Operating Aspects of
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Passenger Transport
BUS OPERATION IN LONDON AND BERLIN CONTRASTED
A Growing Preference for Longer Single-deckers is Apparent in the German Capital S07NIE interesting information on thu passenger-transport services of Berlin comes to hand from Herr G. Quarg„ the chief engineer of the Berliner Verkehrs Gesellschaft, the concern which now operates not only the motorbuses but also the underground railways and electric tramways in the German capital.
Herr Quarg writes that whilst there are many points of similarity in motorbus running conditions in London and Berlin there are also certain differences, the main one being that although Berlin agrees that the most economical vehicle for city or town niie is one carrying from 50 to 60 passengers, in London development appears to be fairly fixed in the direction of double-deck buses, whereas in Berlin the tendency is to look for the solution of the problem in the use of longer single-deckera. Only on a few specially suited routes are they now using buses carrying more than 60 passengers.
Although, as in London, the Berlin company has done everything possible to facilitate the taking up and setting down of passengers—the Berlin buses have doors at both front and rear ends --it is found that with double-deckers considerable delay occurs at the stopping places, owing largely to the fact that many of the " fares" will attempt to begin to descend the stairs only when the bus has actually come to a standstill; and as there appears nothing to be done to alter this state of affairs a loss of time seems inevitable. Moreover, the travoilling speed of the double-decker is lower. Thus, it is found that the main claims ushally put forward in favour of double-deck vehicles have, from the Berlin point of view, only a partial justification in practice.
On the other hand, a new and important point in connection with motorB39
buses, and one that supports the tendency to adopt longer vehicles, is that it is not possible to use the modern lowpressure pneumatic tyres in dual, or side-by-side, form, which means that if the load be such as to require six tyres a. six-wheeled bus is necessary.
The result is that in Berlin they are confronted with two problems—the one relating to constructional details due to the adoption of low-pressure tyres, and the other to traffic handling—the avoid ance of stairs. The careful study of these two points has led the operating company to decids to adopt, for the ordinary city routes on which buses capable of carrying from 50 to 60 passengers are necessary, single-deck bodies on six-wheeled chassis, the coachwork embodying the company's usual practice of specially wide doors at both front and rear.
In conclusion, Herr Quarg expresses the opinion that we have still a long way to go in ascertaining the best methods of handling motorbus traffic. Although a great deal has been learned the knowledge is still much below what is available in connection with railways, and even tramways. This is not only because railways and tramways are older forms of transport than motorbuses, but also largely because theoretical traffic diagrams in respect of railways have a far greater practical value than those for motorbus running. In the case of railways, in consequence of the absence of outside influences, such diagrams very largely correspond to actual running conditions, a state of things which also obtains in the case of many tramways. On the other hand, theoretical diagrams have not the same value as regards motorbuses, which are run with all forms of road traffic.