Long-distance Coac Palestine
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Mixed Fleet of 2832 seater Machines Maintains Regular Services Despite War-Lime Difficulties of Operation. Many Vehicles Cover an Annual Mileage of 70,000
ONG-DISTANCE coaches are still in
• L., operation in Palestine, although the routes are not cinite so long as those covered by•pre-war long-distance coaches in Britain. Needless to say, seats in the Palestine oaches are always at a. premium.
The leading company engaged in this type of traffic is the Egged Co-operative ,Bus Co., Ltd., of Tel-Aviv. Jerusalem, and Haifa, which is also the largest passenger-vehicle operator in the whole of the Near East and Middle East, The company was founded 15 years ago by European settlers, and now operates over 58 routes, covering 1,657 miles, with a fleet ot 287 units, consisting of 218 buses, 24 lorries, and 45 taxis, The lorries are engaged mainly on parcels traffic, whilst the taxis cater for holiday. makers in the fashionable and crowded resort of Tel-Aviv.
At present the bus fleet is made up as follows:-52 Reo, 50 White, 22 Valvo, 17 International, 11 Fargo, .Federal, 4 Dodge, 3 MercedesBenz, 2 Leyland Cub, 2 Mack, and. 47 Ford (32 with V8 engines and 15 with six-cylindered units). The sixcylindered Fords are modified goods vehicle zhassis and are war-time. additions to the fleet.
With few excrfptions, all buses are petrol engined, normal • control chassis, with one man control, front entrance, centre • exit, 28-32-seater-type . bodies, all having Haargez coachwork" with roof luggage racks. The exceptions are a fine 38-seater White of the forwardcontrdl type, with underfloor engine situdted, amidships, and a few overtype Ford V8 coaches with special bodies bUilt, to the Egged design..
The goods fleet, mostly 5-tanners, consists of 20 Reo, two White, and two
The fleet is a very mixed one at present, mostly due to the expansion of the company in war-time, when it has been a case of having to take which chassis have been available, and .not necessarily what the company desired, Somewhat naturally, the fleet is now in an unsatisfactory state for economical working,. but Mr. J. Housemen, who has been the Egged general manager for the entire period of the company's life, is at present in negotiation with a lead-,
ing British manufacturer, with,a view to standardizing the post-war fleet,
The staff of the company now nurrihers 645, of which 315 are co-operative members, all being equal shareholders, and the remaining 330 are employees. There are, at present, 12 on active service, one, a major, being O.C. an R.A.S.C. Transport Company, and another, a captain, is O.C. a R.E.M.E. L.A.D. Workshops, both in Italy. The Egged company makes up all its former employees' wages to pre-war level. Owing to shortage of suitable labour, a large number of the employees is now working a 70-hour week.
War-time conditions have increased the traffic on the.,Egged system to a phenomenal extent. The influx of refugees, :troop movements, cut-down railway §ervices, new industrial plants, lack of tyres for private cars, and the huge number of H.M. Forces which spends its leave in Palestine, are all contributing factors to the increase.
In 1939 the Egged fleet covered 2,601,875 miles, whilst in 1944 15,953,750 were covered, an increase of over 500 per cent. The increase in number of passengers carried is even more Pronounced. In 1939 1,406,000 were carried, !but in 1944 the figure reached was 10,850,000, an increase cf slightly moll, than 650 per cent., a truly remarkable rierformance,
Readers shocld 'bear in mind that, in Palestine, the bus is the principal means for transport, and the vast majority of the towns and villages is not served by the railway, quite apart from the fact that the railway service between t4 larger cities is very infre • quent. A few comparisons here will illustrate the position Before the war 100 buses per day were run between Jenisalem and TelAviv, hut now 50 is the maximum. Would-be passengers up to 2,000 still appear at the Egged' station in Jerusalem, which seems to denote that even in Palestine many people do not heed the searching inquiry : "Is your journey really necessary ? "
The ticket system used on the Egged 'buses is rather novel, as the route, date, and time of departtire are all punched on the tickets, which, when issued at the starting point, are pre-booked_ The Egged concern comes in for quite a lot of 'unjustified criticism in thecofrespondence columns of the "• Palestine Post," and occasionally a battle-royal opens up in that paper, during which would-be transport e'xperts air their views in no uncertain manner.
. The Egged company is hoping to employ British-built double-decker§ on its main routes after the War, •but first it will be necessary or the road transport section of the Palestine Government to give its regulations a muchneeded and long overdue revision. The present " box' dimension limit of 7 ft. 2 ins. by '23 ft. 9 ins,, plus a weight limit of 8 tons, does not allow, the standard British double-decker to 1
The objection to any increase appears to be on the grounds of inadequate bridges and -narrow roads, 'but as the Army has been running such vehicles as the A.E.C. Matador, White and Mack 10-tonners, and Scamrnel transporters over the roads of Palestine for the past five years without any apparent ill-effects there seems no reason why the regulations should not be altered.
The Egged coM-pany is also hoping to employ oil engines after the war, which crippling taxation prevents at present, it is to be hoped, fur the benefit of British manufacturers, that this tax will be removed by the ,Palestine Government without delay ,after the -war.
The maintenance side of the Egged organization is conducted in an efficient manner on the company's own premises in Haifa Road, Tel-Aviv The work
shops are fully equipped up to British standards with a most comprehensive range of tools . and appliances. The workshop sutlers a little from overcrowding, which is quite understandable, as thefleet has increased from 127 to 218 since 1939, but; apart from that drawback, the layout is very efficient.
One thing the writer noticed was the remarkably clever manner in which " improvisation is carried on. Spares (except for Fords) are virtually unobtainable for any make Of vehicle operated by the: company, and most cf the necessary replacement parts have to be -made locally cnmanufactured in the Egged shops. Spares held in stock since the days when they were available are now cunningly altered to fit another make of vehicle and Ford spares and assemblies -are altered to ht. almost any Make; used assemblies purchased from the military • authorities are reconditioned and pressed into service.
Great credit is due to the engineering staff of the company for keeping such a large proportion of the fleet en the road when faced with such difficulties. Many of the vehicles cover El 11 annual mileage of well over 70,000;. some are 12 years old, and it is no easy task, even in better times, to grapple with 14. different makes of chassis.
It is the Egged policy to .give its vehicles a major overhaul every 60,000 miles, although during the war some of the White buses have run over 100,000 miles ". between overhauls. Engine oil is changed every 2,000 miles arid decarbonized and " top" overhauls are carried out every 10,000 miles, On account of heavy overloads and very hilly routes, the consumption figures are not as good as they _might be, an average figure of Si m.p.g. being obtained for the whole fleet All body repairs are executed in the Egged body, department_ New bodies in Palestine are expensive—a 30-seater of the type used by the company which cost £250 pre-war nOw costs no less than £1,300. Tyres are another of 1 he company's headaches; most of the buses
are fitted with 34-in. by 7-in, equipment, and the synthetic variety now being used are for from satisfactory.
Synthetic tyres are universally disliked by all operators in Palestine, who have dubbed them " compressed orange peel " tyres.
The Valvo buses have given every satisfaction to the Egged company. This chassis somewhat resembles, the German Bussing N.A.G. in layout and has a 31 h.p, o.h.v. engine, four-speed gearbox and servo hydraulic brakes One of the Valvo buses operated has. covered 140,000 miles since its last major overhaul,, and is still in service.
Members of H.M. Forces, who ere allowed a 25 per cent, reduction on all Egged fares and asse permitted to go to the front of all queues, nave replaced the pre-war class of tourist. Services are run to Tiberias, on the Sea of Galllee 400 ft. below sea-level, and to Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, and Nazareth, as well as to almost every other place of interest in Palestine.
The Egged concern is well ahead with ambitious plans for post-war expansion and . development. The fleet is to be increased to 500 buses and the company intends to buila spacious new workshop premises, new offices, arid new bus stations in each of the principal towns in Palestine, with the exception of TelAviv, where there is already a fine municipal station.
Perhaps the most ambitious plan of all is the idea of starting a Cairo-Suez Canal-Tel Aviv-Haifa service, if permission of the Egyptian Government can -be obtained, with British-built super
luxury coaches. This trip, about 450 miles, would involve crossing the Suez Canal at Ismailia and the tortuous Sinai desert. The writer shudders to think what will happen if one of the coaches should break down in the middle of the Sinai desert!
Mr. Housemen is a regular and enthusiastic reader of " The Commercial Motor," and he has great sympathy with operators at home and admires the work they are doing, but, he ventures to suggest, it is very much harder to do it in Palestine.
E. H. W. HIRST. NOTE.—' Egged" means " United."