A MOTORBUS SERVIC TS SIXTEENTH YEAR.
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Pioneer Service in a Seaside Town which Considerable Profits in Relief of the Rates
An old De Dion chassis only just scrapped for want of spare parts.
THE MOTORBUS service at Eastbourne has always stood out as being one of the most successful—and most consistently successful— in the whole of the country. With the exception, perha-ps, of the earliest days, and again with the exception of the year 1920, there has always been a profit, and this profit has been larger than might appear at a, first glance given to the annual accounts, the reason for this being that the accounting, under the Borough Accountant, is particularly close and no item of the overhead charges of the Borough, a proportion of which should in fairness be charged to the omnibus undertaking, has been omitted from the accounts.
On the other side, credit has been given in the accounts of the omnibus undertaking for any work done by that undertaking or its staff for any other department of the Corporation: thus, for instance, one finds that the salary of the general manager is spread over not only the omnibus accounts, but the accounts of other departments to which he is able, during the year, to render help.
A great deal of the credit for the success of the Eastbourne motorbus services must be awarded to Mr. P. Ellison, M.I.M.E., the general manager and engineer, who, originally a locomotive engineer, gained considerable knowledge of the requirements of public service and passenger transport under the Leeds Corporation, where, prior to 1900, he filled an important post in connection with the Leeds City Tramways.
The Motorbus Ousts the Tramway.
The decision to establish a passengeT transport service in Eastbourne was arrived at in the very early years of the present century. The first thought was naturally for a tramway, but, in 1904, there were optimists who believed that the motor vehicle would prove successful for bus service, and in May, 1905, the first single-decker, a Milnes-Daimler of 12 h.p., was acquired_ Three more of these vehicles were obtained that year, and it was interesting to refer to a report of the first omnibus manager and to see that,. .in 1905, he was proud of the fact that a 10-minutes service was running between the station and the Old Town and was proving so successful that eight buses were required to conduct it.
Later in 1905, two Clarkson single-deck steamers were obtained, but the department did not get on very well with these and they were sold in 1906. Then eight Milnes-Daimler double-deckers were acquired, four of them with 25 h.p. engines and the remainder with 30 h.p. engines.
Mr. Ellison took over the control of the department in August, 1906. He, therefore, had eight doubledeckers, and four single-deckers, all Milnes-Daimlers, constituting the fleet. These were run for some
c32 years, being eventually converted to chain drive, in place of the internal gear drive with which they had been originally equipped. Mr. Ellison's big achievement was when he persuaded the Council to authorize him to buy a dozen De Dion buses which the old Associated Omnibus Co., of London, had for sale. Nine of these were equipped with three-speed gearboxes and the remainder with four-speed gearboxes, and Mr. Ellison offered Mr. Willing Tibbs, who was then managing (in fact, virtually owning) the Associated Omnibus, (Jo., 2175 each for the three-speed vehicles and 2300 each for the four-speed vehicles. Mr. Willing Tibbs agreed to let the four-speed vehicles go at the price offered, but said that he would rather let the nine three-speeders rot in the garage than let them go for 2175 each, and they actually stood another year in his garage before, getting tired of the sight of them, he wrote to Eastbourne accepting the original offer. Mr. Ellison went up to London with his men, picked up all the spare parts that he could and drove the whole lot to Eastbourne.
These vehicles were all rebuilt in the depot, anct they did yeoman service. Some of them have carried as many as 68 :passengers at a time, and the last one has only just been strapped. They remained in regular service until December, 1914, and lack of spare parts was the final blow to their career. We came across one of these old De Mons, one that had just ceased to run in service at all as a lorry, in a piece of waste ground near the, Archery Tavern, Eastbourne, and obtained a photograph of it for the interest of our readers.
In March, 1907, four new De Mons were bought, and, in July, 1912, the first two Leylands were Rut into service. From that time, Eastbourne has con. centrated on Leyland vehicles, theta others having been bought in 1.916 (new), four in 1917 (from Wellingborough), ten in 1919 (new), six in 1919 (from Richbarough), and 'ten in 1920 (new). The fleet of vehicles now in service consists of 12 -single-deekers, each seating 35 passengers, 13 doubledeckers, some seating 36 and others up to 45 passengers, and one chassis the. bodies of which are inter
changeable so that it may be 'used as a lorry. Recently, Mr. Ellison has undertaken the resenting of the upper decks of his double-deckers, taking a little out of each knee room between the seats and taking full advantage of the spate afforded by the canopy over the rear platform.
Quite early, Mr. Ellison was dissatisfied with the longitudinal inside seats, which was the arrangement adopted in all early omnibuses seating 16 passengers, and he introduced 'the square traverse seats (commonly known as garden seats), which :gave accommodation inside for four more passengers. The Eastbourne buses were probably the earliest to be equipped in this manner. Over the Old Town route, which is rather a difficult route,. single-deckers have always been employed, and the interior arrangement designed by Mr. Ellison gave as nauch as 32 seats, and now gives 36 seats.
Increasing the Passenger Accommodation.
The Eastbourne bus service has moved with the times. Everyone is familiar with the way in which the London General Omnibus Co. have met the threat of rising prices and increasing expenditure by enlarging the carrying capacity of each bus. In Eastbourne, fares were devised on a basis of one penny per mile, but, in recent years, there has had to be an advance of 50 per cent. upon these charges. In June last, the Council decided to reinstate a number of shortdistance penny fares, and the net effect of this concession to the publio was shown by the accounts for the month of August last. In the 31 days, -808,796 passengers were carried, producing a revenue of .7,436. For the similar month in 19201 the number of passengers -carried was 774,000 producing a. revenue of £7,463, so that whilst 34,000 more passengers were carried last. August, the month's revenue fell X27.
The rolling stock is ample to meet the traffic needs of the summer season, for, as will be seen from these figures, the number of passengers carried weekly in the height -of the season is about 200,000. Last January's figures were 99,362 per week.
One of the features of -the Eastbourne service is the issue of book tickets, which, produce an annual revenue of £316.
The average all-in cost of running per mile rose in 1920 to 2s. It is now down to is. Vide but the fall is not yet sufficient, by a long way, to satisfy Mr. Ellison.
The whole of the work of garaging and maintenance is concentrated at the depot near the Archery. Here there is a, well built and commodious garage, the repair shop being on the opposite side of the read. Every facility is here provided for the manufacture of the spare parts required for the vehicles. A small foundry, equipped with a Morgan tilting -furnace having a 400 lb. pot, makes the department almost
independent of the moulding concerns ; in fact, the only parts that could not be made are cylinders or gearwheels, although even blanks for the gearwheels are sometimes prepared and sent away to be cut, but there is insufficient work in the way of cylinders or gearwheels to warrant making provision for their manufacture. Mr. Ellison thoroughly believes in a department such as his being self-contained, with due regard to economy and, by making their own parts, they save considerable time and, often, expense.
The machine tool plant, as can be gathered from his remarks, shows extreme skill in its selection. The whole of the body repairs, including the upholstering, and painting and varnishing of the vehicles, is undertaken in this department.
The following particulars, extracted from the Borough Accountant's report of the undertaking, are extremely interesting. They constitute a comparison for the years 1919-1920 and 19204921, the accounts being drawn up to 3-1st March in each year :— Net loss per car. mile ... ... — .34d. The total revenue for the year 1919-1920 was 251,077, from which had to be deducted the total expenditure, 248,943, leaving a gross profit of 22,134. Deducting capital charges, 22,836, left a net loss on the year's working of 2702, but there is every hope -.that the current accounts will show a better result.