TEN YEARS' MUNICIPAL BUS EXPERIENCE.
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The Experience of the Authorities at York where Passenger Carrying Road Motors were First Put Into Service a Decade Ago..
TN OUR Special Municipal Issue, -1-published a few weeks ago, overwhelming evidence was brought forward to show the extensive use which municipal authorities in all parts of the country are now making of motorbuses. The rapid development of the motorbus and its incursion into spheres of passenger transport, hitherto the',exclusive domain of the tramcar, have wrought a marked change in the attitude of local government bodies towards the road motor.
Those authorities which have pinned their faith to. the tramway have been made awale of the decreasing value of the rail-hound system of transport by reason of falling receipts. Their takings, in some instances, have been so depleted that the service has been a constant drain on the rates, and, accordingly, they have realized that an improvement could only be effected by moving with the times. Some authorities have taken the bold step of abandoning tramcars in toto, replacing them by motorbuses ; others have introduced trolley-buses in ,substitutron therefor (using the existAug overhead equipment), whilst the majority have put into operation petrol vehicles for developing new areas and for acting as feeders to the tramway system. Whatever procedure has been adopted, however, it is safe to say that most municipal authorities realize that the popularity of the tramcar is on the wane and that it has passed the zenith of its period of usefulness.
Some authorities . foresaw these developments many years ago and have been users of motorbuses for a decade or more, and that their experience with such ,vehieles has been satisfactory is proved by the fact that they have made repeatedadditions to their fleets. Such is the case at York, where the municipal 'tramway services were augmented by motorbuses so long ago as 1915.
It was, as a matter of fact, • on February 15th of that year that the first road motor service was inaugurated, the type of vehicle which was favoured being an accumulator-electric vehicle -with a seating capacity for 20 passengers. It is only of more recent years that one-man-controlled buses have become popular, yet • these buses were, singularly enough, built to be operated in this •manner. Only three vehicles
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were commissioned for regular use during the first year, and they were operated over a stretch of route 1.5 miles ,in length. The total passengers carried, however, exceeded the half-million mark for a total revenue mileage of 64,490,
the average receipts per bus-mile being 7.48d. Although there was a small loss on the year's working, the number of passengers carried served to indicate the value and convenience of the service.
The. accumulators on these vehicles were charged in the garage during the night, but, when necessary, they were boosted up from a special type of switch pillar and generator erected at the terminal points.
Vehicles of this type continued to be used for another two years, during which they increased in popularity, as indicated by improved receipts per busmile. Almost three years later to the day the first petrol buses were purchased and put into operation on a new route. The petrol and electric road motor services were then worked one with the other, the total route mileage at this period being 2.93.
This system prevailed ' until March, 1923, when the authorities decided to replace the' electrie vehicles by up-todate petrol-propelled models, their choice falling on 20-seater one-man-controlled Leyland buses, of which three were put into regular use.
At this point we may well describe in brief the general features of this type of bus, since further similar vehicles were added to the fleet at a later date. The chassis is listed by its makers— Leyland Motors. Ltd.—as model A9 of .2 tons capacity, and it has a 30 h.p. engine. The body differs in one or two respects from that commonly employed on small buses, chiefly in the arrangement of the seating.
1The usual type of transverse seat is displaced by two longitudinal seats, which extend from immediktely behind the separating partition at the back of the driver's seat to a point well beyond the arches of the rear wheels. These seats are built out from the main framing at the sides and are provided With detachable leather cushions, whilst back squabs are fixed at the level of the waist rail. Two transverse seats, each for two Passengers, make up the full complement, the space between them giving ready access to the emergency door (it is 2 ft. wide) at the rear. This door, by the way, can be opened from either inside or outside the vehicle.
The entrance is at the front en the near side, and it is of a particularly safe type, in which a two-piece door, under the control of the driver, completely en-. closes the steps, which are built within the body itself. The door is 2 ft. 6 ins. wide and the first step 1 ft. 1 ins, from the ground, each of the risers being 114 ins, in depth.
This form of layout for the seating has several advantages. First, it does not limit the leg-room given to passengers, and, secondly, it enables the trapdoors over the gearbox and back axte. to be lifted without any difficulty.
As one of our illustrations shows, the York-type bus is a very compact vehicle, the narrowness of many of the city's streets • necessitating the use of a machine of somewhat limited size. Thewidth over pillars, for in•stance, is only 6 ft. 4i ins, and the overall length 20 ft. .2 ins It is this factor, too, which made the use of longitudinal seats desirable, for only by following this arrangement could adequate seating be obtained and due comfort and convenience given to all passengers.
In December, 1923, the authorities at York withdrew the two original petrol buses from service and purchased further Leyland vehicles of the pattern we have briefly described. The present fleet consists of nine buses, six of which
are shod with solid tyres, the others5 being fitted with Dunlop straight-sided cord tyres of 3G-in. by 6-in. dimensions, twins being used on the rear wheels. ' We are told, however, that in the future pneumatic tyres will form the standard equipment for the busesrun by the York Coporation.
The mileage of the bus routes now being worked in the city is 6.08, and one can anticipate further expansions at later date, particularly as the authorities are making further purchases. The tramways committee has, as a matter of fact, just sanctioned the purchase of three new buses. These will he of the 26-seater one-man-operated type on
pneumatic tyres, but the make of the chassis has not.yet been decided on, and will be open to tender.
The progress' and development of municipal bus services in York can be ascertained from the following statistics set out in tabular form.
It will be noted that after being worked at a losS for some years, the services, are now showing a useful and substantial annual profit, the figure for the year closing on March 31st being. estimated at £1,124. In emphasizing this tact we should not neglect to 'add: that Mr. J. A.. Bromley, A.M.I.E.E,, IVI.Inst.T., is the general manager and engineer of the tramways department.