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Palestine's Progressive Plans in Passenger Transport

1st September 1944
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Page 20, 1st September 1944 — Palestine's Progressive Plans in Passenger Transport
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EARLY in .1924 the Hanaavia (Hebrew word meaning "place to pldce ") bus organization was born in Jaffa/Tel-Aviv, Palestine, the first vehicle being a Ford T model, which machine is still preserved at the fine and distinctive headquarters of the company, a spacious ferro-concrete building in Alozonaff St., Tel-Aviv

The Hanaavia organization is run on the "communal " principle (to be explained later) and the company's vehicles are, to-day, a familiar sight in the thickly populated city, particularly to members of 11.M. Forces who may spend their leave in Tel-Aviv. The company grants two concessions to members of H.M. Forces in uniform, the first being a fiat 5 millene (about lid.) fare for any journey, and the second relates to bus queues. No uniformed personnel need. join queues at any bus stop, as they have the right to go to the front of the queue auto• matically, a procedure which is much appreciated by the troops and A.T.S. As previously mentioned, the company operates on a communal basis, a system widely adopted by Jewish settlers in Palestine. Everybody, except apprentices and women, draw the same wage per week, whether tie be managing director, driver, fitter, clerk or anything else. They are all shareholders in the undertaking, although, of course, the head of the company holds more shares than any• one else.

All promotion is carried out by vote. The company's staff at present numbers 300, and of these 16 have joined the Army. One has reached the rank of captain, four have been killed, and three are at present prisoners of war. The company makes up the wages of those on active service to their pre. service level.

45 Leylands and 50 More on Order

The present Hanaavia fleet numbers 151 vehicles, made up of one Leyland Titan, 44 Leyland Cubs and the remainder are of White, Mack, Reo, Ford and Fargo makes, White and Mack machines predominating. On order for post-war delivery are 50 Leyland Cubs. The Leyland Titan (1937 model) is the only double-decker in Palestine and is petrol-engined. Unfortunately, the laws in Palestine relating to publicservice vehicles are even more hectic than those in Great Britain. The maximum size permitted is: Length 23 ft. 9 ins., and width 7 ft. 2 ins., dimensions which rule out the normal-size British-built bus such as the ordinary 32-seaters.

The Palestine Government allowed

the one double-decker to come in, as an experiment, but 'the advent of war put an end to the operator's ambitions in the double-decker field.

A 32-seater bus is taxed at £24 per annum if petrol-engined, and at £150 if fitted with an oil engine, so that Oilers are ruled out.

With the exception of the Titan (which has both the rear entrance and driver's seat on the right-hand side) allthe vehicles are of the .left-hand drive, front-entrance, one-man-control, rear-exit type, and mostly 32-seaters. The driver collects the fares and issues the tickets as the passengers board the bus, all the silver coinage for change being issued from a novel little machine on the dashboard; the driver presses the requisite button and the required coin springs out into the passenger's hand.

The writer has found, however, that the general practice is for the driver to take the first one or two fares while the bus is standing, and then to take the rest while driving with the wouldbe payees standing on the entrance steps! Conductresses have been tried, but the experiment was not tuccessful and was discontinued.

The company employs only about four women on the entire staff, all on the maintenance wing, apart, of course, from typists at the company's town offices in Allenby Road, Tel-Aviv. The operator's personnel are all of the Jewish faith and, so far, it has not been found necessary to employ an Arab staff on the buses which serve Jaffa, the Arab section of the town.

At present almost every buz, running under maximum-load conditions, as there is no limit in Palestine to the number of permitted standing passengers, and credit is due to the company for the way in which it, carries ou under difficulties. Long-distance services have been almost eliminated. A Jafla-Bagdad (Iraq) service was formerly operated. but this route has been discontinued owing to bad road conditions causing damage to tyres, and to chassis in general.

The company had hoped to make extensions to its Alozoroff Street premises, but the war prevented this and, at the moment, a number of the fleet is stored on the roof, to which a concrete runway has been constructed. Also on the roof is the social room, complete with stage, and at least on concert is given each week for the benefit of all employees.

At present the fleet is covering an annual mileage of 5,700,000 and carrying a total of 56,000,000 passengers yearly. Receipts total £600,000 per annum, which gives a gross income of 25.0d. per bus-mile, each vehicle covering just under 45,800 miles a year. It should be noted, at this point, that all services are continued up to midnight, but that none operates between Friday, sunset, and Saturday, sunset, as this period is, the Jewish Sabbath.

The company adheres rigidly to the rule of " two drivers, one bus," each driver taking alternate shifts on the one vehicle. Uniform is provided, the summer dress being khaki-green shirt and shorts, with khaki-drill peaked cap.

Composite Bodies Built in the Hanaavia Shops

The Leyland Cub vehicles have proved highly satisfactory, and Mr. Hershenherz is a diehard Leyland enthusiast. All are fitted with 92-seater front-entrance, rear-exit bodies of composite construction built in the Hanaavia shops. All windows are of the full-drop type, so that they can be lowered completely below the waistline of the body at the commencement of the summer season. A full-width mirror is fitted just above the driver's head, giving him a complete view of the interior of the bus. A folding door, operated by the passengers themselves, is fitted to the rear exit, but no door

is provided to the front entrance. Only numbered destination boards are used.

A petrol consumption figure of 45 miles to 4 gallons is obtained, which is superior to that from the Ainericau vehicles. The oil is changed every 6,090 miles, the Cubs are given a complete overhaul at 100,000 miles. During the war 13 new Leyland *litre o.h.v. engines have been ordered, of which only two have arrived, and the views of Mr. Silverman, the chief engineer, on the British Ministry of Supply are unprintable. The other 13 units are still in England.

Ford Engines Fitted in Leyland Cub Chassis

As a war-time experiment, a number of Leyland Cubs has been fitted with Ford V8 95 b.h.p. engines, and gearboxes. This conversion was designed by Mr. Flersbenherz, the general manager; it has been a success from the consumption angle, but not in any other way. Nevertheless, as Mr. Hershenherz says, it is better than no engines at alll One type of vehicle operated by the company is notorious for breaking halfshafts, and five breaks a week is the average. Mr. Silverman has devised a method of welding, turning and grinding broken shafts which produces a remarkably neat job. All other work, with the exception of crankshaft grinding, is done on the company's premises. It has been necessary to resort to local Palestine manufacture for such items as king-pins and brake shackle pins, wheel studs and the like. Incidentally, the chief engineer speaks very highly of the Cleckheaton manufactured " Mintex " brake facings.

The last new chassis received comprised a small number of White " Super Power" and Fargo normal-control models. These have been fitted with the company's own austerity-type 32-seater double-entrance bodies, with wooden slatted seats, incorporating the company's own design of "raising roof." This type of roof is unique, as the centre portion, for the whole length of the body, is raised about 8 ins, on

eight equally spaced slotted brackets. The roof is raised on May 1 and' owered on September 1 each year; all the operator's buses are fitted with this type of roof.

Tel-Aviv possesses a fine bus-station, comparable with the best in England. it is jointly operated between the Hanaavia and three other companies. A feature of the station layout is that all buses unload at one long platform and never unload and reload at the same spot, thus eliminating all " bunching."

The departure platforms are reached by the public through a subway, with underground junctions leading to the various loading bays. As the subway can be entered from only one end, the travelling public is all moving in the same direction. The station deals with 1,600 departures per day. Another feature of the Hanaavia services is that no two or more routes, when operating

in the same street, stop in the same place. For instance, in Allenby Road,. Tel-Aviv, No. 31 bus stops in a certain place, No. 2 stops 25 yds. farther on, No. 4 25 yds. farther still, and so on. All stops are clearly signposted in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

Drivers Buy Tickets in Bulk from-the Company

A novel method of fare collection is used. When joinin,g the company each driver-collector is advanced £50, on loan. He then buys £50 worth of tickets and resells them to the passengers. Any loss incurred on the tickets is his own responsibility, and he goes on buying £50 worth of tickets, over and over again, as he disposes of them. This system is certainIS■ unique, but it cuts clerical costs down to a minimum, and it has been found eminently satisfactory by the company. It would, however, appear to encourage the " saving" of tickets wherever possible. . Every driver is a trained ambulance man, and each bus carries a first-aid kit and a stretcher as part of its equipment.

Altogether the Hanaavia concern is a happy family, doing a good job of work under adverse conditions, and doing it well.


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