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Motorbuses de Luxe.

4th April 1907, Page 1
4th April 1907
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Page 1, 4th April 1907 — Motorbuses de Luxe.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

It may be gathered front the report of the discussion, which is concluded by us to-day, that one of the chief controversial points in Mr. Worby Beaumont's paper before the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers* was that raised by the lecturer in regard to the probable future use of single-deck omnibuses, or at least of omnibuses having considerably less seating capacity than the standard doubledeck construction which is at present in the ascendant. There unquestionably is a consensus of opinion that a double-deck motorbus is a necessity in London, if any prospect of commercial success is to be retained, but this widespread opinion is based upon the view that penny stages approximating to an average of two miles in length will remain with us as a condition of operation. Mr. Beaumont stated that he had yet to learn that there was any Act of Parliament making it necessary for the popular motorbus to carry passengers absurdly long distances for a penny, and we can confirm his view that no such Act exists. It is free competition that has brought down motorbus fares in London, or has, more accurately, effected the equivalent of rendering it necessary to make penny stages longer and longer, whilst the rates and facilities offered by tubes, shallow railways and L.C.C. tramcars have all contributed their share to the arrival of the unremunerativelv long penny stage, and even the unduly long halfpenny stage.

The foregoing position does not, however, in any way render impracticable or unlikely the advent of the first-lass motorbus. So long ago as the beginning of August last we expressed the view that there was a distinct opening in certain parts of London for smaller omnibuses which would carry passengers at fares, say, too per cent, or even 200 per cent, greater than those then in force, and we still believe that the West End will see the inauguration of such a service within the next two years at the latest. A 14-seated vehicle, fitted with pneumatic tires, having the seats arranged transversely, and with provision for the removal of the side windows in hot weather, should enjoy ample patronage to make it pay handsomely, although there will be no question of its displacing the standard type of double-deck motorbus as we know it to-day. Changes in coach-work must come in the last-named vehicle, as surely as they did after stage-coach bodies were adopted for railway service seventy years ago; but the omnibus de luxe will not compete with the larger types.

Better Roads: A Contrast.

Two brief repeirts in this issue, one each under the News and the Motor Omnibus World Sections, serve to present an interesting comparison between the methods of two of London's Borough Councils, The Shoreditch Council, instead of taking legal action against the motorbuses which are alleged to give forth noises that amount to an " intolerable nuisance," has decided that the "best way of dealing with the inconvenience complained of is to put the roadway in question in thorough repair." The Kensington Council on the other hand, after an elaborate investigation by its Law and General Purposes Committee, and after incurring the expense of reference to two leading .,.counsel, has advised that, assuming the facts to amount to a nuisance, and that the interests of an important section of the inhabitants are concerned, it will be fully justified in taking proceedings on their behalf. It is proposed, therefore, by this Vest-End Council, to start proceedings in the Chancery Division, by the Attorney-General at the relation of the Council, and we presume that application will shortly be made for an injunction against certain alleged " principal offenders." How much more wisely the ratepayers' money would he spent if some of the vile woad pavement between the Albert Hall and Addison Road Staion, which gives rise to the major portion of the complaints that have been lodged, were taken up and relaid! Such procedure would confer considerable benefit upon all the wheeled traffic of the district, and would eliminate the noises which are really due to the bad condition of the highway under notice. We commend the action of the Shoreditch councillors to the notice of the Kensington authorities. The same motor wagons and tractors, which they wish to prove give rise to a public nuisance, travel over contiguous stretches of highway without causing any such noises, and this fact must be held to go to show that the fault lies with the road-makers whose length of highway is the foes et origo of their present trouble. An important conference on the subject of roads in relation to motor traffic will be held on the 19th instant at Olympia, on the occasion of the Conference of Municipal and County Engineers which has been organised by our contemporary " The Surveyor." The Editor of that journal, Mr. Gibson Thompson, and the Secretary of the Commercial Motor Users' Association, Mr. Rees Jeffreys, are acting as Joint Honorary Secretaries, and some -further references to the programme will be found on page 119. We hope that members of the Kensington Borough Council, within whose area this conference is to take place, will

not fail to attend its deliberations., There is hope, if they do so, that their present inclination to lay the whole blame on the heavy motorcar, and to ignore the real source of the noise which pertuebs them so greatly, will be modified in more respects than one.

The Parish Motor.

The parish beadle and the parish pump are to memory dear; but the parish motor is a new idea. Whether it will become an established institution remains to be seen, but ettorts are being made, in some country districts, to bring about its creation. Any such extension of municipal trading into the arena of the carrying trade will certainly meet with considerable disfavour in many quarters, but the suggestion is highly interesting, and is a course which may he adopted in the case of particular agricultural centres. At the same time, whilst by no means averse to the introduction of vans, lorries or tractors by Rural District or County Councils, in order to assist local development and to perfect internal communication by providing feeders for railways, and otherwise, we believe that this class of work will be much better undertaken by private enterprise on the lines which have already been worked out by the Agricedtural Organisation Society, at whose instigation several of OUT leading railway companies have established road motor services in different parts of the country.

Loitering Stage Carriages.

Some London motorbus companies appear to be lapsin into the methods of the old days when the rolling stock of stage-carriage proprietors consisted only of horsed vehicles, for nothing could exceed the tediousness of the delays which they are now countenancing at some of the principal recognised stopping places. The air of briskness which one associated with the original several hundred motorbuses has been transferred to the decaying horse bus, whose drivers, though doomed, whip up their horses bravely, and the mechanical vehicle is suffering in the comparison from two causes. In the first place, the public well remembers the alacrity which had to be displayed in order to board the motorbuses during the first few months of their appearance in the streets of the Metropolis, and, though a few people grumbled, the great majority really enjoyed the excitement which, as one incidental result, led to that rather interesting literary effort entitled "The Vanguarder" (see our issue of the 4th December, telse). In the second place, the very general manner in which motorbus drivers are now allowed to wait about at various points, presumably in order to maintain, the running of their vehicles correct to schedule time at certain checking stations,' regardless of the actual spacing or intervals that occur between succeeding omnibuses along other parts of the routes, is gradually causing the public to realise that the saving of time which was originally .effected by motorbuses tem no longer be relied upon by thern.

.Complaints on this score of loitering have been growing in volume since the beginning of the year, and instances have been brought under our notice where motorbuses have waited considerably more than five minutes at a picking-up point. This state of affairs threatens to be a serious one for the operating companies, because it is the point-to-point speed of the motorbus that induces a large amount of its patronage. We are perfectly aware that the 12-mile limit of speed may have some ;bearing upon the change of behaviour, but Cr oilers no explanation of the unnecessary idling which we feel called upon to condemn in the interests of the shareholders as much as in the interests of the whole motorbus movement. The cost per hour of a two-horse bus is not sufficiently high to render the incidence of such stoppages very serious ; yet the proprietors thought it expedient, in recognition of motor. bus competition, to cut down such delays as much as possible. Is it not playing into the hands of competing systems of passenger transport for motorbus companies to allow these excessive delays? If they are adopted as a means of

masking excessive speed during other parts of the day, the sooner a re-organisation of the running is adopted the -better

for all concerned. Idling at street corners will not compen sate for the excessive wear and tear due to a relatively wild careering over bad portions of the highway, and we cannot regard this unequalled distribution of work as other than an indication of the fact that there is still plenty of room for the application of organising ability to the traffic problem.

Without Circumspection.

The liquidation of several provincial motorbus and roadcarrying companies naturally leads one to look for a common explanation of these unfortunate occurrences, and webelieve it can clearly be detected as due to a general lack of circumspection on the Part of those who took up the enterprises in their initial stages. It would be invidious to quote the details which prompt us to make this statement, but our purpose will be served if, whilst abstaining from public identincation of the parties, we base a short homily on the facts of the instances which are before us.

The essential points which call for reduction to bare statements of fact, and their subsequent embodiment in agreements properly drawn and executed, in order that any public passenger service or goods-carrying company may succeed, are five in number. The first point, and one which will unquestionably receive closer attention in the future, is the vital one of licenses from the local councils, and especially is it imperative that some proper assurance should be obtained in regard to routes over which a council owning electric-traction undertakings has jurisdiction ; the second point is that . reliable vehicles, and these constructed of strictly interchangeable parts, should be ordered from responsible and honourable manufacturers, and that a priceschedule of spare parts should be settled before the contract to buy the vehicles is signed; the third point is that a comparatively small area of operating territory should be detined, that no arguments or allurements should persuade the management to depart from its recognised routes when once these •arc fixed, and that no service should be inaugurated until a sufficient number of vehicles have been delivered, and properly equipped for the road, so that the necessary proportion of reserves can be maintained; the fourth point is the securing of a qualified manager, and one who will be strong enough to conduct the undertaking through all the vicissitudes of its early days in the face either of interference by, or complete absence of assistance from, his board of directors; and the fifth is the laying of the scheme so as to maintain the necessary margin of trading capital until it becomes self-supporting. The manner in which wholly unsuitable schemes have been launched, and particularly the cases where the prospectuses have borne every ciptward evidence of mature consideration and expert testiVeony, is little less than astounding, but it is small wonder that at least two such undertakings required less than twelve months before disaster overtook them. There are now under consideration equally fallacious and hopeless propositions, and we can only trust that those who are asked to finance them will have access to the causes of failure which have upset so many other paper calculations.


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