Public Transport Can Save the Towns
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE use of private cars threatened to paralyse traffic in large towns, Mr. E. Nielsen, director of Copenhagen Transport, emphasized when he presented the first paper at. the congress of the International Union of Public Transport, which opened in Naples on Monday. The congress closes today. Mr. Nielsen gave details supplied by a number of undertakings, showing the cost of congestion and the extra vehicles and staff which were necessitated. Only public transport could save towns from traffic chaos, he concluded.
In a paper on ways to increase the efficiency of public transport, Mr. M. Mross, director of Hamburg Transport, also referred to the increasing congestion caused by private cars. He examined the use of large-capacity vehicles and one-man operation.
The influence of the form of ownership on methods of cost accounting and depreciation was reviewed by Mr. E. Sand, chief accountant of the Stockholm undertaking. Mr. A. Gerard, chief engineer of Lyons Transport; enumerated all the factors in the installation of overhead lines for trolleybuses which affect the cost, reliability and speed of operation.
Systems of heating and ventilating depots, including the heat pump, were described by Mr. R. Maestrelli, director-general of the Milan undertaking. Mr. 0. Miescher, director of Basle Transport, analysed the economics of employing trailers for buses and trolleybuses. Trailers were not generally acceptable, according to his investigations, for use in congested areas.