Motorbus World.
Page 8
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
News contributions are invited : payment will be made on publication.
Mr. Norman C. Craig has " taken silk."
The Henry howler " is suggested, by a writer in the " Sheffield Daily Telegraph," as an appropriate name for the new speed-indicating alarm which will have to be fitted to London motorbuses about two months from date.
The voluntary liquidation of the London Road Car Co., Ltd., was approved, by resolution of the shareholders, on the 4th instant, this course being necessary under the terms of the amalgamation with the London General Omnibus Company.
Permissive Restrictions.
The Llandudno U.D.C., at its last meeting, approved the terms on which the Llandudno Motor and Garage Company might have licenses for its chars-a-banes in this popular North Wales watering-place. They include : (a), permission for the vehicles to call at their respective residences for persons who have booked seats for advertised motor tours, but not for other persons, and to return such passengers to their residences at the finish of the journey ; (b), authorisation to take up passengers from the company's chief depol-., in Vaughan Street, but not fron_ the company's office at the pier gates : and (c), that no stand in North Parade be allowed.
Dundee people are pressing for a motorbus service between Carnoustie and the Jute Port, as well as between Carnoustie and Barry, and Barry and Monifieth.
Hull's Second-hand Purchase.
Six Saurer omnibuses have been purchased by the Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull, under a clause in its Tramways Act, from the Mersey Railway Company. The vehicles, inclusive of double-deck bodies, tires, and over l',300 worth of spare parts, have been sold at an upset price of £2,100. It is reckoned that the total running cost will reach 10ch per mile, and that the receipts may not exceed 5d. per mile. The Council, evidently, is willing to lose about £1,200 per annum, in order to benefit its suburban ratepayers, and all local experts are agreed that the establishment of an electric tramcar route, particularly to Stoneferry, would have involved the Council in a very much greater loss.
The placing of this order, as above, is particularly hard upon Commercial Cars, Ltd.. of Luton and London, whose representatives have stirred up the Council to take action, have conducted several convincing trials, and are now the losers because of the unfortunate restraining of the Mersey Railway Company by injunction at the instance of the jealous Birkenhead Town Council. Good Steam Results.
Further to our paragraph of last week, we should point out that the financial year of the Metropolitan Steam Omnibus Co., Ltd., does not end until the 30th September. Consequently, whatever.the prospects, the actual question of paying a dividend has yet to be considered. We understand, also, that an increase in the number of omnibuses has not yet been definitely approved. It will, therefore, be necessary to wait some four or five months before the matters to, which we referred—not without good reason—officially become public.
A Horseless Sunday.
Mr. Thomson Lyon, at Glasgow, has been telling the Congress of Cleansing Superintendents about his scheme for an experimental " Horseless Sunday" in a scheduled London area. We note, too, that the C.M.U.A. has appointed. as delegates to the committee which Stir. Thomson Lyon is forming, the following gentlemen : Col. Crompton Captain R. K. Bagnall-Wild,
(War Department); Mr. W. Joynson-Hicks, M.P. • Mr. W. G.
Lobjoit; Mr. F. de M.P.; (Fiat
Motorcab Co., Ltd.); and Mr. W. Rees Jeffreys. An amusing collection of anticipatory sketches, by permission of the Editor of " Pearson's Weekly," is reproduced on page 271.
G.W.R. Sight-seeing Car.
Last summer the Great Western Railway Company ran a " sight-seeing " char-sa-bancs in and around the metropolis, twice each day, from Paddington terminus, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This year the service is again being maintained; the first car commenced running during the first week of this month. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are now scheduled as days upon which these instructive tours may be taken ; an experienced guide and lecturer accompanies each trip. The car, which we illustrate on this page, starts from the arrival platform at the Great Western terminus at 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., and it completes each round trip at about 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively. It is anticipated that the success of this special undertaking will be even more pronounced this year than it was in the summer of 1908 when theG.W.R. " rubber-neck " scheme was as much appreciated by colonial and provincial visitors as by Americans, to most of whom it was no novelty. A. charge of 48. covers the round trip.
Traffic returns for Berlin show that the number of passengers carried by the motorbuses during April last was a million in excess of the number for April of 1908. The electric car company conveyed 1.4 millions fewer.
In the Absence of Licenses.
With the summer season upon us, and with not a few obstinate local councillors in temporary authority, there are still instances where licenses to ply for hire cannot be obtained by proprietors or intending owners of motor chars-a-bancs. This difficulty, however, need not prevent the exploitntion of such means of conveyance, provided local sympathy and assistance be obtainable. For example, it is perfectly feasible to do a thriving trade without plying for hire in the technical sense. In no circumstances must a passenger he picked up casually and allowed to pay his or her fare to the driver or conductor : that is the main thing to avoid. Tickets may be sold at shops, newspaper kiosks, the offices of the owners, or by other parties, and the possession of such a ticket before entry upon the vehicle is sufficient evidence of a contract to rebut the cog
gestion that the vehicle is plying for hire. It practically becomes a system of booking seats in advance. Another precaution, which should also be observed, in order to give no opportunity to opposition interests, is that the vehicle should only pick up at the houses of ticket-holders-as at Llandudno-or at a few specified points.
Albion Hiring Cars.
The use of Albion hiring cars,. whether shooting-brakes, wagonettes,. or chars-à-bancs, is widespread, and reaches as far as the outer islands on the west coast of Scotland, where several hotel-keepers have purchased machines from the well-known Scotstoun works. One of the most recent, a repeat order, is from Mr. J. Campbell, of Broadford, Isle of Skye. These. 16h.p. vehicles, which are constructed to run on either solid or pneumatic. tires, have proved themselves peculiarly suitable for the rough and mountainous roads in the northern and western portions of Scotland, where they have withstood wear and tear of a character which has seriously affected vehicles of lighter construction. The consistent running of the ,Albions has been enormously beneficial to a number of villages which are 40 to .30 miles from a railway station.