Manoeuvring for Passenger Transport Control in Glasgow.
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THE action which was recently brought by the Scottish General Transport Co., Ltd., against the Corporation of Glasgow was heard under caveat for the respondents, but Lord Moncrieff, who heard the caveat, has ordered the Corporation of Glasgow to Make its answers to the note which was lodged by the plaintiffs, and has refused to grant an interim Interdict, so that at present, under a Magistrate's order, the company is prevented from picking up traffic in George Square, Glasgow.
It will be remembered that the Magistrates' Committee of the Glasgow Corporation had laid down certain by-laws which have been confirmed by the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, and under these bylaws Carlton Place is fixed as the place of departure from the city of stage coaches plying for hire between the city and Kilmarnock and other places and districts in that direction from Glasgow. The Scottish General Transport Co. has always stanced Its stage coaches in Carlton Place and used this stance as its place of departure, but it recently acquired premises in George Square which it describes as general and inquiry offices and waiting room, but which the corporation describes as merely a waiting room, and the coaches have been in the habit of using this as a port of call on both the inward and outward journeys and of unloading and loading their passengers at that spot, which, of course, is more convenient for the general body of passengers than Carlton Place.
After a warning, the coaches were stopped a fortnight ago just to the north of Stockwell Bridge, and the drivers were informed that they would not be allowed to enter George Square, and passengers therefore had to alight.
After hearing the arguments of both sides, Lord Moncrieff said that the need for regulation of traffic in Glasgow was readily explained when one had in view the congestion of the streets of a modern city and the difficulty, of affording passage to all the vehicles which required to use those streets, but, although the motive of the interference of the police was easily understood, the power asserted in so interfering with free transit in the city was one which, so far as he knew, was without precedent and involved a very serious interference with the liberty of the subject.
When he has received the note and answers thereto, he has undertaken to examine very c17 thoroughly the powers under which the magistrates have professed to act in so interfering with the conduct of private traffic. Public convenience must always be paramount.
Why so Few Engine Brakes ?
IT has always been something of a puzzle to us why more use is not Made in this country of the engine as a brake, as is done with complete success by one well-known vehicle of Swiss origin. When we refer to employing the engine in this way, we do not mean merely using it as a slight brake by shutting the throttle and running with the clutch in or utilizing an additional airvalve. What we are thinking of is the utilization of some means by which the engine can be converted to operate with a different cycle, so that air is compressed and released at the top of each stroke. Operating in this manner, an engine absorbs a considerable amount of energy in the process of compression, and by releasing the air this energy is dissipated instead of reacting on the pistons as they descend. Several German lorries, with large load capacities have been arranged for engine braking on this principle, and it appears to be almost ideal, particularly for work in neighbourhootls where long hills abound. The arrangement usually employed for modifying the cycle of the engine is to shift the camshaft endwise so that it brings a second set of cams into operation, these cams sometimes being tapered so that varying degrees of compression can he obtained.
Using the engine as a brake in this manner does not involve any extra wear, it does away with the tendency for oil to be sucked up into the combustion spaces, as so often occurs when braking is done by closing the throttle, and it provides a brake which is smooth and powerful in action and does not cause locking of the wheels. At the same time, by relieving the ordinary brakes of much of their work, it lengthens. the periods between brakelining renewal. We do not suggest that the engine brake should replace any other on the vehicle or supersede any servo device. It should be looked upon as an addition which will do much to improve the overall braking efficiency.
Bus Services to the Outskirts of Towns.
THE bus operator working on a moderate or large scale always finds it difficult to give adequate service to all would-be.passengers making for or leaving a town. Where there is, let us say, an hourly bus service, the buses approaching the town will have filled up completely by the time the outskirts of the town are reached, and people living, say, a mile or two from the centre find it impossi•ble to get, a seat and often impossible to enter the bus. On the outward journey it is the early comers who get the seats and fill the standing room, and many are left behind to wait for the next bus. Yet by. the time the bus has travelled a couple of miles from its Starting place it has become half empty, whilst the passengers who would have travelled a much greater distance are, -as we have said, cooling their heels in the town.
Even in London, where there are buses every few minutes, the long-distance passenger (say, the 6c1. fare) waits and sees many a bus pass him going to his destination, but overfilled/by id. fares.
The difficulty is met where the municipal corporation has a tram or bus service and has powers to run beyond its own boundary, for it is able to concentrate upon the short-distance passenger and to give him an adequate alternative service. We think the tendency of municipalities will strongly be towards securing extended running powers, either with a view to the establishment of municipal services or to obtaining control over the routes, running times, fares, etc., of services provided by private enterprise. • Where such alternative services are not in existence, the onus of providing adequate facilities for both long-distance fares and the short-distance fares, lies upon the operating concern. It becomes a duty which must be discharged, because if a concern sets out to serve the public the latter orders its affairs accordingly, and is disturbed and inconvenienced when it finds that the service is largely Impracticable because supply and demand are not co-ordinated.
We have a provincial town in our mind as we write where villagers living • about two miles out find themselves in real difficulties because the incoming buses are invariably full and there is an unreasonable crush on the outgoing buses.