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PROGRESS IN PASSENGER TRAVEL.

6th December 1921
Page 18
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Page 18, 6th December 1921 — PROGRESS IN PASSENGER TRAVEL.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.

Coach Passenger Agencies.

Agents who Desire Good Commission and Those who do Not.

ACCORDING to some motor coach owners there is an urgent need for settling the vexed question of the payment of commissions to booking agents on uniform lines.

Rates this last season have manifested a very marked tendency in a downward direction; so much so that many coach owners, even big fleet owners, have taken a firm stand on the question of comreissions which have been restricted to 5 per cent, to accredited agents, in some instances..

Of course, there are agents and agents. There are the men who simply wait for the orders to come into their business premises—perhaps a tobacconist's shop, or something of that descriptioe—pass them on to the coach owners and draw their percentage at the end of the month.

But there is also the agent who, when. he gets an inquiry, follows it up and keeps a tight hold of the prospective client until the order ha e been placed. If he learns that his firm's quotation is too high, according to other competitive prices, he endeavours to explain the reason why, and the points of superiority of his company's service to that of other concerns, This is service worth paying for. An agent may be getting 5 per cent. of. fares charged and be well paid, and he might be getting 10 per cent, and be underpaid. Payments of this kind must be in direct ratio to service, and if it is extraordinarily good, companies will, we venture to assert, find it to their advan tage to pay fordt01 course, we are well aware of the

fact that in all parts of the country there are self-appointed passenger brboking agents, who through personal influence are able to place an order for an occasional party. Cases have been heard of where a party has had an expressed wish to travel by the coaches of. a particular concern. What, does this astute

c22 agent do but. go to the firm for which a preference has been expressed, and say; If I give you an order for a coach for passengers to —, at the price you have quoted, will you give me — commission? "

This has actually 'occurred, and the coach owner lost the order by refusing to pay a commission. It ought to be made as easy—easier, in fact—fer passengers to hook a coach journey than a railway journey, and it seems to us that the, best method of preserving the interests of those engaged in the char-abanes industry is for them to extend their accredited agencies, which include, of course, the recognized national tourist booking agencies, and thus-at all events limit the scope of the budding would-he agent, who thinks he can obtain money' for nothing.

A Coach on the.. Continent.

ATOUR through Holland and Belgium, including parts of the battlefields area, was recently carried out by means of a motor coach, the vehicle used being a Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric, which we illustrate on this page. The tourists took boat to Flushing, and after a trip to Middleburg (capital of the island of the same name) were met. at Breskens by the Tilling-Stevens coach. From this place they were driven over the border into IreIgium, where a run through Ypres and the battlefields was taken. Many of the roads,in the area traversed were in an extremely bad condition, pot-holes and the like being fre

quently in evidence, and it much for the springing and system of transmission of the' Tilling-Stevens coach when it is stated that a good average speed was maintained. For those who are not familiar with the petrol-electric principle, it should be said that a petrol engine of the orthodox type is coupled to a dynamo, the current from which drives a: meter, coupled to the rear road wheels, 'through a cardan shaft and differential gear. There is neither gearbox nor clutch, a-nd the drive is therefore smooth.

Keighley's Trolley-buses.

The Reasons for the Substitution of Petrol Vehicles on a Difficult Route.

T" .PETROL bus bee ousted the trolley-bus! After an experiment lasting from 1914 the Keighley Corpora tion ' has decided to up plant' trolleybuses by petrol buses,, and-this is directly

due to. 'the successful conipetition of motor coaches, which have earned out the service in competition with the trolley-buses. The story of Keighley's trolley-bus undertaking since 1914 has been a disas trous one. Prior to that time doubledeck petrol buses were in use on several routes, running from the tram termini to outlying townships four or five miles, away from the °entre of the town. The buses did not prove a success mechani cally in the hands of the tramways de partment, and a system of trolley-buses, which had given satisfaction. in Vienna,, was tried, and a service of these vehicles, which have the motors in the back wheels, was put into operation in 1914, when the petrol buses were sold, sup posed to he fit only for scrap. Two of the petrol vehicles were secured by a local haulage and motor coach proprietor, however, and one is still in his ,possession and hae.heen doing good work ever

since it was purchased, while the other was sold, and, so far as can be ascertained, 'is still giving satisfaction.

The trolley-buses appeared to give satisfaction for, a short time after they

were installed, but for a period the Aus

trian inventors were • responsible for repairs and maintenance. Then the war came on and the Austrian concern was wound up, so far as its activities in this country were concerned, and the corpo ration had great difficulty in getting repairs done to the motors when they requiredsre-winding. As the motors were in the wheels and unsprung, they received a good deal of vibration, and, cm more than one occasion, when wheels had been in service only a few hours, they broke down. The total length of the route traversed by these vehicles is 10i miles, bat in March last, when the last annual report was published, only 4.83 miles was in operation. The overhead equipment is fitted for three routes—one along the Aire Valley to Sutton, which is comparatively level, another to Cross Roads and Oxenhope, and a third to •Oakworth. The Cross Roads route has a steady climb for a

considerable portion of its 2.& miles, but the three miles of the Oakworth route

is the most difficult of the services, having siagle-figare gradients in many places. Further, there are gradients in both directions.

For a considerable period, when it was impossible to get the motor wheels ee paired, the Oaltworth route was closed, but later an arrangement was come to with the Premier Transport Col, of Keighley, that they should run the service, using Ohurchill motor coaches.

Motor coaches were used, seatiag 28 persons, and an excellent service was main tained. However, when one of the trolley-buses had been converted so that theeliive was through the front wheels, in order that there should be less vibration on the motors, the services of the motor coaches wars stopped, according to the arrangement between the Premier Trensport Co. and the Tramway Department, as it was hoped that this rearrangement would lead togreater reliability. The trolley-buses were used for the service for a short time on the Oakworth ratite, but so unsatisfactory was the

service provided that the Premier Transport Co. -was approached by residents

along the route, and a request was made to them that they should resume the service with the Churchill vehicles. The motor coach ran from the company's garage in Chapel Lane, and, although this starting place was by no means so convenient as the starting point of the trolley-buses, a satisfactory uurnber of Passengers was obtained, and on Satur day evenings, when the busy time came, two coaches were run. A strong feature was made in maintaining e regular end reliable service, and this point probably had a considerable effect in attracting passengers in competition with the trolley-buses.

Naturally, this direct competition did not favourably affect the finances of the. trolley-bus undertaking as a whole, which, except for the first two years, had not shown a profit. Last year the losses amounted to .25,321, and this brought the total loss of the trolley-bus undertaking to £10,625, so that the Tramways Committee were fated with a difficult problem. On the one hand there was an unsatisfactory :service by trolleybuses, which were having to be subsidized out of the rates, and on the other there was the competition by a private concern.

Evidently the committee has been impressed with the performance of the petrol vehicles on the service, and have decided to adopt for the Oakworth route and the Cross Roads route single-deck saloon-type petrol vehicles, having a separate compartment for emokers, of which three are about to be delivered. On the Cross Roads route there has heed no competition, but it is significant that the Tramways Depart ment have decided to adopt petrol vehicles for this route also. For the present the comparatively lever route to Cross Hills, on the Sutton route, will be run with trolley-buses.

To the Riviera by Motor Coach.

THE THROUGH rail express from Calais to the Riviera may soon have a road rival. From what We hear, it is intended to employ ii. number of Laffly Pullman coaches for the service, similar to that which was exhibited at Olympia and at the Roads and Transport Exhibition. This machine, it may be remembered, was the one which covered a. 1;500 mile demonstration tour of Great Britain.

The Laffiy saloon coach is built on the lines of the limousine car, and it affords comfortable seating for 20 passengers, the seats being disposed in twos, three on each side, facing forwards with a gangway between them, and two longitudinal seats facing each other, which connects the forward seats with two others which extend across the width of the body at the rear.

The interior, which is very roomy and provides space for card-tables to he brought into use, is of artistic finish, nickel-plated fittings and good serviceable upholstery being largely responsible for this pleasing effect.,

In the Laffly vehicle, it may be remembered, the design of the chassis is such that when a coach body is fitted the driver is entirely isolated from the passengers, and this is undoubtedly very desirable on motor coaches used for longdistance touring. • We are given to understand that six of these Laffly ceaches have been corn-. pleted for the Riviera service, and that the journey from Calais to Monte Carlo or the Italian frontier will occupy about six days. A large part of the trip will be made through glorious scenery, and touriste will have much to occupy their attention. As the vehicles are fitted with giant pneumatic tyres and the 'chassis and seats are adequately sprung the journey should not be in the least tedious.

Conviviality Amongst Coachowners.

IVERPOOL and district char-it-banes proprietors, through their Association, intend to have a convivial evening on December 29th. Their usual monthly meeting, instead of being held at Liverpool, will take place at the Ponsonby Arms Hotel, Llangollen, whence the party will journey by motor coach. Thus it is hoped to combine business with pleasure.

A Weil-ventilated Bus Body.

INTERIOR and exterior views of a Dennis bus fitted with a 50seatcr body made by London Lorries, Ltd., of Kentish Town, London, NW., are reproduced on this page. The body is welldesigned, and, as can be seen, adequate ventilation is provided, two of the side windows being made to fold down, whilst there are four ventilators behind the driver, two at the rear and the usual eight side ventilators. • The seats are well upholstered in black leather on Neste spring frames, and it will be noticed from the interior view that provision is made for accommodating additional passengers in the gangway.

FliD111 the exterior view it will be seen that a rubbing rail is provided along the sides and rear of the body panels. This is a very desirable feature on bus bodies, and is one that is deserving of more general adoption, for it undoubtedly saves the. panels from becoming scratched and injured in other ways. The driver's compartment is entirely isolated from the passenger compartment, and it is well pretected from the elements. Entrance to the interior is by way of a door at the rear on the near-side, the door being of the two-piece type


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