DENNIS BUSES FOR WEST AFRICA.
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Features of a Fleet of Vehicles which are Governed to a Maximum Speed of 15 m.p.h.
TO the principal port of the Gold Coast—Accra—a small fleet of six Dennis GL-type buses has recently been shipped by the United Africa Co., Ltd., Kingsway, London, and the vehicles are now in service. Several features of interest attach to the buses themselves, as well as to the conditions under which
they are operating. It is fortunate that the vehicles are under the close supervision of a competent European engineer, because the combination of native drivers and equatorial climate might well produce results which are far from beneficial, in spite of the fact that the roads are better than might be expected and the gradients are negligible.
The native idea of driving is; generally speaking, to obtain the highest speed possible under all conditions, and the question of consideration of mechanical efficiency does not arise. It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that the engines of the Dennis buses are fitted with governors (we hope that they are foolproof) which limit the topgear speed to 15 m.p.h. This limitation, however, is not quite so serious as it sounds, for the mileages of the 'routes are very short, the longest, to Korle
Du, Christiansborg and Labadi, and to Christiansborg and Adabraka, each being only six miles.
The rather unusual seating capacity (24) of the type of body employed is made possible partly by sacrificing a proportion of the particularly easy spacing whieli the length of the chassis customarily allows, and partly by extending the rear overhang to an extent that is not permitted in this country by Ministry of Transport regulations. As most of our readers will doubtless know, these restrict overhang to 7/24th of the overall length of a vehicle.
The overall width of the vehicle is 6 ft. 10 ins., which is wider than is customarily permitted by the Accra authorities, and this allows additional space in the centre gangway. It would appear that full advantage is taken of this feature, for we learn that at weekends and on festival occasions the load may number anything up to 40 persons.
Detachable handles are supplied for the winding gear of the windows, and these are kept by the conductors. The windows are (if *-in. plate glass.
The vehicles are painted dark green with a lighter shade for the waist rail; monldings are black. The Accra Council's arms appear on the rear panels of the buses.
It is of interest to note that simultaneously with ordering the above machines, the United Africa Co., Ltd., placed an order for 12 pneumatic-tyred De3Opo-mt:. chassis for delivery to the same it