The Impracticability of Limiting Loads to Five . Tons.
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IN a 'letter published in The Times the bursar of an Oxford University college, suggests that to bolster up languishing railway business, "the Government, which provides the hulk of the money for the roads, ought to limit road traffic to loads of five. tons, or some such reasonable weight." In the saute letter he makes the interesting observation that heavy traffic is going by road solely because road transport is cheaper than carriage by railway, which is all to the interest of the, shipper and a strong argument against the proposed limitation of vehicle loading.
. It is regretta•ble that a man in such a position and writing from a centre of learning should take such a restricted view of this important subject And put forward a 'suggestion which would undoubtedly hamper. the flow of traffic in" this country. Such a drastic limitation of weight would be most uneConomie and would immediately render obsolete many thousands of transport vehicles of most sound and useful tyPes, including machines.. with six or more wheels.
Re also fails to realize that the commercial vehicle is already heavily penalized for its use of the highway, and that the amount payable is roughly prOportional.th the load capacity. The remarkable' success • Of road transPort shows that it is meeting an urgent need, and whilst we all regret that the railways should find themselves in difficulties, yet we cannot allow to pass suggestions which, if they were to be taken seriously, would have a disastrous effect upon the whole of the haulage industry as well as doing incalculable harm to the manufacturer, not only through the 'direct loss of business in the home market, but because the overseas • markets in the • larger classes of vehicle would necessarily have to be left practically free to our foreign rivals, as our knowledge. of heavy-vehicle -design would, naturally, tend to stagnate.
If the railways are to increase, their goods traffic they Must do so by improving their efficiency and making their service sufficiently attractive to those whose goods they wish to carry, not by any, artificial stimulus which might be obtained by recourse to further Govern-. mental restrictiOns on road transport.
Another Suggestion of "The Commercial Motor" Adopted.
ATE are particularly interested to learn that v the Incorporated Association of Architects and 'Surveyors is offering prizes for designs for a petrol and motor-service station, for the reason that this competition originated with a suggestion made in our issue for July 9th last year.
At that time the Association had arranged an exhibition of designs for the front of a typical commercial building, and we remarked that " we should like to see one on the same lines for commercial vehicle garages, petrol filling stations, etc., as some of these are by no means ornamental, even if they be useful."
We are, naturally, pleased that our idea has been adopted and gratified at having received from the Association a courteous acknowledgment of the suggestion. The competition has already attracted considerable attention and has been cordially welcomed by the daily Press;
An Advantage which the Coach Should Not Lose.
T"provision of regular coaching stations in large towns and cities is, in its way, a step In the right direction. Potential coach passengers will appreciate the conveniences such as waiting-rooms, offices, opportunities for refreshments and things of that kind which can be provided only at these stations. In addition, such a station eliminates any doubt as to the actual point of departure, since no one can mistake a motor coach station for anything but what it is. It may be, however, that in the rush of enthusiasm for this development a certain and peculiar advantage of the motor coach, as distinct from any other means for passenger transport, may be overlooked and possibly even lost altogether. We refer to the facilities which the coach offers for picking up the passenger quite near to his own home. The importance of this has been recalled to us several times of late in London, and the same conditions apply in many other large cities and towns.
Holiday makers arranging fonheir annual trip to the seaside, or people desiring to go by coach to some outdoor event of importance, such as a race meeting, have now the choice of coach or train. To reach the train they must, in many cases, travel several miles to a main-line terminus or station. The coach may still be boarded, if not at the door of the intending passenger, at least within a short walk. This is an advantage of the coach which might be lost if the practice of developing large central motorcoaching stations were to become widespread.
Why the Ban on a Municipal Bus Demonstration ?
IT is difficult to understand the reason for the decision to dispense with the vehicledemonstration side of the Conference of the Municipal Tramways and Transport Association which, this year, takes place at'Harrogate. We believe that such an important event, at which many managers of passenger-transport undertakings forgather, provides one of those rare opportunities for manufacturers' representatives and municipal officials to interchange ideas to mutual advantage. Makers of buses are given a chance of displaying their products and of indicating the latest practices in design and construction, whilst transport officers can make instructive comparisons between different types of vehicle and thus ascertain the class of • bus best suited to their needs.
It has been said that at previous conferences of a similar character members have been badgered by over-zealous salesmen, and although this may have been a source of much annoyance we can hardly believe that it is a sufficiently strong reason for dispensing altogether with the demonstration of buses. Some check could surely be kept on the activities of sales representatives without totally destroying the propaganda value of the display.
We suggest that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Municipal Tramways and Transport Association might arrive at some understanding on the matter, with the object' of overcoming the seemingly slight difficulties which at present exist. We hope that official recognition of the demonstration will soon be re-established.