Canopied Omnibuses.
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Interview with the Managing Director of the "Pioneer" Services.
A member of our staff paid a formal visit to the Langton Road Garage, three weeks ago, for the purpose of including an illustrated description of this depot in our series of articles dealing with public service garages, and his compilation on the subject will be found on pages 525 to 527 of this issue_ With these advance particulars already before us, it only remained for us to have a chat on a few topical aspects of the motorbus problem with the General Manager, Mr. Kenneth H. Buchanan. A 20-minute run from Marble Arch Station placed us at the Cricklewood terminus of the route, which will now be ever-improvingIy served by the attractive green and gold " Pioneer" vehicles of the London Power Omnibus Company, Limited. Subdued envy was the characteristic expression on the face of all the horse-keepers and drivers of the old-time omnibuses which were closely packed in front of the Crown Hotel, and we must say that the abject mien of those who are, perforce, relegated to earn their daily bread in connection with the out-of-date horsed vehicles was really sad to behold. A few hundred yards, and we were walking along the sleeper track which leads from the Edgware Road to the depot; it was not tong before we were welcomed by Mr. Buchanan and the secretary, Mr. Sidney Hone, in the board room. After expressions of mutual regret, Mr. Buchanan fell back in his chair, reconciled to an unexpected and unpremeditated interview.
We began, after renewing our congratulations anent the garage, with a question on a subject which, as will have been gathered from previous numbers of "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," appeals to us rather more strongly than it may to our readers at first sight—that of canopied omnibuses_
Canopied Omnibuses.
"po you not think, Mr. Buchanan, that motor omnibus companies are unduly handicapped, as compared with the London County Council's tramcars, in being disallowed canopies by the Commissioner of Police?"
"I have read your several references to this important subject," replied the General Manager of the "Pioneer" services, "and, whilst recognising your efforts on behalf of the travelling public, must say that I believe the difficulties connected with this proposal, as you appear to recognise yourself, are very great. I observe that you mentioned, in a recent issue of your journal, that canopies of the type which are found upon tramcars in London and certain provincial cities are, at once, too heavy, too big in their proportions as regards wind resistance, liable to make an omnibus top-heavy, and certainly not a little of an obstructive eyesore. But there are additional considerations, such as the absence of head-room under certain railway bridges and at the entrances and exits of ordinary garages, and I am bound to say that, although recognising the possibilities of greater convenience to outside passengers in the idea as an abstract proposition, I am obliged to admit to the firm belief that the difficulties more than counter-balance both that greater convenience and any probable increase in the receipts." "Now, I am obliged to join issue with you there," was our retort, "because I believe you are jumping to the conclusion that I am an advocate of cumbersome and ungainly canopies enclosing the whole of the top of the vehicle, whereas, although I must confess that the details have not yet been evolved in my mind, I have a preference for some development of the individual awning over each garden seat. Covers of this kind might be made both extensible and collapsible, the material being tarpaulin stretched on suitable frames, and arranged so as to be raised or lowered with a minimum of trouble, and I ask whether you have contemplated that class of superstructure?"
The idea of a system of individual covers for each seat appeared to strike Mr. Buchanan as a novelty, and he paused for a few seconds before venturing any utterance on the matter. It was evident that he had not paid any regard to a variation from the accepted conviction which appears to exist that a canopy must be ungainly and clumsy, or to the very just claim, even if the present structures are inadmissible for motor omnibuses, of the outside passengers on a wet morning for something more than the meagre protection of a knee-cloth.
"Well," at last came the candid admission, very much in the nature of a soliloquy, "I had not thought of that ; but how about the extra work which will be placed upon the conductors? And what about the necessarily augmented strength to withstand a gale? And how are you going to secure these separate awnings to the sides or roof of the omnibus without adding greatly to the weight? Further, does it not strike you that the material will become saturated and sodden with damp, whilst the frames themselves will get rusty and jam?" Our only rejoinder was this: "I do not consider it to be beyond the scope of inventive genius to bring out suitable canopies, using the word in the special sense which I have attached to it in this connection, and I will not give up the project of endeavouring to bring this question ta a practical issue, provided the Commissioner of Police, and my friends Colonel Crompton and Mr. Worby Beaumont, whom I am consulting in the matter, do not convince me that it is not worth following up.
Competition between Proprietors.
"You will have read, Mr. Buchanan, in a recent account I gave of 'Peeps into Omnibus History,' that the proprietors cf 70 years ago fought one another by means both devious and commendatory. We have read how free newspapers and travelling libraries were introduced into those early omnibuses in London, for the purpose of attracting patronage, and, with the smoothness of running which is peculiar to the motor omnibus, one might almost look for a parallel in the establishing of a free shaving saloon to the City by one or other of the rival companies: But, to come within the range of practical politics, do you regard it as probable that there will be as great improvements in the comforts of modern omnibuses as have been brought about by railway companies in their third-class carriages?"
The answer came without any hesitation or uncertainty: "I am a believer in giving the best possible service to the public, but 1 see no necessity for any elaboration of the bodies. I have an equally strong abhorrence of the folly and utter ridiculousness of cutting fares, for I am convinced that those who look after their passengers properly will both secure and retain the traffic. Successful operation may be summed up under five headings: (II Punctuality end a uniform service over all stages; (2) clean vehicles ; (3) competent drivers; (4) civility to everybody; and (5) an ever-present recollection of the fact that we are the servants of the public. The cardinal feature of the whole development lies in the fact that the public will have nothing more to do with horsed omnibuses, and I believe passengers would pay, were it necessary, slightly more for the greater speed and other advantages of a motor-omnibus service, but we all know that will not be necessary."
Running Expenses.
"We are," continued Mr. Buchanan, "exceptionally weIL placed in having a contract for the maintenance of our vehicles, at 41d. per car-mile, inclusive of lubricants, tyres, repairs, coach-work and lighting. We thus have no anxiety-as to maintenance; neither have we any qualms on the subject of petroleum-spirit supplies, because we are perfectly well able to use Sumatra spirit of .720 specific gravity, and we get as good results with this as with the lighter gravities."
"What would happen," we demanded, "if you were to be charged appreciably more for your petroleum spirit than is now the case?"—We put this question as a most pertinent one at the present juncture, when certain companies are forcing up the. price of spirit, and Mr. Buchanan's view is of general interest to owners of all types of commercial motors. Ile said: "We could not reasonably afford to pay more than 64{1. per gallon, and were the price to go up to anything like 8d. a gallon, it might handicap the motor omnibus busine.ss.I have a fair knowledge of the resources of the petroleum industry, and I have every confidence in asserting that competitive influences are sufficient to keep down the price within the figure I have named; the limiting factor is that we must use, as is perfectly easily done in an ordinary carburetter, the relatively heavier gravities of petroleum spirit from Borneo and Sumatra which have, as is now becoming recognised, a suitable range of boiling points for the purpose. "