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Germany's Bus System Battles with Heavy Odds

16th July 1948, Page 32
16th July 1948
Page 32
Page 33
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Page 32, 16th July 1948 — Germany's Bus System Battles with Heavy Odds
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By ASHLEY F. TAYLOR,

A.I.R.T.E.

SYMPTOMATIC of life in Germany to-day is the fact that Hamburg's trams are carrying 50 per cent. more passengers than before the war. At the time of my visit, the average adult fare on Hamburg's tramcars was 20 pfennigs (roughly a penny), and passengers crowded on board for journeys which in pre-war days they would have made on foot. Also, in a great many instances, the 20 pfennigs were not paid, for at rush hours the cars were so full that it was impossible for a conductor to collect all the fares.

Trams, which are the backbone of fife German urban transport, are usually operated in two-car or three-car sets, which, at the height of the traffic peak, may be crammed with 250 to 300 people. Hamburg's figures, which are representative of many similar centres in other parts of the country, show that whereas in May, 1939, the tramways carried 15,206,189 passengers, in May, 1946, the total was 25,385,666 Buses were responsible for 1,379,095 passengers in May, 1939, and 1,106,222 in May, 1946.

Traffic Nearly Doubled

Totals for all forms of transport, including the underground railway and ferries, were 24,234,401 in May, 1939, against 41,324,852 in May. 1946. Between 1939 and 1946 the bus fleet dropped from 106 to 97 (with less than half of this total in service), whilst the number of tramway traction units felt from 739 to 426. Ten years ago the Hamburg authorities were thinking in terms of trolleybuses and they are still doing so. They ordered them just before the outbreak of war and are hopefully expecting delivery this year As present-day tyres will not stand up to high speeds or prolonged wear, long-distance passenger services have been discouraged, but an official twice-weekly experimental route between Hamburg and Berlin has recently been instituted. Ordinarily, medium-distance services are largely in the hands of small undertakings, and although new vehicles are seen from time to time. many buses are extremely rough in appearance. One single-decker, which at first sight 1 assumed to be a A30 • disabled war relic, was loaded before my eyes and, to my surprise, moved off in apparently good order.

In addition to those who operate regular routes, there are owners who hold the equivalent of an excursions and tours licence, although their operations are strictly controlled and confined to business or official purposes. Vehicles of this class are in great demand for the transport of war invalids and school-children on their lawful occasions.

Substantial operations are carried on by the C.C.G. fleet, which provides services in main centres for military and for civilian personnel sponsored by the Control Commission. In Hamburg the fleet consists of 27 C.C.G. buses, mainly of Bussing manufacture, but also including one or two Leyland and Bedford, in addition to 20 machines hired from German owners. In the Hansestadt Hamburg 44 routes are operated, including a number of services for conveying British schoolchildren to their special educational establishments.

New Buses Expected In a typical month the C.C.G. Hamburg fleet covered 79,141 miles, carrying 74,179 passengers. German drivers are employed, and on most services conductresses are carried to control the doors, call out the stages, and pay special attention to any children who may be travelling, in order to prevent inflation, all wages are controlled at a figure estimated to represent the 1939 level, and conductresses receive 175 marks a month. C.C.G. passenger-transport officials in Hamburg told me that it was hoped to secure a release of new buses after the Hanover Trade Fair and thus to be able to return the hired vehicles to German service

Aged machines which have to be kept in use are a constant problem to both goods and passenger operators, although there is a ray of hope in the fact that the planned production of commercial units in the British and American Zones for 1948 has been fixed at 39,668. Manufacturers, however, have to contend with labour problems in addition to the unpredictable state of coal

and steel supplies, so that nobody would care to say whether the total is likely to be reached.

The following are the planned figures for the various

types:----Tempo (three wheeler), 3,750, Borgwaid (1-ton), 3,050. Opel Blitz (30-cwt.), 8,600. Ford (3-ton), 5,990. Daimler-Benz (3-ton), 5,875. Klockner, Humboldt, Deutz (3-ton), 1,179. Borgward (3-tonl. 1,050. Bussing (5-ton), 1,620. M.A.N. (5-ton), 1,365. •Faunwerke (refuse collectors), 212. Kleckner (lire-engines), 25. Fold (bus, 3-ton class), 335. Klockner (bus, 3-ton class), 150. Daimler-Benz (bus, 5-ton class), 420. Krauss-Maffei (bus, 5-ton class), 300. Daimler-Benz (trolleybus), 15. M.A.N. (trolleybus), 45. Henschel (trolleybus), 185. Krauss-Maffei (trolleybus), 52. Incidentally, the pre-war D.A.T. has come to life, and no part-exchange deal can be negotiated without passing through that organization, As some readers will remember, it was of no use for a German owner to try to get the best bid out of various members of the trade when he wanted to make another purchase. He had to obtain a certificate of value from the D.A.T. assessor, and if the dealer allowed more than the figure quoted he was liable to action under the laws of the country, a procedure that preserved the trade's discounts and left them more to play with when they came to aftersales service,

Credit must go to the C.C.G. Highways and Highway Transport Branch for its efforts to restart motor trade repair facilities In November, 1945, the number of workshops operating in the Hansestadt Hamburg was 72, with a total staff of about 2,700 people, who turned out 7,000 jobs a month; two years later 509 workshops were in existence in the area, with a total staff of 7,700, repairing an average of about 20,000 vehicles monthly.

Whilst there appear to be sufficient drivers available, there is a great scarcity of fully trained mechanics.

As a result of war damage to buildings, vast numbers of repairs and overhauls have to be carried out entirely in the open, which involves little inconvenience in the warmer months hut means serious discomfort to the workers concerned during the bitter winter. Men whose jobs enable them to travel around the country can often. " improve" their meagre rations in various ways, but those who are tied to a repair yard for eight or more hours a day have a rough time when the weather is hard. One of them told me that he was entitled to about an ounce of meat a week, but that it had been months since he had received an official distribution.

Spares of any kind are in extremely short supply, and operators complain that it is almost impossible to obtain wood for body repairs. To the ordinary observer this is something of a mystery, for in travelling about Germany one constantly passes through forests of rich timber. Forests have a symbolical place in the German mind, and a gloomy view is taken of the cutting of timber on a large scale Many people have the idea that all the wood that is felled is going to Britain as a form of reparation: but I am assured that not more than 5 per cent. is exported, and this only as a contra to the value of the food which we have had to send into Germany.

Battery plants seem to have been unfortunate in the matter of war damage, and there is no doubt that this shortage is one of the bottle-necks with which German operators have to contend.

Except for the change-over from predominantly military to mainly civilian traffic, German roads are much as I remember them three years ago. The autobahnen are excellent, but too many stretches are out of use as a result of war damage still unrepaired. Moreover, long sections are still employed for vehicle and other storage purposes, and lengthy detours are necessary along the ordinary main roads, which, in most cases, are poor things by British standards.

Examinations which I made of registration figures for various areas show that whilst the number of private cars has•been reduced in places by over 80 per cent., the fall in the goods-vehicle total is only about 27 per cent., in buses about 18 per cent., and in tractors only 5 per cent In Germany, as elsewhere, road transport, if operating at full efficiency, could solve many domestic and manufacturing problems. At the moment its effectiveness there is severely hampered by inevitable fuel restrictions, tyre difficulties, and many minor shortages which result in the frequent removal of vehicles from service.

Tags

Organisations: Control Commission
Locations: Hamburg, Berlin

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