ENTRANCES BOTH SIDES ON BUSES?
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Original thoughts in paper to S.R.P.T.A. Conference
ENTRANCES and exits on both sides of buses, with the driver positioned centrally like a tram driver; better seating; forced ventilation. These were just a few of the controversial points raised by Mr. Hubert Perring, chief mechanical engineer, Ministry of Transport, in a paper to the Scottish Road Passenger Transport Association's annual conference at Turnberry, which ended yesterday. His paper was entitled "Desirable developments in public service vehicles ". .
Introducing it, Mr. Perring said that some of his ideas might run against exiting regulations, but the Minister of Transport had made it quite clear that he was willing to change any regulation which could be shown to inhibit worth-while developments.
Travelling by bus in the peak hour need not be the battle it is ", he stated. Because of the almost universal use of a single entrance/exit, the bus was inferior to even a small private car. But it need not be so.
Ideally, a bus needed doors which were opened for the passenger, as few steps as possible, wide gangways, good headroom, adequately spaced seats, and separate entrances and exits so arranged that, because of the one-way traffic through the bus, there was the minimum of need to push past other people.
With the possible future increase of weight in this country to 16 tons it might become attractive to think of a 36-ft.-long double-decker carrying nearly 50 people on the top deck. It would have two staircases so that a one-way system could be used through the top deck.
On the roads, the pattern of traffic flow in a one-way system could bring a need to pick up and set down passengers on the right-hand side of the road in order to save them crossing the road.
"It should be possible, and may be attractive, to have an entrance forward of the front wheels on each side of the vehicle if the driver's seat is moved from its traditional position on the right to a new position in the centre ", Mr. Perring said.
Convenience and Comfort Step heights should be kept as low as possible. He instanced an experimental entrance behind the rear wheels which was on two levels, the rearmost being lower by a few inches. If power-operated doors were fitted a retractable step could be made to phase in with the door's movement.
Both for passenger comfort and safety, power-operated doors had much to commend them. Because they were often a long way from their operator, the doors should have a sensing device in their edges like those used on many automatic lifts today. Allowing the doors to project a few inches outside the vehicle's width when open had some advantages.
It was important to raise the standards of suspension beyond the limits attainable by the classic leaf spring system. Widening of the spring base appeared more important than whether the spring eloment was metallic or fluid. The use of a levelling device in such systems might facilitate the problem of maintaining a low step level.
Adequate seat dimensions were probably even more important than the actual comfort of the cushions—in fact, too soft a seat could make it more difficult to get into position and leave the seat. The space between the seats was important too. It was almost impossible for the passenger on the inside to squeeze out when the outside seat was occupied.
"There seems no doubt now that the public want adequate heating in winter and ventilation in summer Mr. Perring continued. A temperature of about 55`F. would appear to be adequate to start with, but would probably rise as the years went by and people came to depend more on heated public transport and so tended to wear lighter clothes.
Ventilation would have to be via a forced system and the amount of fresh air would have to vary in direct proportion to the number of passengers in the saloon. The rate of flow would also have to be increased in the summer, as compared with the winter.
"In conjunction with heating and ventilating, the systems for demisting and de-icing the driver's windscreen need to be much improved over present standards ", Mr. Perring .said.
Coping with Luggage
Luggage presented a problem on Saturdays at holiday resorts. This requirement could probably be met by the use of touring coaches to carry the luggage or by towing a trailer behind the ordinary bus. Even at other times the need to provide accommodation for bulky luggage remained. A clear floor area of about 6 ft. by 3 ft. dimension should be in the main saloon for this purpose and be handy either for the entrance or exit.
Several of his suggestions would reduce the number of seats, but if more standing passengers were catered for the total carrying capacity need not be impaired. Why think of standee buses as something apart? The sort of vehicle he envisaged, said Mr. Perring, would have seats for between a third and a half of its capacity. In the rush hour it would speed picking up and setting down, and give greater ease of movement inside. In the off-peak periods it would be a very comfortable and attractive vehicle.
Any new design should cater for the possibility of oneman operation. The collection of fares could be made easier if the driver's seat could swing into an alternative position on release of a catch. With such a seat it might even be worth considering that one-man operation of a bus with entrances on both sides would be possible if the driver's seat were on the centreline of the vehicle.
So far in this country we had thought that the reduced safety factor made passenger trailers unacceptable, said Mr. Perring. But it might be that with more sophisticated designs this objection could be so reduced that the risk would be accepted if there were some real advantage to be gained from their use. In general, passenger carrying trailers or semi-trailers did not appear to contribute to the development of bus designs which were more attractive to passengers. But they might have some contribution to make to particular operating problems, such as on routes which had low bridges. An articulated bus might he attractive for factory services where the semi-trailer could be detached from the tractive unit and left standing at the factory during the working day while the tractive unit and driver could be employed on other work. One form of articulated, highcapacity bus that still retained some passenger appeal was the form whereby the semi-trailer body was a continuation of the main vehicle, being connected to it by means of a turntable and accordion joint.
There was a bewildering variety in the layout of drivers' controls. Neither styling nor economy should be allowed to prejudice a good layout of the driver's controls. It was important that there should not be dangerous differences in the siting or operation of controls as between one chassis and another.
Power-assisted steering and automatic transmission should be considered essential because of the greater freedom they give the driver to concentrate ontraffic conditions around him.
A bus must have brakes with a maximum performance commensurate with that of other units in the same traffic stream. But from the passengers' point of view it was desirable that decelerations should be restricted to about 0.15 or 0.2 g. This suggests that it would be highly desirable to regard the footbrake as being a traffic emergency brake, ordinary braking being done by a lever close to the steering wheel which would bring into action a brake with a top deceleration of about 0.2 g. If such a brake were also to be independent of the footbrake system there would be a very worth-while increase in safety because it would not heat up by normal usage.
It would be a great pity if the wider use of forced ventilation systems were to be retarded because passengers disliked the noise. Buses must be made quieter than many of them were at present from the point of view of intrusion of external noise.
Many of the things he had mentioned, said Mr. Perring, would increase the cost of the vehicle to the undertaking, the figure appearing to be about 6 per cent of the total takings of that vehicle for the year. There was a convincing amount of evidence that the figure could be kept at a minimum by running the bus for between 12 and 20 years. Yet a coach operator ran his vehicles for between one and five years because trade would drop off and he might well go out of business if he continued to, run an old vehicle. Was it coincidence that bus operators who ran old vehicles were faced with falling traffic?
The amount spent on vehicles needed to be carefully weighed against the effect it would have on traffic receipts. Apparent economies obtained by prolonging the life of buses could well be nails driven into the coffin of the industry.
The Discussion
In the discussion on Mr. Perring's paper, Mr. W. M. Little said: "We must accept certain of the criticisms which he has levelled at us with regard to our vehicles." However, went on Mr. Little, Mr. Perring did not bring out what the increase in the weight of a vehicle meant with regard to fuel tax. Taking the ease of a -vehicle doing 36,000 miles per year and returning 12 m.p.g. at present and 8 m.p.g. with such extras as Mr. Perring suggested, it would cost £300 a year for fuel tax with the extras but less than £75 without them. Mr. Little said he liked the ideas on buses for one-way streets and on reckoning capacity as a total figure and not (as at present) seated plus standing passengers.
He wondered, however, whether Mr. Perring had a leaning towards the city type of vehicle and had overlooked the country bus.
1138 He disagreed with Mr. Perring completely on the question of brakes. Maximum performance was not in itself desirable. Too high a retardation figure could increase accidents to passengers. It might be that delay time in braking systems should be looked at.
Mr. A. A. M. Durrant said he was gratified at the winds of change in the Ministry. Like Mr. Little, he did not agree with increasing the retardation figure for a p.s.v. It would not increase safety and might well cause the reverse situation. He was afraid that drivers would estimate their braking distances on the maximum performance if it were raised. At the present no limit above 0-5 g with the bus unladen should be laid down. He felt, however, that a device which varied the braking effect according to load would be a very good thing. With such a device 0.5 g fully laden would be all right.
Mr. Ronald Cox referred to Mr. Perring's idea of twostaircase buses. He felt that there would only be a need for them on 36-footers and then the industry would need a reduction in fuel tax to compensate for carrying the extra weight. Alderman Rafferty wanted to know how Mr. Perring would reconcile the cost of the improvements he suggested with the need for cheap fares. He thought the paper was almost a " gospel of despair'. Public transport had to advertise its advantages over private transport. His own undertaking (Leeds Corporation) had carried over 4 million more passengers this year than it did last year by concentrating on this aspect.
Mr. R. Mackenzie referred to height of entrance and exit and said tyre and wheel developments• would be needed to reduce wheel sizes. He felt that the question of luggage was being over-emphasized; in many instances, available luggage space was not completely used. He suggested that the ideal position for an emergency exit was in the roof and that a1,1 p.s.v. regulations should be incorporated in one publication.
Mr. R. W. Adams said that a fuel tax reduction would be a more powerful aid to p.s.v. operation than anything else that could be suggested.
Mr. S. C. Vince' said that tyre equipment had to be something better than could be obtained at the moment. On heating and ventilating he felt that the B.E.T. now had a system which was not far off an ideal. Any system must be fully automatic, controlled by outside ambient temperature. He thought that several excellent ideas from the Continent could well be adopted here.
Mr. J. M. Birch said he saw nothing damaging or impossible in many of Mr. Perring's suggestions. The industry always had to spend extra money 'on refinements on its vehicles from year to year.
Mr. R. J. Ellery thought that the question of seating accommodation did not matter so -much as the standard of service provided and its east.