The Motor Omnibus World.
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Reports from Eastbourne show that the motor omnibus service there is proceeding very smoothly, and that it is increasingly appreciated both by visitors and residents. Messrs. Jacob Lohner and Company are in negotiation with the Vienna Municipality for an electric bus line between Vienna and Kaiser-Ebersford. The project will probably take definite shape very soon, but the buses will be dependent upon an overhead feeding cable on the Stoll system. The receipts of the London Road Car Company, Limited, continue to advance, and every indication points to a continuance of this progress. On the other hand, the London General Omnibus Company has suffered a temporary setback of a somewhat serious character, the effect of which is apparent in the heavy decline of the quotations for its shares.
Great interest is taken in Paris and on the Continent generally, in the development of motor omnibus traffic in London. It is intended to arrange an experimental service of these vehicles between the Bourse and the Champs Elysees during the continuance of the forthcoming Salon. One difficulty that is experienced in Paris is the high price of petroleum spirit : it is nearly three times as costly as in London.
It is a matter for serious reffection, as affecting the prospects of different motor omnibus manufacturers and purchasers, that the public in London refuses to patronise anything but the best-equipped and speediest of the motor omnibuses now in service. There is little to choose in respect of speed from point to point as between one horsed omnibus and another, but the experience we have quoted is only one of many little features of differentiation which will assert themselves in connection with the new method of passenger locomotion.
At the last meeting of the Deeside District Committee the Chairman reported that the Great North of Scotland Railway Company had been communicated with in order to ascertain if a suggested contribution of ;4,25o would be forthcoming in respect of the up-keep of the Ballater and Braemar roads? The Chairman stated that the reason for the preferment of this request was that motorcars belonging to the railway company had done damage to the road. The railway company's reply was to the effect that it was already heavily rated to the district, whilst others who used the roads did not pay anything towards their upkeep. It was resolved, after discussion, to allow the matter to drop. The Watch Committee of the Birkenhead Town Council refused to license the motor omnibus belonging to the Mersey Railway Company on the ground that the seats on the top were not sufficiently wide. The correspondence which we reproduce below raises a highly interesting point in reference to seat dimensions, and we think Mr. R. Bowman Smith, the manager of the Mersey Railway Company, is to be congratulated on getting his view adopted.
Town Clerk's Office, Town Hall, Birkenhead, 9th October, 1905.
R. Bowman Smith, Esq.
Dear Sir : —Your application, dated October 2nd, for the licensing of a motor omnibus was laid before the Watch Committee at their meeting this morning, but the committee were unable to recommend the Council to grant the application. The omnibus does not comply with No. 13 of the by-laws made by the Council with respect to omnibuses. I understand that you have already been furnished with a copy of the by-laws.—Yours
truly, (Signed ALFaxin GILL, Town Clerk.
Mersey Railway, T.iverpool, October 17th, 1905.
Alfred Gill, Esq. Dear Sir :—With reference to your letter of gth instant, T am instructed to ask you, for the guidance of the Hoard, to inform me in what respect the omnibus does not comply with No. 13 of the by-laws to which you refer.—Yours faithfully, (Signed) R. BOWMAN SMITH.
Town Clerk's Office, October igth, tgos,
Dear Sir :—In reply to your letter of yesterday's date, I have to inform you that the omnibus in question does not comply with by-law No. 13, inasmuch as the seats on the top are constructed for the accommodation of two persons, but do not provide the sitting accommodation required by the by-law, viz., to the extent of at least eighteen inches from side to side in respect of
each person.—"Vuurs truly, (Signed) ALFRED GILL.
Mersey Railway, Liverpool,
October 23rd, 1905.
Alfred Gill, Esq.
Dear Sir,—I have your letter of 18th instant, in which you state that the omnibus does not comply with by-law No. 13, inasmuch fr-; the seats on the top are constructed for the accommodation of two persons, but do not provide the sitting accommo dation required by the by-law, viz., to the extent of at least eezfhteen inches from side to side in respect of each person. . I am instructed to point out to you that the by-law in question does not relate to the construction of the omnibus, but to the number of passengers to be carried.
Its terms are as follows :—" No greater number of persons shall be conveyed in or upon an omnibus than will admit of the provision of adequate sitting accommodation to the extent, at least, of eighteen inches from side to side." If the by-law is applicable, which the company does not admit, a question tulder it can only arise if the omnibus is used for conveying a number of passengers in excess of that authorised by it, and it cannot in any way justify the refusal of a license. Further, I am instructed to point out that the by-law is not applicable to an omnibus of this description. It was framed at a time when it was the practice to construct omnibus seats not only inside, but outside, so as to run longitudinally along the bus instead of laterally across it, and it has never been applied to scats constructed laterally either in Birkenhead or elsewhere, the reason for this obviously being that in the cross-seats on the top of the modern omnibus the existence of the passage way prevents the passengers from being cramped as they may he in a longitudinal seat. In Birkenhead, and also in Liverpool, the scats on the top of the tramway cars for two persons allow only z6 inches for each person, and the same observation applies to all omnilzuses hitherto licensed by both these Corporations. Similarly, in London and other towns, we believe it is the invariable practice to accept the sitting accommodation provided in the omnibus of this company as sufficient. This being so, it cannot be contended that the sitting accommodation provided would be inadequate or that the Company would be doing anything inconsistent with the purpose for which the by-law was framed, even if two passengers were allowed to ait on each seat.
It is thus apparent that the action of the Corporation is not based upon considerations of public convenience or safety, and the only inference which can be drawn is that it is based upon desiie to obstruct the Company's service for other reasons which can form no proper ground for withholding a license.
I am directed by the Board of this Company to express their rigret that this difference should have arisen between them and the Corporation. Their policy has been to develop their undertaking on the line of affording the public every convenience in their power by way of train service and otherwise, and they hoped that their efforts to do so would meet with the approval of the community and of the Corporation. The inauguration of the proposed omnibus service has been forced upon them by the necessities of a large number of their passengers, and it is regarded by them as a very valuable addition to the travelling facilities of the borough. It is therefore a great disappcintment to them that it should be opposed by the Corporation on a around which has no substance, and which, as they conceive, is devoid even of technical validity. They are most reluctant to enter upon a controversy on this subject, and I am directed to express the hope that the Corporation will reconsider their decision and grant the license asked for. -Yours faithfully, (Signed) H. BOWMAN SMITH. —
Town Clerk's Office. Birk.enhead, November isth, 1905. Dear Sir:Referring to the applications made by you for lieense for four motor omnibuses to ply for hire as hackney carriages within this borough. and also referring to your letter to me of the 23rd ultimo, I have to inform you that the Watch Committee, at their meeting on the zath inst., passed a resolution recommending the Council to grant the licenses. This resolution will come before the Council at their meeting on December kh, after which I will communicate with you. The action of the Watch Committee is, of course, without prejueke to the rights and powers of the Corporation in regard to any steps which they may think fit to take in the matter here
after.—Vours truly, (Signed) At.rizan GILL, J.F.
The London Road Car Company, Limited, issued the following circular letter to its shareholders and debenture stockholders last week : "Sir or Madam :It has occurred to my directors that you may have read, quite recently, in the columns of 'The Times,' statements in connection with the motor omnibus companies recently started in London which might lead you to suppose that this company is not energetically pressing forward the policy placed before you in their circular of January 2nd last. For instance, it is stated that onlythe new motor omnibus companies can place serviceable motors on the streets of London, as for some years to come they (the new companies) have a monopoly of all the available makes of reliable chassis. So far from this being true, you will be pleased to learn that your company own, at the present moment, about so motor omnibuses, and that an additional 2CX) of the most approved types have been contracted for, to be delivered during 194)6 (many of which will he delivered by next May), and, further, that contracts are now being entered
into to enable the supply to be continued without intermissioo, so that the previously expressed intention of my Board to substitute motor for horse omnibuses may be completed in the attar future.
"As my directors are assured that the London General Omnibus Company and other existing omnibus proprietors in London have adopted the same policy, the suggestion is ridiculous that the newly-formed companies can, by coming to some arrangement between themselves, oust the old companies, and monopolise the whole business. May I venture to remind you that the statements referred to, though they may appear to be ordinary contributions by an impartial pen, are merely advertisements inspired by interested parties with an object, and their insertion paid for, and I trust, therefore, that you will Hot be induced by these specious insinuations, without reason, to sacrifice your holding in this company.—Yours faithfully, (Signed) " JNo. C. MITCHELL, Secretary, "9, Grosvenor Road, "By order of the Board." "Westminster, S.W."
The Vanguarder.
I ant a Vanguarder.
I am one of ten thousand patient souls who attempt to travel by motor omnibus to the vast City.
I stand on the kerb, one of a thousand, every morning, huddled together in the fog, waiting for the Vanguard. I see that it is full to its utmost capacity. I am one of a thousand, yet my heart is full of hope—full of hope, I say, that one day I shall be able to enter it (if I come to the kerb often enough). I shall stand there for years and years and years, but I shall be among the thousand souls who will one day get a seat.
I ant young and vigorous; I can wait, I can trample down the ladies, I can hold my ground; some day I shall get a stal
1 try to glance at my crisp morning newspaper, but I must retain my place on the kerb, I must hold on to my umbrella, I must keep people from standing in front of me in the gutter.
I keep my place, for I have got up early and had a hurried breakfast to gain it ; later-comers must stand in the pit—if I may say so --behind me, and the outside public remain on the outskirts of the crowd and wave feebly to the conductor.
I ant the Vanguarder. I rejoice to think that I am even on the kerb-1 say I rejoice, 1 swell with pride, when I look behind me and see the multitudes of people who will never, never even reach the steps of the bus.
An old gentlemen tells me that he was before me, that I drew his attention to an object on the horizon and then jostled him out of his place, and that, in any case, I am a snob and a bounder.
I am jostled—f say I am jostled, but that is not all by quite a long way. I am pushed, I am shoved, I am stood upon, I am abused by people in the fourth row as the ugly gentleman in front who is knocking about the helpless ladies.
. I am the Vanguarder.
I hear the conductor say, "The bus is full hinside and boutside, is that Henglish?" It is not, and I tell him so, but he does not like it. He abuses me, and he is backed up by all the people I have jostled out of their places. He says he has noticed me making a disturbance before. He calls a policeman to make me leave go of the handrail of the bus. I take his number. I say I take his number, and he passes away into the Favigkeit. The Vanguards come out of the great Nothingness, out of the dim distance, and disappear into Nothingness, full of chattering souls who read their papers or gaze from the windows into the surging crowds of Vanguarders combating below.
They come out of Nothingness, they flash past, brilliantly lighted, throbbing, hooting ; inside the passengers look scornfully down upon the crowd. Men hang piteously on to the wheels, imploring to be taken in ; they are late for their offices, they will be dismissed, they have wives and families depending on them ; they offer large bribes to the proud, adamant conductor.
Outside the huddled crowd, smelling the petroleum fumes they leave behind, snorts into the atmosphere.
I see a hundred fresh young lady typists behind the crowd, and about them a hundred fresh young City clerks, who eye them cautiously, as would a birdsnarer eye a covey of larks. I eye them myself. There is nothing else to do until the next Vanguard looms bright on the horizon. I sin the Vanguarder.
I see a small, spare, lean woman get out and eight large men fight for her place. I see them assault the conductor. I see him employ jiu-jitsu. I see the eight large men lying on the road with vertebrae fractured.
I see my comrades, large-hearted, generous-minded, self-sacrificing comrades—(Tt is no use prodding me with a hat-pin, madam. I have pushed you aside because I am the stronger.
Stop smoking? No, certainly not, madam, no.) am the —(" Any gentleman give up the -kerb to oblige: a lady ?") HILL ROWAN in "The Evening News.