THE BUS IN AMERICA'S TRANSPORT SYSTEM.
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Some Idea of the Growth which Has Taken Place and of the Development which is Expected.
A CCORDING to official statistics .11..which have recently been prepared there were 92,409 motorbuses in the 'United States on January 1st, 1929. Of this number 42,000 were used for the transportation of schoolchildren ; 35,300 were owned by independent companies for highway transport; 10,000 were employed by electric railways and similar undertakings and 1,000 were in use by steam railways, the remainder being operated by sight-seeing companies, hotels, etc.
The one-time hostility to the motorbus on the part of the established railway systems has, in almost every case, given way to a strong co-ordination between railway and road-transport interests, with the result that to-day the total mileage of motorbus routes exceeds the total railway mileage by 39,800 miles (289,473 bus-miles as against 249,644 rail-miles).
The railway organizations are Making increasing use of the motorbus for the establishment of feeder lines, which open up undeveloped districts 'where rail services could not be carried on at a profit, and for the transfer of passengers from waiting-rooms at the centres of large cities to railway stations in the Ciburbs. Many rail operators have established motorbus services
parallel with and in competition against their own lines, as they find it an advantage to offer the public a choice between motor and rail service.