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Operating Aspects of Passenger Transport

6th April 1940, Page 38
6th April 1940
Page 38
Page 38, 6th April 1940 — Operating Aspects of Passenger Transport
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BUS-DEPRECIATION RATES LOWERED

THE recommendation which a subcommittee has forwarded to Glasgow Transport Committee that the depreciation allowance for buses should be reduced is not so sweeping in effect as was at first reported. It was then stated that the new rate of depreciation represented an average life of 12 years for the municipal buses. As a matter of fact, the reduction from 174 to 124 per cent, in the depreciation rate means that the life of the bus is taken at eight years instead of the previous six years. The change is held to be warranted, apart from any consideration of economy it produces in the accounts, on the ground that the modern oil-engined bus is mechanically more durable than the earlier types of petrol bus.

GARDNER-ENGINED DAIMLER BUSES FOR MANCHESTER

PASSENGER transport in Manchester will be greatly improved as the new fleet of 116 Gardner-engined Daimler buses is placed in service. Seventeen of these new vehicles are already on the road on the Sale (No. 49) route; the remainder will be added as quickly as they can be built.

NO INQUIRY INTO GLASGOW'S TRANSPORT

LAST week, the Socialist voting strength in Glasgow Corporation was used to defeat the suggestion that a searching investigation should be made into the organization and working of the municipal transport system.

At first, travellers were disposed to be tolerant of the inconveniences which they had to suffer from the reduced services due to the war, but as time has passed they have become increasingly inclined to question whether all the dislocation that has had to be endured is an inevitable consequence of the upheaval. An investigation would, in the circumstances, have been useful. If it did not reveal possibilities of improvement it would assure the public that the management is dealing capably with a trying situation.

The proposed investigation would have been valuable as an exploration of the possibility of economic reform in the department. The recent increase in fares has slightly improved the revenue of the undertaking, but this gain will apply to only about three months of the current year, and will not affect very much the adverse balance 'in the annual accounts.

On April 1 the transport committee approved a. report by Mr. R. F. Smith, transport manager, in which he replied to criticism levelled against the department. The report points out that during a period of excessive sickness more than 800 men were off duty, and that it was impossible to provide an adequate service on Saturdays. To give effect to Trade Union demands fp:a pre-war frequency, along with black

out concessions, wonild require an additional 840 men, To engage men for full-time employment to augment the Saturday services would mean that over 800 men would be redundant during the week.

Mr. Smith expresses the opinion that decisions with regard to services necessary were a managerial function and not one for the men.

MANCHESTER'S OIL INJECTION COMPRESSED-GAS BUSES A N important step in alternative-fuel developments is represented by the appearance of a double-decker, operated by Manchester Corporation, which has been adapted to run on coal gas, stored in high-pressure cylinders, with 10 per cent, of oil fuel for ignition and enrichment of the charge. It was subjected to a trial run, on Tuesday of last week.

Gas is carried in five containers at 3,000 lb. per sq. in., enough for 95 miles. Performance is said to be slightly better than that of a similar petrol engine and economy superior to that obtained with oil alone. So soon as the installation of compressing plant is completed the bus will be put into service and others similarly adapted. Mr. R. Stuart Pilcher, general manager of the transport department, expressed entire satisfaction with the vehicle.

The conversion was effected by Gas Power Conversions, Ltd., a subsidiary company of the United Kingdom Gas Corporation, which was formed, as a result of collaboration between the ' latter and the National Gas and Oil' Engine Co., Ltd., to apply the principles of the system to transport engines. Under the control of the United Kingdom Gas concern are 52 gas undertakings in Lancashire and Yorkshire, which have 12 suitable compressing stations.

Coventry Corporation is to erect a bus depot at Canley, at an estimated cost of £50,000.

LIFTING TRAM RAILS DOES NOT PAY

ALTHOUGH the authorities have intimated that tram rails on discarded transport systems should be lifted for munition purposes, what the Government describes as a " special " offer of £6 per ton does not make it a paying proposition, according to some municipal-transport authorities. Oldham has 850 tons of such scrap metal, but Mr. J. F. Richards, manager of Oldham Transport Department, says that it would cost £1,260 to take up the lines and £1,860 for permanent reinstatement of the roads.

ROTHERHAM BVYING FORWARD

ROTHERHAM'S transport manager reported to the corporation that, ordinarily, orderswould be placed towards the end of the present year for nine motorbuses and eight trolley vehicles, as renewals, and that difficulty was likely to be experienced in this respect in view of the present position with regard to the supply of essential hardwoods for coachbuilding purposes. He was authorized to place an order, amounting to approximately £1,000, with the East Lancashire Coachbuilders, Ltd., Blackburn, for wood sufficient to cover the requirements of the department during 1941.

SERVICES HALVED BY FUEL RESTRICTIONS

" Pservice vehicle operators

are perturbed as to what is going to be their position during the 1940 season," states the annual report of the South-east Lancashire Area C.M.U.A., submitted at the meeting of members held at Manchester on Saturday last. It would appear that the most they will be able to do, if they get the petrol likely to be allowed them, will be to operate about 50 per cent. of the vehicles in use last year.


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