Bird's Eye View
Page 68
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I WAS interested to learn that Sunderland Corporation I have now fitted rear route number indicators to their " one-man " single-deck buses. The transport committee were told of this move at their last meeting, when it was also reported that all new rear-engined double-deckers would, in addition, be fitted with similar indicators.
The committee had objected some months ago that all the single-deckers delivered during the past few years had no rear indicators at all, and recommended the fitting of number blinds.
1 wish the many other operators who have " dropped " rear indicators on their vehicles would experience similar awakenings of conscience. B.E.T. group operators are particularly to be noted in this respect. On the one hand operators complain about the falling-off in the number of passengers—on the other they reduce the means of identifying their services. A false economy
In the commercial market it pays to advertise and to make their products recognizable from afar. Surely the bus operators want all intending passengers to know where their vehicles are going, not just those approaching from the front.
A Good Idea . . .
INNOVATION at the Leipzig Autumn Fair this year! I This was a Buyers' Centre on the fifth floor of the Messehaus am Markt. Specially designed for nonexhibiting buyers, it was open to anybody who was interested in doing business. The main attractions of this Centre, I hear, were the multi-lingual hostesses and the contact office for all trade organizations. The idea of a Buyers' Centre at trade fairs seems to me to be a very good one. Let's hope we see more of them.
How Large a Lorry?
A N item in a recent issue of the American publication Business Week took my eye recently. The heading was "How big should a truck get?" The American Association cf State Highway Officials, it was reported, voted last month to recommend that legislatures " liberalize " present size restrictions. This decision is subject to ratification at the Association's annual meeting this month at Portland, Oregon. The recommendations are not binding either on Congress or the legislatures, but represent a concensus of what highway officials believe legislatures should approve. The recommendations are to increase single-axle loads from 18,000 to 20,000 lb., width from 9610 106 in., height
a42 from 12-5 to 13-5 ft. and lengths from 50 to 55 ft. for tractor-semi-trailer combinations and from 60 to 65 ft. for other combinations.
The Idle Rich?
A S both a motorist and a bus and coach traveller 1 don't know whether to feel warmed or umbrageful at the following recent quote on motorists by Mr. C. R. Hodgson, chairman of the East Midland Traffic Commissioners: "They are too idle to walk a few hundred yards to get a bus, which would save them money and do them good by walking a little. In this age of affluence, as soon as they can afford it, people buy a car. They will buy it if only for the status value in the eyes of neighbours."
On the Ball
THE new Lorry Driver champion, Joe Dakin, includes among his hobbies table tennis, snooker and billiards. Perhaps this is why he knocked over all the coloured " snooker " balls so adroitly in the second test at Coventry on Sunday. This little exercise, by the way, is not as easy as it looks. One of the competitors told colleague Norman Tilsley that he had spent the previous Saturday afternoon running his vehicle round a yard, "banging away• at tennis balls placed in the way by a willing(?) offspring.
Carnival
MUCH noise at Lowestoft's carnival night recently. T.A.
gunners fired salvos from their 25-pounders; fireworks blazed away. Needless to say the noise of a safe being blown open in the offices of B. and B. Transport Co. Ltd. made little impression upon this lot. The safe, in fact, was blown to pieces—contents were scattered, furniture was damaged, and the roof was lifted several inches. As it happens there was little money in the safe, so B. and B. may be considered fortunate. But look out in Lowestoft on Guy Fawkes' night!