PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
A Suggestion for Enabling Travellers to be Made Aware of IDENTIFYING REGULAR-SERVICE BUSES-T.-7 the Approach of a Public-service Vehicle.
IN the operation of motorbuses, especially over busy traffic routes, companies employing a number of vehicles might usefully consider methods by which the approach of buses, as distinct from other vehicles, may be immediately detected. This may seem to be only a detail consideration, but in cities and large towns where there is a busy flow of traffic, inconvenience and irritation are apt to be caused when passengers are not able to locate the bus until it is practically level with the " request" stand at which they are waiting. On roads frequented by a number of different services, or on which several routes converge, many compulsory stops may be necessary to meet the public convenience, since ".request" halts are apt to be very numerous owing to the impossibility of detecting at a distance the destination announced by the route indicator. As most motorbuses are now equipped with two sets of front lamps, the suggestion is yen
tured that one of the near-side lamps might usefully show a coloured disc.
It has been observed that Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., of Preston, adopt this system. Vehicles entering and leaving Liverpool show a green light, which is visible for a considerable distance ahead. Effective as this is in enabling a bus to be quickly distinguished in the city traffic, the value of this means of identification on the country roads between Liverpool and Preston must be all the greater. Street lighting in country districts is not all that it might be, and no matter how well the route indicator may be illuminated it is often impossible to distinguish the bus until it is within a few yards of waiting passengers. When a green lamp is shown, however, a bus can be located a considerable distance away. This identification lamp is also a convenience to other road users, especially to drivers of privately hired saloon coaches and drivers of other omnibuses who, at
times, are liable to be signalled to halt by passengers who think that their vehicles are rzgular-service buses.
Possibly there will be developments in this system of vehicle identification on the road. Already taxicabs in many towns carry small colouriti lamps to indicate that they are public-hire vehicles. In Liverpool, fire, police, hospital and other emergency motor units all display distinctive and exclusively used lights so that their progress in response to calla may be facilitated.
It may be contended by some motorbus proprietors that a route number, brightly lit up at the front of the motorbus, would meet the requirements of the public, but one questions whether that system is so good as the headlamp with a coloured disc, especially as the figures, when two or more are used, are often quite small and arranged so close together that they are only discernible to those with the strongest vision.
Another direction in which motorbus companies are seeking to help passengers is by the use of electric horns emitting a uniform note. Drivers, therefore, when approaching districts where people are waiting to be picked up give adequate warning so that passengers can present themselves in readiness at the picking-up point.
TT 1S extremely interesting to note "that the six-wheeled Earlier bus recently supplied to the Corporation of Salford had its body, which was built by Hall. Lewis and Co., Ltd., of Park Royal, London, N.W.10, finished with Belco nitro-cellulose material by Nobel Chemical Finishes, Ltd., of Slough, Bucks, the actual work being carried out at the demonstration centre of the company at 327a High Road, Chiswick, London, W.4, which is of particular interest in that it has been laid out on a large scale to enable manufacturers to see work carried out under their own conditions and according to their own needs.
The centre was opened in June, 1926, and there has been a steady flow to it of representatives from many trades, some to witness a single demonstration and others to receive a course of training in one or another of the Bekm processes. Actually, about 150 people visit the centre each month. The most important trades interested in cellulose finish at the present time are those concerned in the manufacture of motorcars and furniture, and of the two large departments at the centre one is devoted to finishing motor vehicles.
It is proof of the faith of the company in the future of cellulose finish that the training service is offered to all customers free of charge, and no man, unless withdrawn by his employers, is passed out of the centre until the company is satisfied that he is capable of applying the finish in the correct manner and is filly competent to deal with the spray equipment. It usually takes three weeks only for a student to master the process of motor finishing.
For those manufacturers and others interested in cellulose processes but who are unable to visit. the demonstration centre, a permanent staff of skilled demonstrators who can visit a manufacturer's own works is retained, or wherever there is a spraying plant installed it is possible for a manufacturer, by communicating with the Chiswick works, to witness any demonstration he wishes.
There are two starting points in finishing a vehicle. In the case of a new one, work can be started on a comparatively clean metal body, but where the vehicle has already been employed the refinisher has first to remove all the old paint and varnish, or, if the original finish be cellulose, it must be cleaned to remove oil, grease, wax or other foreign matter, and than rubbed down thoroughly before applying the new finish. Once the surface has been prepared, the process applies equally in the case of the refinishing' or treating of a new product
The four main stages are cleaning, priming, filling and finishing, and of these the first is the most important.
TN its report to the Worcester City 'Council on the question of new passenger transport arrangements, the public traffic committee of the council states that, in view of the necessity for sonic method of transport to take the place of the existing tramway service, careful consideration has been given to the various forms of traction available. Tramways have been eliminated because they are not sufficiently flexible or mobile for easy adjustment, alteration or extension.
So far as trolley-buses are concerned, the advantages are, in the opinion of the expert, that they can be operated at a slightly cheaper. rate than motor omnibuses and that the corporation could supply the current. Against this, however, it is pointed out that trolley vehicles, whilst capable of being steered from side to side of the road, are absolutely confined to certain defined routes, and require a very large radius in which to turn either in the city or at a terminus, for which reason the existing overhead lines would have Unless the metal be thoroughly cleaned the primary• coats will not adhere. Cleaning is performed by the aid of sandpaper, which is used both wet and dry. After sanding, the surface is sprayed with a coat of primer, which preserves the metal from rust and enables the following coats of filler and enamel to adhere firmly. Only a light coat of primer is required. If the surface be uneven, or shows hammer and file marks, putty glaze must be used for filling, as to obtain the best results with any cellulose material it must be applied over a perfectly smooth surface.
The number of coats of filler is governed by the original condition of the metal and the quality of the finish required, and the final coat is rubbed down with fine sandpaper which must be wet to give the smooth surface necessary. The Belco process does not require colour ground coats, but is sprayed directly on to the filler, three or four coats being required. The glossy finish must be obtained by polishing.
to be duplicated. The demand for electric current would probably bear a relatively negligible proportion to the output of the electricity works.
Having retard to thie and to the fact that the city's running powers extend to an area outside the city boundary to which trolley-buses could not be run, the committee, considering the great improvement in the comfort, easy running, reliability and all-round efficiency of the motor omnibus, recommends this type of vehicle to the council.
The committee is also of opinion that it would be better and more economical for the buses to be run. by a private company than by the corporation itself, and for this reaeon negotiations have been opened with the Birmingham and Midland motor Omnibus Co., Ltd.
The following are the points of the proposed agreement with the bus company (1) The omnibus service to be run not only in the city but outside the city In the inner added area (to points includc39
lag parts of the city and several villages up to four miles outside it).
(2) The company to provide omnibuses and garage accommodation, offices, parcel depots, etc.
(3) The service to be such as to meet the reasonable requirements of the travelling public, including workpeople, with certain minimum seriices and maximum fares on each route.
(4) The city council to receive 100 per cent, of the net profits earned on all routes or portions of routes in the city and the inner added area and on the portion of every through route which passes through the city or added area, based upon the mileage travelled.
(5) The net profits to be the traffic receipts taken on, or attributable to, the routes, less a mileage deduction of the average working cost per mile of the whole of the company's fleet of omnibuses for every year, estimated at 100. per mile, and a sum of 3d. per mile to cover depreciation and interest on capital.
(6) The company to have the right to cease running on any route after three months' trial if the receipts do not cover the net cost of working.
(7) The agreement to continue for 21 years, and thereafter subject to two years' notice of termination.
The citizens are all in favour of buses, and a meeting of ratepayers expressed itself strongly on this point and emphatically against trams, trolley-buses and municipalization. Mr. B. R. Fairbairn a member of the city council, has said that the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co. is operating on all the routes which could be regarded as the cream of any possible business in the city. The citizens were really to become partners in one of the most efficient concerns in the country.
THERE have long been complaints in Nottingham as to the inadequate nature of the city's municipal bus services. It is felt that the use of buses has been neglected to a considerable extent in favour of the perpetuation of more rigid lines of transport as represented by tramway communication. Recently the responsible committee of the corporation has manifested a greater readiness to develop arrangements, of which private enterprise has adequately demonstrated the financial possibilities, with the result that many new bus routes in the city and suburbs have been opened up. A further important extension is promised at an early date by an interchange of traffic between the city and West Bridgford.
But allowing for all these developments it is generally recognized that a great deal more remains to be done. One of the members of the tramways committee, which is responsible for the arrangements in relation to the dual forms of traffic, has recently expressed Iust before closing for press we learn that the Worcester Council has decided by a large majority to abandon tramcars and to enter into an arrangement with the company to which we have already referred.
the view that transport problems are not being properly tackled in Nottingham by its municipal representatives. This critic (Mr. J. Farr) emphasized the consideration at a meeting held in an important ward of which he is one of the representatives, that the corporation was perpetuating the error of running slow-moving vehicles, like tramcars, at a period when tramway traffic is fast becoming out of date.
Whilst not subscribing to the idea that the time has yet arrived when trams must be regarded as obsolete, he did think the Nottingham services should be augmented by the use of more well-equipped motorbuses, of which, he said, a large fleet is needed.
Mr. Farr's declaration on this point has met with a large measure of endorsement in Nottingham, general agreement being also expressed with his view that trolley-buses, which are now being established in certain districts of the city, can never prove as efficient in their operation as motorbuses.