destination should be shown in bold, clear type; (b) that, say, two points en route might be indicated; (c) a route number is helpful but is best displayed away from the main blind.
There seems also to be a need for a standard type of lettering. In some of that shown in your illustrations, the letters are too thick and there is obviously too much wording in the space available. When a vehicle is travelling, a mass of wording becomes blurred and unintelligible 145 the observer.
A surprising number of strangers travel on buses wherever they are available, and it is for their benefit that some stopping places en route should be shown. Ti give additional information from tilne to time, there seems to me to be nothing better than boards clipped to the front and sides of the vehicles, to carry such information as " To and From the Football Ground," or whatever the occasion demands.
I do not think that London's buses lead the world, but I believe that for a long time they have embodied excellent ideas for presenting route information. There are others, such as those of Midland "Red," which are as good in this respect.
There seems to me to have been little advancement on this point in the past 30 years. The blinds now used are, perhaps, better than the boards formerly employed, but I am sure that the old London General Omnibus Co., Ltd. was as near as possible to ideal presentation. The route numbers were boldly displayed at the front, back and sides, the destination was boldly shown at each end, and until 1919, also at the sides, special information was given by boards clipped on to the sides. The fareboard which used to be carried inside each bus was a great convenience, and the present tendency to omit
it is, in my view, a mistake. A. J. PARRIS. Bletchiey.
SOME LESSONS FROM NEW ZEALAND I N New Zealand, the majority of the passenger and goods-carrying vehicles is Government-owned, but those in other hands have also to be checked and passed as fit for service by Government inspectors.
Most, but by no means all, of the main roads are tarsealed. That is to say, metalled, tar-sprayed and then covered with small chippings. Alt side roads are loose, corrugated and inches deep in dust. They are apt to slide and subside.
In direct contradiction to the wellbeing of the roads, the 6overnment, when assessing the loads for goodscarrying vehicles, allows an increase of 25 per cent. on the gross weights permitted by the makers. Alarm has recently been expressed at the deterioration of the
highways. In this connection, police armed with loadometers stop vehicles suspected of being over-loaded.
As a result of State control of the railways, these have become almost as much a national disgrace as the dockside " workers" and the wain-fining "industry." Now the bulk of the passenger-carrying, and much of the BY-PASS OR FULL FLOW?
WITH reference to Mr. Le Clair's interesting article, By-pass or Full Flow?—That is the Question," in your issue dated March 4, it seems to me that he has not made good his case for condemnation of the by-pass filter.
Surely there is a contradiction in the statement, ". .. the useless but attractive function of producing clear oil. This golden stream may well be carrying large abrasive particles while the filter is loaded with harmless c,irbon coloids? " It is difficult to follow a line of reasoning which holds that the latter will flock to a filter like lambs to the slaughter, whilst the former will make a bee line for the bearings.
No doubt the author would agree that, in any but a badly worn engine, the restriction of flow of the oil pump's output is such that the greater part of that output must return to the sump via the relief valve, and that, indeed, were it not for the latter, pressure would build up until " something had to go."
I suggest that, of the oil actually passed to the pressure side of the system, a high proportion must pass through the by-pass filter—which acts in effect as a secondary relief valve—and, with it, an equally high. proportion of the impurities present.
Potters Bar. K. R. GARNETT HALL.
"SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE ..."
WE have read with interest S.T.R.'s recent articles, on " removals and storage and have particularly noted his remarks regarding the efforts of some removal contractors to make the industry a " closed shop." We agree with many of his sentiments, but feel that the following observations should be made:—
(1) The total amount of removal work available is not governed by the number of vehicles able to carry it out. In other words, the more removal vans that are offered, the less busy each will be.
(2) Whilst it is true that many hauliers have unrestricted carriers' licences and could, with a certain, amount of application, enter the removal industry, the converse is also true, that a large -number of removers has similar licences and could, with equal facility, engage in general haulage.
It could, therefore, quite easily follow that an increase in the number of operators catering for removal work would result in an almost equal increase in the number of vehicles offered for general haulage. All operators changing their type of service (whether from the general to the particular, or vice versa) would be involved in considerable outlay to no commensurate advantage, and they might find their last state no better than their first.
Lowestoft. NORMAN J. WIGG.