PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
TN a number of issues of The Commer cial Motor during the past 12 months we have recorded the various phases and developments in the conflict which is being waged between the Darlington Corporation and the United Automobile Services, Ltd., which operates an extensive network of important motorbus services linking up Darlington with all parts of the surrounding countryside and with the large Tees-side centres of population. The latest move in the dispute, and quite the most interesting to date, is the decision of the local authority to license vehicles operated by a number of other bus companies and private owners in the district, to run over " United" routes.
The following is a list of concerns which have been given permission either to commence new services or to accelerate existing services :— Messrs. P. H. Todd and Son : To increase their service between Darlington and Barnard Castle ; new service between Darlington and Bishop Auckland, via Eieighington.
Messrs. Sherwood Bros.: To increase their service on the Darlington-Middleton-one-Row route.
Reliance Express Motors, Ltd. : To increase the Darlington-Stockton-West Hartlepool service ; to run a service between Darlington and Bishop Auckland, via Heighington instead of one previously sanctioned, via West Auckland ; and to provide a new service between Darlington and Redcar.
Messrs. Brand (Richmond) : To accelerate the Darlington. Catterick Camp service.
Mr. J. R. Nellis : New service between Darlington to Northallerton ; an extension of the Darlington-Melsonby service to Richmond.
As readers may be aware, the dispute took an unexpected turn a few months ago, when the company sought an injunction to restrain the corporation from revoking all licences, because of alleged irregularity in connection with a service between Darlington and Richmond. The standpoint of the company is that the municipality has no jurisdiction over routes outside the borough area. On the other hand, the corporation claims the right to refuse licences unless the licensee complies with its form of undertaking, and decided to revoke all licences held by the United Automobile Services, Ltd. As a result of the injunction this step was forestalled, and it was then indicated that the proper course was an inquiry by the Ministry of Transport.
At the last meeting of the Darlington Town Council the local authority's side of the dispute was outlined in the report of the hackney carriage committee. This stated that the company, not having applied for a renewal of its licences, the town clerk had communicated with the Ministry of Transport, submitting that there was, therefore, nothing which gave the Ministry grounds for hearing an appeal. A re ply from the Ministry had enclosed with it a copy of a letter addressed to the company informing it that it seemed that the attitude of the town clerk of Darlington was correct.
Subsequently, an application was received from the company for 117 licences, but despite repeated applica IN our issue for last week we published an illustration of part of a fleet of A.D.C. buses which is being supplied by the Associated Daimler Co., Ltd., of Walthamstow, London, E.17, to
tions it was said that it had declined to give any undertaking of operating conditions as required by the corporation. It was further said that the company declined to give any reason why it required licences for such a large number of vehicles. Having carefully considered the position, the hackney carriage committee recommended that the corporation should decline to grant licences to ply for hire to the company. The council endorsed the recommendation. It is gathered that the resultant appeal may be held in the course of the next few weeks.
the Societe Electriques des Transports for service in Athens. In all 50 vehicles are being built for the company and they are of the type shown in the accompanying illustrations.
The chassis which is employed for the vehicles is the A.D.C. Model 413, which, as many of our readers will know, is a light, fast model equipped with 35-40 h.p. engine. The bodies are being built in the works of Short Bros., Ltd., of Rochester, and they incorporate certain special features intended to provide the utmost comfort to passengers In a country having a climate which at times is somewhat exacting:
The type of body employed provides seating for 28 passengers, whilst there is standing room at the front for a further dozen people. The seats are well sprung And arc covered with rattan. As one of our pictures shows, an open doorway is provided at the rear and in direct line with the centre gangway ; it is through this opening that pas sengers board the vehicle. The extt door is dispased at the front, on what is the English off side, and its opening and closing are automatically controlled from the driver's seat, so as to prevent passengers leaving the bus until it is at rest. This door is of the folding type and is panelled in aluminium.
The superstructure of the body is built in English ash, and the main cross-members are stiffened by the use
of -steel flitch plates. All pillars and partitions, as well as seat rails, waist rails and cant rails, are built in ash, and the corner joints are reinforced with Tsection steel brackets at. the bottom of the body and U-section brackets at the top, these being securely bolted to the
pillars, bearers and hoop-sticks. The interior is panelled in three-ply, which is
(Above) A high-grade Studebaker bus on regular service in the Mill-, lands ; the vehicle has an Englishbuilt body. (Right) A standard Maudslay ML4 low-level passenger chassis with a seater body having two doors on the near side, that at the front being under the control of the driver. It is one of two buses just delivered to the Coventry Corporation and has
s four-wheel brakes, (Below) An example of the new type Star Flyer 20 seater bus, which has a six-cylindered engine.
The vehicle has recently been supplied by Currie and Co., Ltd., of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
polished and varnished, whilst the exterior panelling is constructed of silverfinished steel.
Certain of the windows on each side of the body are arranged to be lowered, and these are covered by automatic spring roller blinds, which, being of a green shade, afford protection from the sun, Special attention has been paid to the question of ventilation and, apart from three hinged ventilators in the partition behind the driver and a red
MO give motorbuses a mark of identity which is easily distinguishable at night, operating companies in North-west Lancashire have in a large number of instances equipped their vehicles with a lamp having a colouredglass facing, which can be easilyseen when the bus is approaching. It will be remembered that in our issue dated
angular ventilator above each of tba main windows, six Airvac devices are incorporated. in the roof. Six interior lights are provided, as well as a special light over each door. The driver's compartment is entirely separate from the passengers' section.
Green has been chosen for the exterior finish of the bodies, and the buses present a smart appearance in the two shades of this colour in which they are painted.
February 15th attention was directed to this recent development.
In; interviews which a representative of this journal has had with users who have been contemplating the employment of these colour discs, the fear has been expressed that when vehicles serve a variety of routes, and travel over the main road for a considerable distance before branching off to their respective destinations, confusion was liable to be caused to waiting passengers, since the impression might te gained that the coloured lamp was an indication that the vehicle was a service bus bound for a particular destination: If every route had to be identified by distinctive illumination, then a problem of some magnitude would be presented.
At Lancaster, where there is a very frequent service of competitive buses to Morecambe, etc., three or four companies have their buses equipped with a distinctive-coloured light. Thus, so far as this centre, at least, is concerned, the illumination is intended to identify Particular operating concerns rather than particular routes. The Lancaster Corporation equips its buses with a small square-shaped illuminated box on the near side, the glass frontage of which displays in bold white, against a blue relief background, the letters When motorbus companies have once settled the problem of how to give their service vehicles a mark by which they can be easily distinguished at night, probably they will then devote themselves to the problem of route identification. Were it not that competition is so keen in so many parts of the country, the suggestion that might command sympathy is that all vehicles serving a particular route should exhibit a uniform coloured light. This would be a convenience to the travelling public, instead of which the greens, the blues and the purples that flash past one at Lancaster are only bewildering.
Uniformity of some description is certainly needed, and if it is not possible to give the vehicles serving each route a mark of identity, then it will be a wise step for companies to retain a colour of their own. The only difficulty that arises here is that it seems TN our issue dated November 16th last
we gave some particulars as to the possibilities, of long-distance travel by passenger-carrying road vehicles in the larger countries of the world. Another instance has just been brought to our notice. Mountain snows and desert beat reaching 110 degrees in the shade are extremes that few passenger vehicles face on a single .trip. Some have the one condition to contend with, some the other, but to be confronted regularly with both on a single run is rare and certainly an exacting test for the modern motor vehicle. Since last spring a White bus has been in regular use on a service maintained under such conditions, this being a long-distance route between Denver, Colorado and Los Angeles, California, a run of 1,450 miles.
Dili-. J. J. Stanton, the owner of the bus, states that other buses have attempted the same run but have developed troubles of different kinds. He calls his enterprise the Yelloway service, and his slogan is "Down to the sea in buses." Towards the Denver end of the run the bus reaches an altitude of 7,500 ft. rather inconsistent for buses painted one colour to show lights of a different shade.
The idea of flaunting a colour is not a new one, and in the Llandudno motor coaching industry practically all of the competitive concerns establish their identity under a colour. For instance, there are fleets which are well known to the public as the Blues, the Reds, the Creams, the Violets and so on. Approaching Los Angeles, the vehicle crosses the Great American Desert and encounters extreme heat at Needles, Cal. Five days are allowed for running time, and at night accommodation is proviaed for passengers at hotels along the route. At each terminal point the bus is garaged for two days before starting out in the opposite direction.
The popularity of the service is indicated by the fact that the vehicle carried a full complement of passengers each way on every trip last summer, and this is not surprising when one considers that many famous scenic spots are passed en route. The service is being maintained throughout the 12 months of the year. The fare from Denver to Los Angeles is 25 dollars.