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The Delinquencies of Buses

17th September 1943
Page 15
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Page 15, 17th September 1943 — The Delinquencies of Buses
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE men and, now, in many cases, the women manning buses throughout the country have, in the past, received numbers of flattering comments from the public, magistrates And various authorities, showing that they had won an excellent reputation for consideration in driving and in attendiag to the travelling requirements of the people. They must not, however, expect to rest on their laurels, and must do everything possible jealously to guard their good name.

Unfortunately, some of the " crews " are not behaving in such a manner as would tend towards this desirable end. During the major air raids on various cities and towns, drivers and conductors, as a rule, carried out their work in an exemplary manner and with an almost surprisingly cheerful spirit. Now that conditions are not nearly so severe that spirit appears to be waning.

We are, of course, making full allowance for the fact that this work is not always easy. There are disconcerting periods of peak traffic, people will often endeavour to crowd on to vehicles which are already full, at " request stops " persons waiting frequently forget to signal or do so so late as to render it almost impossible for a driver to pull up his vehicle atthe right point.

There are, however, some amongst the personnel who seem to be in a continual state of grievance, which is apt to be vented upon passengers or those who wish to board their buses. Certain of the annoying habits which Jesuit from this and, possibly, different causes we have ourselves observed. Others have been brought to our notice by independent and quite unbiased persons.

Turning a Blind Eye to Signals Perhaps the most irritating offence is for a driver to adopt what we may term the Nelson policy, and deliberately fail to observe frantic• signals to stop, despite the fact that his bus may be almost empty, and, presumably, for the reason that he is late on schedule or may note some particulasly enticing traffic condition, such as favourable signals or a nice open run.

Then there is the impatient driver and conductor who will not stop the vehicle forsufficiently long to permit all the would-be passengers to board, or, in some cases, even to allow people to alight. We have seen cases where adults and children have been taken hundreds of yards past Their stopping points as a result of such actions, whilst instances are not wanting of people being left at thc post or of being only half on the platform.

Not an infrequent cause of trouble at queues is that of the vehicle coming to a stop with the platform at the tail of the queue instead of at the head ; often this throws the whole scheme out of action and there is a general melee.

Some Stops are Badly Sited Not all the troubles at queues, however, are anything to do with the vehicles. Sometimes the stops are so situated that if a queue forms at the correct side of the post it is broken by trees, sandbins or other permanent structures of various types. Some stops have been arranged in such awkward positions since the inauguration of the queueing system, and there appears to be no excuse for such an inconsistency.

There is ,another factor which ought to be considered in such cases. Where there is only a little space between the halting place and the obstruction, congestion often •occurs when a bus stops with its platform in line with this narrow space.

It may have been accidental, but one of our acquaintances who complained of trouble at a particular stop found that the only action taken was to remove the stop, which caused him even greater personal difficulty and certainly left him -with an increased sense of grievance.

Trolleybuses are vehicles which can stop or start very rapidly, but far too often they travel so far past the halts that time is wasted and people annoyed by having to chase the vehicles. Furthermore, whereas these machines may be timed to start their cireuits at regular intervals, they are often rushed along for the first part of the journey until they pack together for the remainder. This may be due to the instinct of the drivers to." get on with the job," but it does not make for good traffic conditions or attention to the requirements of the public. Sometimes particular buses are lost to their pcitential clientele for the reason that where there may be two or three vehicles at a stopping place, others proceeding in the same direction will turn out and pass those stationary ; then there is the sight of from one person to a flock of people tearing to the head or tail of the " column " in an endeavour—often vain—to signal and stop the "escapee." One particularly dangerous practice is for the conductor to remain at the front of the upper deck, allow a few seconds at a stop, and then "heel-tap" a starting signal to the driver. In many vehicles there is a staircase mirror, which permits a vreiv of the platform from the top of the stairs without forcing the conductor to descend. Every trade has its tricks, but in public passenger transport we want to do all we can to discourage this " under the counter " procedure. Bus services are maintained, first and last, to serve the public, and not merely to provide reasonably well-paid posts for the staff employed. Incidentally, of course, they are expected to provide some financial return to the operators, but even this last is often unnecessarily reduced by such factors as those to which we have referred,

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