London Traffic : Board of Trade Report.
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NiatOreabS.
IL iS forecasted that there will he 3,000 motorcabs in service by the end of the present year—an estimate which is somewhat on the high side. Attention is then drawn to the fact that these mechanical hackney carriages often have fares to points a large number of miles away from Landon, to xvhich passengers would otherwise have travelled by rail, and to their very wide use in connection with race nieetings. It proceeds : " The substitution of mechanical for horse-drawn cabs which is going on cannot fail to be beneficial to traffic, It tends to diminish congestion in two ways—first, because a journey of given length is performed in less time, and consequently with less occupation of the streets, and, secondly, because a motorcab does not " crawl." Moreover, a mechanical cab is shorter than a horse and cab. Three motorcabs occupy no more space on a rank than two horse cabs,"
Motorbuses.
We observe that Sir Herbert Jekyll has relied upon " THR CoNtmtuRcizu, MOTOR " censuses for his statistics in this section, as regards the number of vehicles in service at the beginning of the years 1906 to 103. This is natural, as no other data are available. He comments upon the failure of early types, and the causes of such failure. The possible remedies will be of interest to many readers :
Motor omnibuses met with immediate success, and were largely patronised by the public, who were quick to appreciate their superiority over horse omnibuses, especially in regard LO speed. Much money was, however, lost in the curlier years. Omnibuses of inferior make were imported from abroad in considerable numbers, and were worked by people who did not understand the business. Even the larger omnibus companies failed to appreciate the difference between the conditions of working mechanical and horse-drawn vehicles. Insufficient provision was made for the care, repair, and overhaul of the new omnibuses, they were often run at too high a speed and the length of their daily journeys was much too great. They consequently deteriorated rapidly, and the expenses of maintenance and repair soon became very heavy. These initial mistakes have now been largely corrected. The weaker proprietors have given up the business; the omnibuses are in comparatively few, but stronger hands ; proper shops have been provided, with the necessary appliances for repair; all the vehicles are overhauled at short intervals; and the daily run of each omnibus has been reduced."
lie next draws attention to the check in the rate of progress, which was experienced from the fall of 1906 forward, but adds the forecast : "A more rapid advance may be expected to come in time, as mechanical improvements and economies in working continue to be made, and as public impatience with
the slow travel of the horse -oninibi grows." A brief reference to the pr ject of the first-class omnibus follows The report (page 25) gives statist' in regard to the carrying capacity omnibuses per hour, both ways, durir full hours of service, along the Bay water Road, from Shepherd's Bush the Bank. Since the year 1903, the i crease west of the Marble Arch h. been close upon 300 per cent., where. the increases on the sections betwec Marble Arch and the Bank have be less than 20 per cent. Nothing can e emplify the outward tendency of pa senger traffic better.
As to the position and prospects the motorbus industry, and the mann in which these vehicles appeal to ti public, the report states :
" Although the motor omnibus IN become firmly established in Londoi and the industry has attained to lark proportions, it cannot yet be said have passed wholly out of the expel mental stage. It has not been sucoes ful financially, and a point has be reached at which further advance 1-u not come clearly into view. Vehich have been put on without sufficient r■ gard LO the requirements of traffii and fares have been reduced to a poi, at which little or no profit is bein made. This state of things canm continue, and unless an early remed is discovered and applied, the inclustr as a whole may be in difficulties. TE amalgamation of existing ornnibt companies which is being effected vi enable superfluous vehicles to be either suppressed or utilised on new routes, and the services to be so rearranged that motor and horse omnibuses can be used for the purpose which each is best lilted to serve without wasteful duplication and overlapping; while congestion of traffic will be relieved, and sonic improvement may in consequence be looked for in the average speed. The economy which always attends the werlsiug of large undertakings will enable the. cheapest possible accommodation to he given to the public, even if the existing scale of fares cannot be maintained. Although the future cannot be foreseen, it can hardly be doubted that the mechanical omnibus, whatever motive power and type of vehicle may ultimately be adopted, is deetined to become a perma: Dent, and possibly e dominant, factor in London loromotion. The popularity which it has achieved proves that it meets a distinct public need."
Finally, the view is emphasised that certain routes should be set aside for horse vehicles only, and others for motor vehicles, in stage-carriage organisetion. It is pointed out that, so long as motor and horse omnibuses compete among themselves for the same traffic, so long will they be found mixed up indiscriminately to the detrimeat of both.
Tramcars and Tramways.
In passing to this section, the report admits that the motorbus, though of smaller carrying capacity, has greater
flexibility. It goes on " Tramway tines in a roadway are, moreover, always objectionable, and the breakdown of a single tramcar, or any other vehicle on the line, stops the whole service. On the other hand, where streets have ample width, and the conditions are otherwise favourable, the tramway has no rival for the safe, convenient, and cheap transport of large numbers of people." [It is hardly necessary to insert our disagreement with this view. • -En.] it is next suggested that motorbuses should be used to test the traffic of a projected tramway route, This section then becomes, largely, aprecis of the report of the Royal Commission, and of its Board of Advisory Engineers, so far as tramways are concerned. It gives a table of the growth of mileage from 1903 to tow, and deals at some length with the Kingsway subway, and the linking-up of the north and south systems. References are then made to the various companies which work in the outer suburbs of Greeter London. So far as the width of the roadway, from kerb to kerb, is concerned, where a tramway is thought to he necessary, it quotes the view of the Royal Commission that 48 feet is the feast that admits of a double line of
iranaWav.
Turningto the very important feature of congestion due to tramcars, the report states :
" Tramcars, owing to their great length and their rigid movement on fixed lines undoubtedly cause congestion in narrow streets, especially at crossings, and instances are not wanting in London of streets in which the admission of tramways has liven attended with inconvenience, it not with danger. In such streets the speed of tramcars is no greater than that of omnibuses, while their movement is touch less flexible, and the breakdown of a single car or any other vehicle on the track blocks the way for all the cars that follow. The inconvenience may be outweighed by the advantages of through communication, but it is sufficient to show the need for caution in allowing tramways to enter narrow streets," Finally, this section of the report is devoted to arguments in favour of the amalgamation of interests, including working arrangements with railway companies.
Railways.
The difficulties under which railway companies labour, in respect of the acquirement of new lands, are briefly summarised, and particularly the great expense which attaches to any widening scheme. Unified management is advocated, and recent steps in this direction are indicated. A list is then given of the various extensions and conversions which have taken place since 1905, and considerable mention is made of the growth of traffic upon tube railways, the cost of which is also touched upon. The great fall in receipts where motorbuses and tramcars compete is next discussed.
A valuable diagram accompanies this section of the report, in which the volume and distribution of passenger traffic entering London from the suburbs, by railway, in the month of October, tetoo, is made clear, but we do not make any longer extracts from this section, els they are only of particular interest.
Regulation of Traffic.
Pzigcs 64 to 71 are devoted to a summary of the recommendations of the Royal Commission, in respect of the regulation of traffic and obstructions in streets. The standing of vehicles at the sides of the streets, as an impediment to locomotion, is again deprecated, and the loss to the public which issues from the loading and unloading of vans in narrow thoroughfares. The breaking-up of streets, the delays caused by markets, the evils of fixed obstructions, and the difficulties which arise from cab stands and crawling cabs, all receive notice, and the necessity for the simplification and consolidation of the Taw is urged. It is especially suggested that there should be regulation of tM routes of motor omnibuses; and other motor vehicles, hot an observation of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on cabs and omnibuses, is here quoted. It reads " In considering this matter arid what regulations may be enforced to abate the annoyance and injury, it is desirable in the first place to point out a distinction between different classes of streets. A person taking a house upon a main line of metropolitan traffic must In justice he prepared to tolerate the noise of such traffic, in whatever reasonable manner it may develop. A person, on the other hand, who for reasons of health or the necessities of occupation, takes a house off the line of such main traffic, lets a just ground of romplaint when the main traffic is diverted to pass his front door for no reason except the profits of private enterprise. The rights of the millions of people who benefit by the increased speed and area of public motor traffic,
may fairly be regarded as outweighing the increased disturbance, within reason, of those who have elected to reside or carry on business in main thoroughfares. It is, on the other hand, a condition of civilised life in a city that a citizen to whom comparative quiet is essential shall know that by residing in certain places he will be assured of it.
The matter of damage sustained by weak macadam roads, by the advent of motor traffic, is next mentioned, and we are then brought to the statement that " The most pernicious of fixed obstructions are centre lamp-posts, and other permanent structures in the roadways." Sincere regret is expressed that the obstruction by centre lampposts has increased, and it is pointed out that any problematical saving in the cost of lighting is dearly purchased. The view of the Advisory Board of Engineers, "that such centre lamp-posts serve as refuges and so tempt pedestrians to cross at a much larger number of points than is necessary," is recalled. A later paragraph in this section runs : " We are therefore of opinion, in the first place, that a commercial company or a public authority, if such shall hereafter enter this field, should not be at liberty to run motor omnibuses whereever it pleases with entire disregard to the character of the streets traversed. Any person desiring to run motor omnibuses in the metropolis should, in our opinion, supply to the proper authority a map of the route it is proposed that these should follow, and it should not be legal to run motor omnibuses along any route until such route has been approved by the said authority. This recommendation if acted upon will at once remove many grounds of just complaint, while in no way infringing private rights or handicapping commercial enterprise. The stopping places of motor omnibuses at the end of routes should also not be chosen by the omnibus proprietors until after permission granted by the proper authority. This recommendation requires the repeal of a section of the Metropolitan Streets Act, 1867." This matter of route regulation is one of the gravest difficulty, and it promises to give rise to much trouble hereafter. Conclusions.
The introduction to the conclusion of the report is of more than passing interest, and we therefore quote the paragraph in full : " The supersession' of horse drawn by mechanical vehicles which is going on benefits traffic directly and indirectly. A mechanical vehicle occupies the streets less than a horse vehicle because it is shorter and travels faster. The number of horses in London has diminished by many thousands, the consumption of forage has been largely reduced, and there is in consequence less carting than there was of hay, straw, and manure through the streets. Motor traffic causes no dirt. The gradual supersession of horses promotes cleanliness and ought to reduce the expenses of scavenging and cleansing of roadways."
" In the three years which have elapsed since the Royal Commission completed their enquiry, many changes have taken place, some of which were foreseen by them and were foreshadowed in their report. It may be convenient to recapitulate the most important of these changes, and to consider to what exteril they affect the recommendations of the Royal Commission. They comprise the opening fortraffic of 26i miles of new tube railways; the substitution of electrical for steam working on 68 miles of railway; improvements in railway working; the reconstruction of egi miles of horse tramway for electrical working in the administrative county ; the construction of 8o miles of new electrical tramways in the outer area; the connection of detached tramway systems north and south of the Thames; the opening for traffic of Vauxhall Bridge and Rotherhithe Tunnel; the completion of Kingsway, Aldwych, and other new streets; the widening, partly or wholly accomplished, of Piccadilly and other important streets and roads ; the institution and subsequent abandonment of a passenger steamboat service on the Thames; the introduction of more than a thousand motor omnibuses, and a still larger number of motor cabs; a rapid growth in motor traffic generally, and a corresponding diminution in horse traffic; a large increase in the traffic of
urban railways, tramways, and omnibuses; and a considerable falling off in the suburban traffic of the trunk railways—a falling off, moreover, which is likely to continue."
So far as the suggestions of the Royal Commission went, that local authorities should assist the construction of railways, it is remarked that no action has been taken in this matter, and the view is expressed that, outside the ten-mile limit, railways will have the best chances, the inner traffic being left to the underground railways, omnibuses, and tramcars.
A Central Traffic Board.—
The central recommendation of the Royal Commission, that a traffic board should be appointed, is regarded as the only solution of the problem. No existing authority is competent to deal with locomotion as a whole, and the hopes of the L.C.C. are clearly shown to be fatuous. The powers of this Traffic Board, in respect of which, up to the present, no legislation has been attempted, would be most comprehensive, and the whole of this first report of the Traffic Department of the Board of Trade is a further argument in its favour. A memorandum by the Home Office points out that it has not yet been found possible to do anything in Parliament, but that the need is fully appreciated. The claims of more pressing subjects are stated to have rendered any action hitherto impracticable. On the other hand, the Home Office draws attention to minor Orders which have been put in force, and to certain street widenings which have been effected. It also points out how a large number of L.C.C. tramway bills have been rejected since the year 1904.
The report, as we stated last week, is a synopsis of the voluminous report of the Royal Commission on London Traffic. It will enable many to obtain a grasp of the subject, and we think that the investment of 4s. in a copy might well be made by every officer of a passenger-transport or other motorcarrying company in the London area. Though devoid of specific recommendation, it is a valuable addition to the literature of the subject.