The Need for Getting Back to Hard Coal.
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Fr HE continued use by owners of steam wagons of soft coal and other smoke:producing fuels is leading to a number of complaints and to questiOns in Parliament, and it. would appear to be advisable as quickly as possible to get on to hard coal so that the need for an amendment of the law on the subject can be avoided. The law, as it stands, iS rather generous to the owner and driver in the latitude given to them, for the qualifying phrase which excepts the temporary or accidental cause is responsible for the laxity' shown by the police. Actually, the police would take action in hundreds of eases, but they know the excuse 'which would be given and they are all too familiar with the sympathetic ear which the magistrate would turn to the offender and, maybe, • the baleful eye he would bend upon the constable for bringing "such a paltry matter " . to his notice, and thereby "wasting the time of the court." In the circumstances, the police feel helpless, but where special by-laws supplement the Act of 1896 they are able to take action, as in the case of the Blackwall and Rotherhithe Tunnels. In the twelve months ending June 30th no fewer than 180 prosecutions for emitting noxious vapour in those tunnels Were instituted. in the cases so far heard practically every one resulted in a conviction. Smoke and grit can he nearly as offensive on the public highway as in a tunnel and, if complaints should continue, there might be an attempt, when highway law is next under discussion, to remove the qualifying phrase referred to, and this would tend to make difficult the position of the steam wagon on the highway and therefore is to be averted at all costs.
The Proved Superiority of the Covered Top-deck Bus.
WITH the chilling of—shall we say?—less inclement weather (for ',uo one could truth fully his 'hand Upon his heart and call it summer I) the voice of the person who loves the sun and the fresh air is heard along the omnibus route. His note of complaint is about the covered top-deck bus, and he begs that (1) they may in summer be replaced by the open top-deck bus, or (2) that the top cover be made removable. Such remarks and arg,urnents are often addressed to us. and a little investigation generally discloses the fact that the complainer is not a person travelling regularly on the buses in the hours of peak loads. Now the peak-load period passenger is the person to be considered. His custom is constant and regular ; he is the man who puts the main portion of the revenue into the coffers of the bus operator ; he is the person who must be accommodated and should be provided with a comfortable seat. Other passengers are free to travel as and when they like, aid upon their patronage no reliance is to be placed. They are fair-weather travellers and add to the revenue— usefully, admittedly—and at holidays and on Sundays they fill the buses that might otherwise have stood idle or gone empty.
Their preferences, however, cannot be allowed to outweigh those of the regular passenger, who is compelled to travel whatever the weather may be. The point is often overlooked that there are more women passengers on buses nowadays. In peak-load periods they outnumber the men (for they never walk part of the way for the sake of exercise as men sometimes do), and they always rush for the sheltered saloon, leaving the unsheltered seats to the males. It May be unfair, but the circumstance has to be admitted as a fact.
The sight of a crowded bus on a pouring wet evening with the upper deck occupied by 20 or 30 men all standing because the seats were im possible to sit upon was all too common, and it was obvious that the evil had to be remedied.
The remedy has been the top cover, which has brought other advantages in its train. Ample ventilation is possible ; the upholstered seat and back make all the difference in the world to the passenger ; at night-time the light permits one to read (and the sprung seats encourage reading, whereas the hard seat produced a dither that made reading difficult) ; the roof protects the passenger against the heat of the suh in the summer when the sky is clear (to many people exposure to the sun is as distressing as exposure to the storm) and, last but not least, the dismissal of the knee apron is a real boon.
The knee apron to be long enough to, be of use in wet weather must at other times rest on the floor and, so, for the first few inches it gets into a dirty state—just the few inches that must come into contact with the clothing when its protection is sought. When hanging down, the outer side— the dirtier—rubs against the clothing and, often, it is thrown over the seat in front and a person eating upon it again brings his clothing into contact with the dirty part. Gone with the knee apron is the dusty -state of the seat, seat back and bus side. No; the top-deck cover is the greatest all-round improvement to the motorbus, for to the regular male traveller it is a revolution, and to the pleasure-seeking passenger it makes possible the long bus journey.
It is occasionally suggested that the buses should be convertible to the open type by the re moval of the roof section in fair weather. Such a proposal is impracticable because of the difficulties attendant upon the need for storing the bus roofs and for preventing them from getting Out of shape during the period of disuse. With our unreliable weather, the removal of the roof would entail the removal of the cushioned seats, a fact which emphasizes the unpractical nature of the proposal.
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The Results of Demonstrating Sidecar Merits.
AGENERAL review of the commercial sidecar demonstration brings some interesting facts to light. To begin with, 16 vehicles turned up at Liverpool on the Sunday preceding the demonstration and 16 vehicles clocked in at Coventry on the following Saturday, after having covered some 600 miles and stopped at 48 towns and villages for exhibition purposes. In other words, the time-table which had been arranged by the promoters many weeks beforehand was adhered to with the regularity of a main-line train service'. If there were divergences on occasion it was when the convoy was ahead of time, for a higher average speed could have been maintained had the law permitted.
In various guises (large packing cases, water, sand, weights, and in one case a motorcycle) a total load of 2 tons 7 cwt. 0 qr. 18 lb. distributed over the 16 vehicles was carried from beginning to end and, including the weights of the outfits, over six tons was transported from place to place. Mechanical trouble practically did not occur, the sum total for all the vehicles being confined to a stretched magneto chain, a broken spring link fastener on a primary driving chain, a broken sidecar spring and a frayed-out control wire.
The actual tyre-mileage, including that of the official sidecar outfits, totalled some 40,000, and in the whole of this not one single burst or puncture was experienced! The course, although over main roads, embraced severe sections in Killick and Sutton Bank—both boasting gradients of at least 1 in 4i—and a good many miles of pot-holed roads. In addition, the slow procession through the various crowded areas, the wheeling into line at each and every parking place and the restart of each section necessitated the frequent use of bottom gear and clutch. It was a realistic reproduction of conditions under which the commercial sidecar would be used in everyday business, except that the leads were constant instead of decreasing, as they would be when actually on delivery service.
A point which had not been sufficiently realized Is the quick and easy interchangeability of the sidecar body from business to pleasure purposes and vice versa. Such interchangeability has been the subject of many patents, and in the designs related thereto change is a matter of minutes only. Even when no such patent device is utilized, however, an hour's work will, in most cases, enable the owner to convert his delivery van into a touring outfit bearing no trace whatever of its alternative purpose. The highest tax payable on any of the machines in the demonstration was £.4—an immediate economy over the more expensive four-wheeler. At two of the night stops economy in garage space was very practically illustrated, the whole of the convoy being parked away in spaces which, on the face of it, looked as though they could not possibly accommodate more than half their number.
By great good luck fair weather was encountered throughout the demonstration, with the exception of one sharp rainstorm and a blanket of mountain mist near Alston. A minute or so sufficed for riders to don weatherproof garments giving them adequate protection.
It would appear that a series of demonstrations of a like nature might well be organized, not only for commercial sidecar outfits, but also for the heavier form of goods and passenger carriers. Such demonstrations would undoubtedly assist local garage proprietors and could be made the media for sales managers to visit their agents.