Public Service Vehicles in the Metropolis.*
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The Special Conditions Affecting London Motorbus Traffic.
The conditions affecting matters of public interest in the Metropolis contrast so markedly with those in other parts of the country as to be axiomatic. l'arliament has so far recognised this that it has been found necessary to deal with the Local Government of the Metropolis in a special Act, and ifp give peculiar powers to the London County Council which have not been granted to other County or County Borough Councils. The difference is due mainly to the vast extent of the inhabited area, and the density of the street traffic, but, also, to some slight extent, the distinction in local Government in the Metropolis may be put down to the fact that it is the seat of the Imperial Government. It has been a recognised principle that whilst the preservation of the peace, and the control of the police, should be left to the Local Authorities in the smaller towns, it must always be in the hands of the Imperial Government in the capital. Perhaps that is not so necessary in elle case of the English people as with the Latin nations, but the wisdom of this course has been very clearly demonstrated in Paris, where the Municipal Authorities generally hold views diametrically opposed to those of the National Government. It would never do to place the preservation of order, and the control of the police, in the hands of a body which might turn against the central Government, and use the forces under its control to upset or paralyse the Legislative Assembly. For that reason, the public control in the Metropolis is under the Home Office, instead of being in the hands of the Borough Councils or County Councils, and, so far as public carriages are concerned, the licenses are issued by the Commissioner of Police, and not by a Hackney Carriages Committee of a Council.
Having cleared the air by thus explaining the origin of the difference between public control in London, and public control in the smaller towns and urban and rural areas, it is proposed to show how the general conditions affecting public vehicles in London are also different to these in the country.
Extra Facilities for Earning in London.
In the first place, the earning capacity of public service vehicles is very much greater in London than anywhere else. The cause of this extra earning capacity is found in the fact that London is so large that almost everyone requires to use some vehicle or other to get from point to point, in order to carry through his day's work, and, from the same cause, there are always many people travelling at all hours of the day. In a smaller town, there is a tremendous rush of traffic from the suburbs to the centre, in the morning and after the dinner hour, and a similar rush outwards occurs at dinner time and in the evening : the traffic at other hours is almost negligible. London also has "rush " hours, nit., from the suburbs to the centre, in the morning ; from the centre to the suburbs, in the evening, and again when the theatres and places of amusement close at night : the ratio that this "rush" traffic bears to the average traffic is not, however, so high as in other towns. Further, in London, there is not the same strict adherence to meal hours that is so marked in provincial towns. It would not be an out-of-the-way statement to say that, in small towns, 95 per cent. of the inhabitants take their breakfast between 8 and 9, their dinner between 12.30 and 2, and their evening meal between 5 and 7; but, in London, the evidence of our hotels and restaurants shows that the late breakfasts almost overlap the early hen, cheons, and that many people are forced to take their meals at all sorts of irregular hours. We arc all familiar with Puneh's picture of the man in the "smart set" who complained to his friend that he was disgusted to find at an hotel that he could get nothing to eat at 2.30 a.m., and, when his friend asked him why he wanted something at that hour, he retorted "Well, a man must dine some time." In many provincial towns, the streets are left to the solitary policeman on beat, from 1 to 1.30 (mid-day), while everyone is at dinner, but it would be hard to find any hour, from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight, when the same could be said of a London street ! The result is that all public service vehicles will find some traffic to deal with between those hours, and sufficient to justify them in plying for hire, though, naturally, there is a much greater traffic at the "rush" hours. An analysis of the recently published "Vanguard" report shows that 73 per cent, of the seats of the motorbuses, on the average, were occupied at all times.
These extra earning facilities will always make the Metropolis a particularly desirable ground for dividend hunters, and they, also, make the work of the traffic department very much easier. Similar earnings per mile might be obtained in a provincial town, if the omnibuses were run only at certain hours, but they would be unobtainable if the vehicles were kept in continuous service all day.
Traffic for Many More Motor Omnibuses.
Another great advantage possessed by the Metropolis, from this point of view, is that there is sufficient traffic for all the vehicles that can be put upon the road, at all events, up to a certain point, which has not yet been reached. Undoubtedly, the time will come, with the steady increase in the number of motor omnibuses, when competition for patronage will be very keen, but, at the present time, a paying route can be found for every omnibus that can be provided and passed for service. One obvious advantage to the operating companies lies in the fact that there is no necessity to keep spare buses in working condition, ready to take up the service of those that may be in trouble. Every omnibus that is in fit condition to work can be put into service without reducing the earnings of the others that are already at work. To emphasise this point, I may say that when the directors of the Birmingham service decided to reduce the service, in the early spring of this year, from 12 omnibuses to 8, the total takings showed no decrease.
proves that the 12 omnibuses were more than were needed for the public convenience, and t' reduction in the service did not decrease the number travelling by them. Under such circumstances, any increase over the 8 would have increased the working expenses without justification. In London, it is quite different : an increase in the-number of motor omnibuses on a particular route generally means an addition to the average number of passengers carried per bus, showing that-exactly the opposite causes are at work. The fact of increasing the service, and improving the facilities, has been to induce a very much larger number of the public to patronise the omnibuses.
A third advantage, in the Metropolis, is that there is no necessity to adhere strictly to schedule time. No Londoner ever aims for a particular omnibus starting at a certain point, any more than he endeavours to catch any particular train on a "tube" railway. He knows that the service is sufficiently frequent to justify him in taking his chance of hailing a vehicle at the psychological moment that suits his convenience. Country services must, on the contrary, be run to scheduled time, either to connect with certain trains, or to enable passengers to be sure of catching an omnibus on an infrequent service. Considerable "rest" periods are, therefore, necessary at each end of the journey, to allow for delays, and to ensure starting again to time. A London omnibus can start on the return journey immediately it arrives at the turning point, without any delay. Some London omnibuses work in association, and attempts are made in these cases to adhere to a schedule, but the results cannot be said to be very successful.
Camber of Roads and Splayed Wheels.
The next question deserving attention, is whether the same motor omnibus chassis is equally suitable for London and for the provinces, or if there are conditions in London that necessitate any differences in design. The increased severity of the work does not involve a difference in design, but only that certain wearing parts must be renewed more often. There is, however, one particular detail, i.e., the splaying of the wheels, that should be altered for London work. London omnibuses run, almost entirely, on paved roads. In the few exceptional cases where the roads are not paved, they are hard granite macadam roads, though generally worn to a very uneven surface. However, the chief feature in road design that affccts the subject under consideration, is that the London roads are very wide, and, as a rule, have a very reasonable camber. A road is cambered in order to enable it to throw off the rain water and, where the road is of a soft material, it is necessary to give a much greater camber to ensure that the water is thrown off quickly before it can soak in. A paved road, on the other hand, does not allow the water to soak into the material, and, therefore, is very much flatter. The consequence, whether logically worked out on these premises, or whether purely rule of thumb, is that the T.onclon roads never have the steep camber that is to be met with in the country, and experience has shown that no splay is requisite on the wheels of London omnibuses, but that it is very desirable in the country.
The Milnes-Daimler patent differential was designed to enable the two halves of the pinion countershaft to be inclined to one another, and to afford any degree of splaying that might be desired, but, when the greater part of their output was for I,ondon orders, the splaying was discontinued, and the countershaft is now made straight, though the same form of differential
is used. The upright wheels have been found to be perfectly satisfactory in London, but in other places ft has been found to result in excessive wear on the nose of the hub, and, ultimately, to cause the wheels to lean inwards very badly. [A photograph of an omnibus that had been working on heavily cambered roads was shown, to illustrate this point.] There is no difficulty about splaying the wheels where a chain drive is employed, but some device, similar to the Milnes-Daimler, is necessary for a gear drive. The amount of splaying should always be proportioned to the average camber of the roads for which the omnibus is designed.
The fact that the majority of London roads are paved, means a considerable saving in the engine power required, as nothing takes more out of an engine than having to propel a car through a soft road, but on the other hand, the frequent stops necessitated by taking up and setting down passengers, and by traffic exigencies, greatly increase the engine loading, so that, if anything, greater power is required in London than in the country.
Rapid Acceleration Necessary.
The frequent stops necessitate an engine that will accelerate very quickly, and the ideal London omnibus should be able to start, under ordinary circumstances, in the top gear, and to avoid gear-changing except when starting on hills or for climbing abnormal gradients. It is with a view to avoiding this frequent gear-changing that the power of omnibus engines has been steadily increased from 18h.p. to 4011.p., but insufficient attention has been given to clutches, in this connection. Two forms of clutch, only, are used on London omnibuses: the leather-faced cone clutch, and the metal-to-metal cone clutch, and though these can, with care, be made to take up the drive smoothly, they do not lend themselves to such gradual application as will eliminate gear-changing. The writer has been experimenting with a Hele-Shaw clutch for this purpose, and has attained some success—sufficient to convince him that he is on the right track. He is about to carry the experiment further, both with different dimensions of Hele-Shaw clutches and with other metal-to-metal clutches, specially designed to allow of gradual engagement, and a really definite slip for certain positions of the clutch pedal. He has, already, been able to drive in Traffic for hours without changing gear after any check or stop, but has not been able to get away quite quickly enough in the top gear to meet London requirements. The results have, however, been very encouraging. There was rrinch complaint in the early days of the motor omnibus, that no driver had mastered the art of changing gear without grinding, but this reproach may now be said to be completely removed, and grinding gears are rarely heard on omnibuses ; in fact, they are rarer than on private cars.
Greater Mileage.
It is best to make a large daily mileage in the Metropolis, and for this reason, the figures of working costs for London and for other places are not comparable. In London, the cost per day, or per annum, will be vastly greater than in the country, because of this increased daily mileage, hut, on the other hand, the working costs per mile will be very interesting figures to compare, so long as depreciation is left out of the accounts. If the vehicles are maintained in a proper condition, wearing parts are renewed periodically, and proper attention is paid to frames and to structural details, there will be no depreciation from the point of view of user. On the other hand, the depreciation that has to be taken into consideration is due to the progress of engineering science, and to the fact that a vehicle purchased one year is somewhat out-of-date the second year, and will become entirely obsolete in the course of a term of years, which, for the purpose of calculation, should not he taken at less than five. This depreciation must be shown in the annual accounts, and it should be reduced to a cost per mile chargeable against the vehicle. In consequence of the very much larger daily mileage made in London, this depreciation will be a much lower figure per mile than na any other service.
Brakes.
Brakes see much service in London motor omnibus work, and their adjustment is of primary importance, but, though the applications are frequent, they are not of long duration, and are nothing like so trying as in country work. There are some country services where the omnibus has to "free wheel" for five miles at a time, trusting entirely to the brakes. Consequently, the brakes have to be of ample dimensions to prevent excessive heating. It can, also, be readily understood that, in such cases, water cooling is almost a necessity, and the driver would also do well to use each brake in turn, allowing the other to cool off. A London omnibus, probably, uses the brakes more on the average than a country vehicle, but, as the duration of each application is short, there is little danger of
overheating. Makers have realised the necessity of making ample allowance for brake adjustment, but some of theni do not realise the equal importance of accessibility. The writer has noticed that ie one particular case, in which an English firm manufactures an omnibus under German patents, the brake has been altered from an external to an internal one, with the consequence that adjustment takes six or eight times as long.
The police are quite justified in the precautions they take to ensure that the brakes receive proper attention, but they are sometimes unduly harsh in their issue of "stop" notices. As a case in point, an inspector entered a garage at six in the morning and proceeded to try the brakes of all the omnibuses that were not yet out. Naturally, as these buses were timed to start late, they were the last to be dealt with by the fitters, and the brakes had not been then adjusted on all of them, although they would have had proper attention before starting time. The inepentor stopped five of these, and they 'could not be put into service until they had been passed later in the morning, several hours being wasted in each case. This is a typical instance in which the principles actuating the police are in every way admirable, but in which the application is unnecessarily vexatious, On this point, allusion must be made to the new regulations requiring a bridle round the cardan shaft. It is an open secret that this regulation arose through an historic fatal accident, in which the bottom shaft fell out of the gear box, taking the pedal brake drum with it, and leaving the front end of the cardan shaft loose to swing round, as it did to the destruction of the band brake. Three very similar accidents have happened with other vehicles of the same make, but it is not easy to see how any bridle can be a real security unless it encircles the cardan shaft so closely as to involve the risk of contact, It would surely be better to make the long propeller shaft in two halves, to carry the forward half on two ball bearings, and to fit the other half with two long cardan joints. A plain " Oldham coupling" would then be the best connection between the gear-box shaft and the supported forward-half of the propeller shaft. This regulation may be interpreted reasonably, and be no hardship, but, where the cardan shaft is only a foot or two in length, such a bridle is quite unnecessary.
Fuel.
It is interesting to try to ascertain whether the conditions of London service are extra heavy on fuel consumption. It is impossible to speak with authority on this point, as several services were started with types of engines that were afterwards discarded, and some companies do not record the quantity of fuel issued to each vehicle, keeping only the total figure, including lorries and teaching omnibuses. Observations lead to the conclusion that the large horse power now usual does not tend to economy, and the amount of slow running in traffic, and light running at stopping places, makes the consumption per mile rather high. The average of the reliable figures obtained gives about four miles to the gallon in London, and five and a half in the country. The operating companies in the Metropolis have a great advantage in the ease with which they can get supplies. If the storage arrangements permit, they can receive delivery in tank wagons, direct from the refineries, thus avoiding all handling, and the cost of carrying or barrelling.
Tires.
Outsiders, generally, jump to the conclusion that country roads must be much heavier on tires than London roads, as the paved town streets are not likely to injure tires to the same
extent as macadam and flint roads. Such conclusions are purely superficial, as paved roads require to be sanded whenever they become greasy. If sharp silver sand were employed, there would be no ground for complaint, but many authorities use small pebbles, which split under steel tires into sharppointed pieces of flint that are fatal to bicycle tires, and do incalculable injury to all other rubber treads. The writer has often thought of making a collection of the puncture mixtures employed by each authority, and endeavouring to arrive at some assessment of the damage caused by each kind, Due credit should be given to the City of Westminster, which uses granite dust, and this does not break into small chisel blades; but, on the other hand, the material used on Holland Park Avenue probably does fil) of damage to tires every day it is used ! Again, the frequent starting and stopping in London traffic is very heavy on tires, and careful observation shows that 21) per rent. more mileage can be obtained on country work, on the average, than on London work. The last word has, by no means, yet been said on tire c.onetruetion, and the possibilities of the block tire have to be properly demonstrated. It frequently happens that a tire fails because a piece breaks away from the base at one place, and the whole tire is condemned in consequence. A block tire can have a defective or injured block replaced without involving the same expense.
Body Damage.
The life of a London horse omnibus seems almost marvellous. Many have worked for 20 to 25 years before they have been condemned, and, even then, they have sometimes seen further service in the country. The life of a motor omnibus body is not likely, on the other hand, to reach more than half this, as the stresses to which it is subject are muC.11 greater, and the vibration is tenfold. There is not, however, the same necessity to keep the weight down, and some excellent bodies are now being produced. The cost of body upkeep, on country services, is confined to an annual overhaul and repainting, but, in London, a great expense is incurred in repairing the small accidents due to the density of traffic. Panels, steps, and staircases constantly require small repairs, and new window glasses can total up to a respectable item: the heaviest item is, however, wings. These can be patched and mended a great deal, but, in spite of the labour thus expended, each London bus requires, on the average, three new sets of wings yearly.
Side-Slip.
Side-slip is another condition peculiar to London, and one or two other special localities. Skidding, of course, is not unknown on country roads, but the risk is not great, and it can, generally, be avoided by skilful driving. In London, however, there are days when the streets are covered with a greasy slime that makes it difficult for a pedestrian to stand upright, and when the adhesion of rubber tires is less than the gravity pull due to the cambered road surface. It will be interesting to see how these remarks bear fruit in the discussion of them, but the author is strongly of opinion that motor omnibus engineers have not given sufficient attention to this defect. In Torquay, where the road stone employed is such that the surface is always dangerously slippery in wet weather, Parsons chains have been adopted and have surmounted the difficulty. It is true that these chains reduce the life of the tires, but that is the lesser of two evils. The chains are always carried on the omnibus, but are fixed only when the drivers find them necessary. A great many inventions have been patented with a view to automatically obviating side-slip, but, for some reason, motor omnibus engineers do not seem to have experimented with them to the extent that the evils would justify. Possibly, they think that most of these inventors are cranks, and that their ideas are impracticable, but it may be pointed out that, if the danger proves as serious this winter as the last fortnight would seem to indicate, the police will probably insist on the adoption of some device, and it remains with the operating engineers to prove the relative advantages and disadvantages of the suggested devices, so as to obtain one that really meets the case, and is accompanied by the smallest disadvantages in the way of weight, complication, or increased wear to tires. It is as well to state at once that no particular form of rubber tire will have any influence on side-slip on the grease peculiar to London streets. A block tire or other divided surface will certainly skid less on slippery patches on country roads, and prevent the milder forms of side-slip, but they are quite ineffective on genuine London grease.
Lighting.
Ancther condition peculiar to London is the night traffic. In the country and small provincial towns, no one seems to travel after dark, and no public service vehicle can pay after sunset. But Londoners travel even more after dusk than in daylight, and are, also, very particular as to the facilities afforded them.
Two large London companies used to light their motor omni buses by two paraffin lamps (since increased to three), and it was curious to stand at Wellington Street corner, and to watch people purchase an evening paper, and then let the ill-lit motor omnibuses go past, preferring to wait for one of their brilliantly illuminated rivals. As competition gets keener, the "pious" companies, which prefer a dim religious light, will find that their rivals are getting a sufficient number of extra fares to more than compensate them for the extra expenditure on lighting. A new feature has lately cropped up in the police requirements it is to be required that an illuminated destination sign shall be carried in front, and, possibly, at the back also. A fairly powerful light is required properly to illuminate these signs. Authoritative figures are not yet obtainable as to the costs of lighting on the various systems in vogre, but, as nearly as they can be gauged, they work out somewhat as follows:— Annual cost.
3 lamps inside, 2 head, and I tail lamps ... L7 4 acetylene inside lamps (with separate generator),
2 paraffin head lamps, and 1 paraffin tail lamp ... 18 Do., with compressed acetylene Do., with dissolved acetylene Do., with illuminated front, destination sign in addition (separate acetylene generator) ... 21
Do., with compressed acetylene ... 184 Do., with dissolved acetylene
Electric lighting to interior, head and tail lamps, and destination sign, by secondary batteries ... 25
Painting.
It matter .little for a country service what style of painting or lettering is adopted, as there are seldom diverging services on the same road. In London, the various routes must be distinguished. The horsed omnibuses were painted in distinctive colours with particulars of the route on the panel, and, in one or two special cases, the services had names. These names were historic, and every Londoner knew where the "Favourite," " Times," "Royal Blue," and " Atlas " would take him. Now, each motor omnibus company has adopted a distinctive colour and name, and the route is banished to a diminutive board under the eaves of the roof. Even these minute route boards are, frequently, misleading: for instance, one route board says "Hammersmith and Charing Cross," and it is only by accident that one discovers that these motor omnibuses go further ; in the one direction, to Barnes, and in the other, to Liverpool street. The proper place for the route is on the panel, and distinctive colours (for the panel, but not necessarily for other parts) should be compulsory.
The Commissioner of Police should appoint a committee of omnibus users, not professional policemen,, or omnibus owners, but those who have to find their way about London by omnibus, and this committee should decide the colour of the panel, the style of lettering, and the actual places to be written on every omnibus. These companies which want their omnibuses to be interchangeable from route to route can easily adopt "false" panels, fitting into guides at bath ends. The companies could then exhibit their fancy names on the board under the eaves if they still desired to do so.
Body Dimensions.
The police have laid down definite rules with regard to body and seat dimensions, but, by too rigid adherence to these rules, they are perpetuating a particular type of body, and strangling all attempts to improve it. The writer wished to submit some omnibuses with a patent seat that he had found to be the most comfortable he had ever tried, but was advised that the police would inevitably refuse it. There is no doubt that considerable improvements could be made in all directions, if body designers were permitted more latitude. The police have made a rigid rule that the number of outside passengers is not to exceed the number of inside passengers in a higher proportion than 9 to 8. This regulation is, evidently, dictated by the bogey of top weight, but, when one considers the enormous amount of weight in the chassis, it is obvious that the centre of gravity will never be unduly high, even if the proportion of outside to inside passengers reached 2 to I. There is no doubt that considerably stronger bodies would have been made, to accommodate 20 to 24 passengers outside, if this unnecessarily harsh regulation had not been promulgated. It should be remembered, too, that there has only been one authenticated case of the turning over of a motor omnibus. In that case, it ran on to the pavement, cannoned into a wall, broke the front axle, and then turned over, and would, probably, have met with the same fate even if had been a single-decker with no top weight at all. There is absolutely no justification for the restriction to a maximum of 18 passengers on the upper deck of a mator omnibus.
With every new method of propulsion, a new style of body would be evolved naturally. The present motorcar does not follow the lines of the horse-drawn vehicle, but has developed lines of its own. It is, therefore, a considerable hardship that the motor omnibus body should have rigidly to follow, in perpetuity, the design of that of the horse omnibus.
Another detail in which the police have been unnecessarily restrictive is that of wheel track. This does not appear in the regulations, but they have refused to license all vehicles the front wheels of which do not track exactly with the back wheels (centre to centre of rim). If there were any justification for a regulation on this point, quae the roads, it would rather be in the other direction, as a difference in the track between the front and back wheels would ease the wear on the road—if there is any with rubber tires. If it is to ensure the driver's "getting through" with his back wheels when the front ones clear any obstruction, though this supposes no deflection from a straight line, the front tire should track with the outside back twin, and not with the centre of the rim.
" Stop " Notices.
A license having been issued in respect of a motor omnibus, the police do not cease to take a maternal, or, rather, grandmotherly, interest in its career. Inspectors are continually watching them on the road, and they issue "stop" notices if they fancy they can detect any fault. It must be admitted that a great improvement has been made in the silence and reliability of motorbuses within the last six or eight months, and vehicles never make the fearful noises now which could be heard, six months ago, from the majority of those in use. Possibly the use of "stop" notices by the police has had a good influence in this direction, but it is not to be supposed that the operating companies would fail to learn a great many lessons from their early experience, and to remedy sources of noise, quite regard less of any action on the part of the police. These " stop " notices are, frequently, a great hardship, owing to their being issued for the most trivial faults. There have been two instances in which motor omnibuses were stopped on the road, and the passengers turned out, because the police inspector " thought the engine was developing a knock." This is little less than an outrage, both on the operating company and on the travelling public. There could have been no danger, even if the engine were knocking badly. After a "stop" notice has been issued by the police, the vehicle is not allowed to be put into service until it has been taken to a police station and passed by the
local inspector. Most of the cases, for which the " stop" notices have been issued, are such that they would have been remedied in the ordinary course of the night routine work, and, if the " stop " notices had not been issued, the slight noise (or whatever it might be) would have been put right befcre the morning, and no one would have been a bit the worse. The notice, however, necessitates the vehicle's being kept in the den& the next morning, and four or five hours' service being lost while it is taken to the police station, inspected, and passed. There have been cases, notices having been issued, or the driver stopped by the police on the road and told to take his car in, in which, when the omnibus has been submitted for inspection, the inspector could not say what was wrong with it, or the reason for which it had been stopped. This proves that there is a great deal of unnecessary hardship in the issue of these notices. No one could object to action by the police to prevent any vehicle from being worked in a dangerous state, Or in a state likely to cause annoyance to the public, but there is no justification for the issue of " stop" notices in the wholesale, indiscriminate, and capricious manner that has been the custom for several months.
Drivers and Road Engineers.
There is a great divergence of opinion as to what class of man makes the, best omnibus driver. Some engineers favour the training of men as cleaners or fitters' mates, so that they get a working knowledge of the motor omnibus, and then pro/noting them to the more responsible position of drivers. Others favour the taking of drivers and conductors of horsed omnibuses, who are thoroughly used to traffic conditions, and their being trained to drive, but being left in ignorance of the mechanism, and with instructions not to attempt to tamper with any detail of their machinery. It is probable that there will. ultimately, be developed a definite system similar to that adopted by railway companies with their engine-drivers, hut, at the present time, when the demand is so greatly in excess of the supply, the operating engineers must train special men under considerable difficulties. At the same time, they would do well to remember that the railway system has developed on natural lines, and as the result of a great deal of experience, and has been adopted by every tailway without exception. In the railway sheds, boys are taken on as cleaners, and work at first in gangs, under a charge hand, to clean odd engines. Their first promotion is to the cleaning of some individual engine, and it is soon seen whether the lad is developing a proper pride in his work, by the success with which he turns out his engine each day. He is next promoted to the foot-plate of a shunting engine, and fires, under different drivers, through all the grades of shunting, pick-up goods, through-goods, fast_goods, localpassenger, slow-main-line-passenger, and express. From the firing of an express engine he is promoted to driving the shunting engine, and has to work his way up through the same grades, but this time in charge of the engine. In years to come, the horsed omnibus is doomed to disappear, and certain motor omnibus routes, in outlying districts, will bear the same relation to those routes which traverse the City as railway goods traffic does to fast passenger traffic. A man could, therefore, start in the garage as a washer and could he promoted to be an engine cleaner, next to greaser, and then to fitters' mate. Alter that, he could be entrusted with the driving of the depot lorry, and would then only require a day or two's training in oteter, to obtain a police license as a driver. After this education in the garage he will be more valuable on the road than any untrained (Inver, more particularly as he will know the importance of not interfering with his engine, and will, also, know how to deal with the causes of most minor stoppages. 'i he present type of driver has generally that " little know which is so very dangerous, and, if he gets a drop of water in his carburetter, he generally takes down the magneto or otherwise experiments with the ignition. A driver, trained as herein suggested, should, first of all, be put on a suburban or outlying route, to acquire confidence as a driver and a head for traffic, and he should be promoted, stage by stage, to a central service. At present, an unduly high proportion of omnibuses are out of service, because they are required for the training of drivers. These drivers have no knowledge whatever of the constituent parts of a motor vehicle, and take a long time to learn the difference between the change-speed and brake levers. To such a man, the grating of gears conveys no information beyond the fact that he cannot get the gear in as he would like, but the man who has had to take a gear box to pieces, and to replace the gear wheels, will realise the serious damage that can 1..e done by had changing. It is, however, too early to expect such a system to be adopted, as drivers must be made from the raw material, owing to the circumstances of the present demand. Operating engineers, nevertheless, would do well to try to institute the railway system as soon as possible. It is already working with great success in Birmingham, and is sure, ultimately, to be adopted generally. The question of road engineers (to be put on the road, to help any driver who is in difficulties) is very important, but it must be recognised that their wages are a dead loss to a company, and any system which could dispense with their services would be a great gain. Some engineers have advocated the appointment of a few leading drivers at a slightly higher wage, and their being instructed that, in the event of their finding any vehicle broken down on the route, they are at once to transfer the driver to their own omnibus, to take over the other, to get it right, and then to proceed with it. There is a great deal to be said in favour of this plan, but, on the other hand, each driver should be kept to his own omnibus as much as possible. Probably, the success of this system would depend on finding the right men for leading drivers. They would have to take out omnibuses which had no regular driver, and, therefore, they would always have to drive what might be termed "lame ducks." If they were worthy of the position of leading drivers, this would be no hardship to them.
Conclusio In conclusion, the writer wishes to emphasise the fact that he has merely set down the conditions peculiar to London motor omnibus traffic, and has thrown out suggestions in one or two directions. The subject is a very large one, but he trusts that there will be an active discussion on the numerous debatable points to which he has drawn attention in the body of this paper,