The Motor Omnibus World.
Page 7
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Messrs. Connelly and Sons, of Commercial Road, Hereford, report good patronage for a motorbus service which they have instituted between Hereford and Whitecross.
A meeting of the Upper Wharfedale Motor Bus Co. is to be held on the 26th proximo, at the offices in Charles Street, Bradford, for the purpose of receiving the liquidator's accounts.
The S.E.n. and Motorbuses::
The S.E. Railway Company, in several quarters, is being urged to provide motorbus services to assist developments of the outlying and healthful districts of Kent.
New Whitstable and Dover Services.
A motor brake has commenced running daily, from Whitstable to Dover and back. The return fare is 25. 6r1., and the route is via Canterbury and Eastry, mostly over tarred roads.
Manchester's Second Essay.
The two motor omnibuses which have been licensed by the Manchester Watch Committee will not be put into service until about the 3rd proximo. The Ryknield vehicle is a single-decker, but the Clarkson vehicle is of the standard double-deck pattern.
A Devonshire Scheme.
The Kingsley Country District Motorbus Company, of Bradworthy, Devon, is serving the Bradworthv, Bideford, Holsworthy, Clovelly, Bude, Sutcornbe, Parkharri and Putlord districts with a 22-seated motorcoach. The vehicle is fitted with a 4oh.p. Mutel engine, and has accommodation for about one ton of luggage.
-7"!! Provincial Licenses.
The moving spirits which are behind the London Electrobus Company, Limited, have recently shown no inconsiderable activity in the Provinces. A large number of applications for licenses have been lodged, although it is not very clear to us what the objective is ; certainly, the time and conditions are not favourable for the promotion of a Provincial Electrobus Company, if that project is in mind. Southport has declined to grant licenses, Aberdeen has remitted the application to the magistrates for consideration, and Blackpool has declined to grant licenses even for routes which are not served by its own electric tramcars. So far as accumulator propulsion is concerned, we see no reason why, subject to proper organisation and management, such a System should not prove successful on selected routes, and several corporations, of which we quote Loughborough, York and Cheltenham, have admittedly regarded the offers of the parties in question with sonic favour. This matter of the licensing Of motorbuses in the Provinces is on a basis which is intangible and unsatisfactory, whilst no right of appeal exists from the decisions of the local watch or hackney-carriage committees. No Acknowledgment.
A writer, M. Yves Guedon, in ' La Vie Automobile," has contributed a lengthy statistical article on the subject of motorbuses in London. The whole contents of this article are taken from the fortnightly censuses and the tables of shares and traffics which have been an exclusive feature of this journal for so long. We regret that M. Grtidon dicl not feel that it was incumbent upon him to make acknowledgment to us..
Tramcar Opposition.
We are at all times averse to the forcing of hostile action as between passenger-carrying companies or undertakings, by reason of the fact that each type of concern can do the other considerable harm if it likes. At the same time, it appears to us that many tramway managers and committees are doing their utmost to kindle a spirit of hostility on the part of motorbus interests. It should be good enough for tramcar advocates, that their vehicles enjoy the monopoly of the steel tracks upon which the cars run, and from the space between which tracks they drive ordinary wheeled traffic to the sides of the highway, which sides are consequently unduly worn. There is, as we have pointed out before, a total disregard on the part of the majority of tramway drivers of the Board of Trade regulations, which require them to preserve a certain minimum distance, either 5o or too yards, between any two cars which are travelling upon the same set of rails, and which forbid the bringing to rest of any two cars alongside of one another on parallel lines. Tramway people, in London and elsewhere, who are " pulling the wires "to secure what they regard as the legitimate downfall of the motorbus, will do well to pause and think before they continue these opposition tactics. A little organisation on the part of motorbus companies, and the setting aside, as a prosecution fund, of a few thousand pounds, might very easily bring confusion and enormous financial loss into the camp of more than one tramway undertaking. We donot hesitate to say that we should advise the adoption of this course, if a certain class of premeditated opposition is not stopped. At Morecambe.
Messrs. Fahy Brothers, of the Central Garage, Morecambe Street, Morecambe, are running a 28-30h.p. Dennis char-à-banes this season, and a satisfactory hiring trade is being done. At the last meetingof the Morecambe Town Council, a discussion in regard to this vehicle was raised, it being alleged that considerable dust was thrown up when it was travelling at speed. The Mayor refused to accept a motion that the char-a-bancs in question be not licensed, and the matter was allowed to drop.
Suggested Municipal Bus Service.
The residents of Bromley, Farnborough, and district are despairing of ever seeing the much-needed motorbus service. Three times has this been pro, raised. On the second occasion, trials were made over the intended routes, tickets printed, timetables issued, and boards painted ; yet the project fell through. This year, again, when there seemed a reasonable prospect that the buses would appear, another hitch occurred, and it is doubtful whether the service will be inaugurated in 1908. The local press, which is warmly in favour of a motor service, suggests that little if any opposition would now be raised to a municipal motorbus service.
"Vieo" Wheels.
The London General Omnibus Company has put into service a new Wolstley-Siddeley omnibus with " Vieo " wheels. It bears the company's chassis number 599 on the bonnet, which indicates that it is the tooth chassis of that type to te taken over. It is curious that chassis 577 to 589 have not yet come ;nto service, although most of the 590's are out. This omnibus (599) has wooden wheels, with the ordinary solid rubber tires, but the " Vieo 'system of rubber rollers, and the " Vieo " spring drive, is interposed between the wooden wheel proper, and the floating rim which car, ries the rubber tire. It will be particularly interesting to learn if the " Vieo " system results in a marked reduction of vibration, and in a longer life for the rubber tires which form the treads. VANGUARD.—Service 9, between Putney and Shoreditch, was withdrawn on the 23rd instant.
A number of changes are being made on the various Vanguard routes, with a view to the concentration of certain types of vehicles on suitable routes. The Armstrong. Whitworth and the M.O.C. machines have in this way been changed several times during the past week. The system of route indication which has been in use by the London General Omnibus Company for many years, and which consists of small detachable slip boards bearing both route and garage letters, is now being extended to all the Vanguard machines.
The " Daily Telegraph," in its issue dated the 25th instant, states
that " the General and Vanguard motorbuses wore (sic) their new identification boards for the first time yesterday." Our contemporary also expresses its conviction that these new (sic) boards are solely to aid the proprietors' inspectors to detect cases of speedy driving.
GREAT EASTERN.—As a reply to the " General " competition on the " Leyton to Elephant and Castle " route, which was inaugurated on the 17th instant, the Great Eastern Motor Omnibus Company has, since the 24th instant, transferred its " IlfordElephant and Castle " and Liverpool Street-Shepherd's Bush services to run between Ilford and Shepherd's Bush at lower fares than those which rule on the competing Vanguard Service 8. The reduced fares are being advertised on the sides of the Great Eastern vehicles.
A Peculiar Situation.
The enlarged London General Omnibus Company presents the somewhat incongruous spectacle of an undertaking which is spending something like ;,X;5,000 per -csrek in mechanical wages, and possibly 4.1,500 a week in spare parts, and which has not on its board of directors a single man who possesses any mechanical knowledge or training of the requisite character.