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ZE CONQUERING A STRONGHOL1 OF TRAMCARS
ASTRIKING fleet growth from 90 to 262 machines—with 40 more vehicles about to be ordered—together with a 100-per-cent. increase in traffic handled in the first half of the current municipal year, are among the most outstanding features of the rapid developments that have been made of late in the motorbus section of Manchester Corporation's transport department.
For, in less than three years, Manchester has recast its ideas on transport methods. Once a stronghold of fixed-line traction, it has so far changed its outlook as to have become not merely tolerant of the bus for certain duties but one of the largest bus-working municipalities in the country. The undertaking now owns one of the largest fleets and it carried approximately 25,000,000 passengers in the last complete municipal year, a total which will, it is anticipated, be increased to about 50,000,000 for the 12 months which end in March this year.
Remarkable Headway Since 1928.
Marked headway has been made and is continuing to be made, and it is generally accepted that the foundation of the existing fleet and system was laid as recently as 1928. The headway applies not so much to route expansion, although the system is growing steadily to meet the needs of this neighbourhood with its dense population, as in the building up of a niotorbuf,4 organization upon modern lines. This undertaking is now in most respects on an independent footing.
Manchester's prevailing policy is to use motorbuses for three classes of service, namely, express routes running, in most cases, right through the city, between important manufacturing towns on each side, chiefly in conjunction with neighbouring bus-working corporations; on circular routes " ringing " the city or adjoining tramway termini; and as feeder services from outlying areas to existing tramway lines. •
It is the experience of -the authority that in every case where a Motorbus service is established it quickly attains a traffic revenue sufficient to make the service self-supporting, without adversely affecting any tramway route over which it may work. In Manches:. ter, therefore, as elsewhere, it is true to say that the provision of adequate transit facilities . in itself creates ,a travel spirit in the people.
Another example—and one that is likely to have far-reaching effects on Manchester's future transport arrangements--is the way in which buses develop their own revenue, because of their speed and other advantages, and this is to be found in the recent circulgrroute conversion. This is locally known as the No. 53 route, which almost encircles the city and passes through districts with traffic potentialities which could not in the past properly be catered for by tramcars.
About 18 months ago the decision was reached to replace the single-deck trams by specially constructed double-deck motorbuses with bodies sufficiently low to enable them to negotiate several obstructing bridges. By a gradual system of replacement the 66 trams that were formerly used were replaced by 60 50-seater double-deck buses of the enclosed-top type, and the result was an almost immediate increase in revenue.
Benefits from the Change-over.
The effect of the change-over has been to increase the seating capacity on the route by 13.6 per cent. and to increase the average speed of the service from 9.01 m.p.h., by trams, to 9.0 m.p.h. by buses. The substitution is extremely popular with the public.
Early working results .following the change over adequately prove this, for the first six weeks of full bus working, from April of last year, produced an increased revenue of nearly £2,000, tile buses earning 114,554, as compared with £12,851 on the trams, for the corresponding period of the previous year. An increase in receipts from the buses approximating 13d. per mile was also recorded.
During the transition period, late in the past financial rear, for which complete figures are now available, the iuses earned 17.6d. per mile, as compared with 16.35d. isr the trams, and'it is confidently expected that the list full year's working will produce even more striking estimony of the success of the buses.
Public Support for the Double-decker.
In Manchester the double-decker is rapidly gaining in mpularity as a vehicle that is capable of coping with wavy traffic at a proportionately lower cost and with ess traffic congestion than can the single-deck unit, aid but for existing licensing restrictions, which tomewhat hamper developments in this direction, they vould be favoured, it is understood, for most future leet augmentations. Already the corporation has 100 1.1c1osed-top double-deckers in commission and the 40 rchicles to be ordered before Easter will ne all of this :ype. This order will entail a further outlay of nearly .70,000.
The present fleet numbers 262 mac/lines, of which the
• emaining 162 are single-deckers. The fleet is la:gely nade up of Crossley and Leyland buses—two Lancahire products—the older machines comprising A.E.C. nd Bristols. The most recent deliveries include :Irossley 38-110 h.p. six-cylinder 32-seater singleleckers and 50-seater enclosed-top double-saloon .ehieles, Leyland six-cylinder 32-seater single-deckers, .nd Leyland Titans, which-are being used extensively
the No. 53 route.
The capital expenditure on buses, it Is interesting to tote, at March 31st last amounted to £201,540, and at he end of 1930 it was little short of f400000.
• Eliminating Overlapping Services.
In Manchester working arrangements to eliminate .ostly and unnecessary competition are in force with idjoining bus-working municipalities and with estabished private bus conmanies, including Salford, 3olton, Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and Stockport Corpo.ations, and the North Western Road Car Co., Ltd., and he Lancashire United Transport and Power Co., Ltd. E34 A further development is the inter-working made possible between the corporation and the North Western Road 'Car Co., Ltd., since the opening of that company's large new bus station in Lower Mosley Street. From this establishment the two undertakings now jointly work services over an extensive tract of country to the south of the city.
Looking to the future, the transport department has given careful consideration to the necessity of providing its own central motorbus station in the heart of the city in order to overcome the existing terminal-point difficulty in the case of services which cannot, for topographical and other reasons, be worked from the Lower Mosley Street station. The department has now approved of the principle of a central station to overcome these difficulties and a site has been secured near Piccadilly, the hub of the city.
Yet another sign of the times is the replacement of trams by buses on several all-night routes. On six of these services, from the centre of the city to various outlying residential areas, buses are now providing an hourly service.
Depot Space for Nearly 350 Buses.
With the rapid growth of the fleet, additional depot accommodation has, from time to time, become necessary, and the corporation is at present in the position of having garage space equal to the fleet strength—up to the end of 1931, at any rate—space being available in the four depots in various parts of the city for nearly 350 buses. The largest of these IS at Parr's Wood, which is the repair, maintenance and engineering headquarters of the system. During the past year the authority has also had erected an extensive new depot at Princess Road, at a cost of £32,000, to house 105 vehicles. Plans have just been passed for extensions of the Parr's Wood establishment to provide accommodation for a further 115 machines.
The Parr's Wood depot includes central workshops, where all heavy repairs and periodical overhauls are carried out, as well as body-repair shops, paint shops and an extensive stores department.
The System of Maintenance.
Under the existing system of maintenance, which in the course of the past 12 months has been considerably tightened up, ordinary dock inspections and light repairp. are carried out in the three sub-depots. The dock oierhaul is carried out after approximately every 10,000 miles of running. Each vehicle, after covering a mileage of 30,000, is taken out of service and is run into the Parr's Wood establishment for a heavy clock overhaul. In addition, an annual overhaul of each unit of the fleet is carried out there. The system of sectionalization in repairs is favoured, one man being employed regularly upon a particular job.
Besides the 'recent evolution of such a thorough and detailed maintenance system, an interesting feature of the administrative side is the institution of a new system of costing, which is worked on the Kardex principle. By means • of this system the cost of the whole fleet, together with itemized costs for each vehicle, are kept ready for immediate reference in one compact box.
The system, which is thorough and particularly easy of reference: makes it possible at a moment's notice to trace any particular item of expenditure against any bus. An apparent wastage can be tracked in a short time, whereupon steps can be taken to remedy the defect. Similarly, a particularly low cost, indicating a useful economy, is also easily discernible, and when noticed can be cultivated and thus employed !to advantage in reducing the general costs.
Fuel-consumption Returns.
Each depot is complete with vehicle-washing plant using water under pressure. Each night every bus is thoroughly cleaned inside and outside by a special cleanjng staff. It is also inspected for obvious mechanical and other defects, and these are attended to by the overnight repair staff. A check is kept on all repairs and overhauls by means of the work label, which provides a complete-history of the work done.
Before leaving the works side it may be mentioned thatipetrol-consumption figures are carefully checked and are considered to be extremely satisfactory for city working. The averages are : double-deckers 4.67 m.p.g. and single-deckers 5.65 m.p.g. Some of the buses engaged On express routes cover between 250 miles and 280 miles per day, but others, oil short routes, with many stops, average only 100-150 miles. The bulk of the fleet engaged on express services is run in for overhaul approximately each six to eight weeks.
It is not without interest at this stage to review the growth of the system in recent years. The following In connection with the 1930 costs it must be borne in mind that this was the first full year of working after the imposition of the petrol tax, and that this naturally represents an appreciable increase in operating costs. The total revenue from the buses in the past 12 mouths amounted to £271,189, as compared with 1225,388 in the previous year.
Trams Replaced by Buses.
The cot version since March last year of a number of routes frean tramway to bus working, together with rapid traffic increases on the No. 53 circular route, is responsible for remarkable increases in the succeeding period, namely, the six months enaed September 30th last. In that period the bus system carried 26,328,836 passengers, or more than the total number carried in the year 1929-30. The bus mileage was 3,708,821 and receipts totalled £228,032. The increase over the corresponding period of the previous municipal year is one of more than 14,000,000 passengers carried. It is anticipated that the system will carry at least 50,000,000 passengers in the year ending March 31st next.