ondon 1 s Growing Traffic.
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"The Daily Mail " asserts that the Bakerloo tube will not extended to Paddington, which extension formed part of e original scheme, because " the financial results would It compensate the capitalist for risking his money." This port appears in one of our contemporary's recent leading ticks, and the view is there expressed that the demand for ssenger accommodation must grow, within the next few ars, to proportions which will enable it to overtake to-day's cessive supplies of facilities. We are under the very stinct impression that the unexpected curtailment of the be named above is due to the uncompromising opposition certain railway directors who do not wish to see the Great estern Company's terminus connected to the Baker Street
d Waterloo Company's line, and we should not be surised if the failure of the negotiations were to form the bject of a .few pointed questions in the House during the xt session of Parliament.
Our immediate interest in the matter, however, is .to use a experience of the Bakerloo tube to illustrate the fact that tffic may be only gradually attracted to new modes of tvel, and to new routes, in the Metropolis. There are, of Irse, exceptional cases, such as the instant popularity of a Piccadilly tube, where the revenue was very good from a opening-day forward, but traffic managers are not dispointed if such experiences do not fall to their lot, because !ir calculations are invariably based upon a certain meare of leanness in the receipts for a period of months, or ars. The particular lesson of the Bakerloo tube is not thout instruction for omnibus companies, and it is availle for public information since, unlike those of the underdogs whose aggregate earnings upon numerous routes
are published only as a lump sum weekly, its traffic returns concern the one service. The railway that caused the lockup of money which precipitated the Whitaker-Wright crash.
was opened to the public in March of last year, and, when the attraction of novelty had ceased to bring its volume of casual fares, the weekly takings fell with alarming persist7 ence until, little more than a year ago, they touched bottom. at only -x'1,155. The company's LW shares, both ordinary and preference, which had stood in the neighbourhood of par a week before the line was inaugurated, had fallen to and 4,',3 mos., respectively, in the same interval of lime. Gradual improvements have changed the position, although the proprietors are still denied their natural outlet at Pad-, ding-ton, and the 26 weeks now ended, in comparison with the corresponding 26 weeks of 1936, show an average increase well in excess of -(1,000 a week, or a gain of some 73 per cent. It is true that market judgment of prospective net returns has caused the ordinary shares to recede. to
and has allowed the preference shares to recover only a bare ten shillings, but the advancing income is testimony to the growth of traffic as facilities become known, notwithstanding the existence of keen competition outside.
We pass, now, to consider briefly the depressing circumstances in which Greater London's passenger-transport undertakings are found. Is there no hope of an early revival? Will the comparatively recent provision of newemotorbus and tube facilities, which have already proved their effect at the rate of no less than half a million sterling in annual revenue, and that at the obtaining "cut-throat" fares, remain greatly in excess of the public need for long? It iswell-nigh impossible to give direct answers:a these questions, for much depends upon the ultimate issue—if any-of the conferences between railway, tube, and omnibus directors, and even more upon the commercial audit of theL.C.C. tramways accounts. We believe that past experiences will be repeated, and that a cycle of prosperity will' follow the present cycle of loss, because this is by no means the first time that London has been over-provided with. means of passenger transit It looks as though the -only real improvement would come from the natural and inevitable growth of population within so miles of St. Paul's, with its increasing tendency to live away from the inner zones,. and not from drastic revisions of fare schedules, for the. weekly returns of the Metropolitan and District Railways demonstrate that no material benefit has accrued from a policy of all-round increases: It is the degree of change that calls for an intimate knowledge of how much can be added in the face of competition, as much as for a delicate apprecia tion of the public sensitiveness in respect of its being overcharged, or of thinking that way, and the risk of serious error is ever present, Any revival in omnibus revenue, which may besought from increased fares during the next few months, does call for the exercise of the most careful handling by the man agements; it can only succeed, as we have maintained from the earliest days of the discussion upon income and expen diture, by a reasonable compromise between the penny horsebus stages of 2i years ago, and the penny motorbus stages which have proved so disastrous. There will unquestionably be a revival, and omnibus shares will not be without buyers in perpetuity, but there must be available, as a condition precedent, definite knowledge as to the extent of the L.C.C. tramway rate, or the alternative increase of fares upon its systems. It is obvious, too, that at least a couple of years must elapse before astonished and jostled Londoners .become sub-consciously aware of the exact facilities which have crowded one upon the other, and upon them, in such rapid sequence. Finally, with the aid of that process of elimination which allows only the fittest to survive, there must be enough people to go round. The whole of these conditions are incapable of fulfilment in a single year.
Heavier than Air.
The belief that vapour from petroleum spirit ascends is deeply rooted in the minds of many drivers, and this unfortunate misconception appears to have contributed to the death of one, William Swift, a driver who was formerly in the employ of the London General Omnibus Company. We cannot too emphatically itnpress it upon owners and drivers, that petrol vapour is heavier than atmospheric air, no matter how dry or how wet the day, and irrespective of sunshine or fog. The vapour does not ascend ; it descends, and travels along the ground, diffusing itself in all directions if the ground is level, or sinking to the lowest point, such as the bottom of an inspection-pit, if it has the opportunity to do so. The writer, five years ago, at the time when a dispute was in progress as to the terms of the consignmentnotes upon which railway companies would accept motor spirit for conveyance, was frequently responsible for the road-transport of i,000-gallon lots, packed in cases and tins. These considerable quantities were carried all over Lancashire, and there were sometimes, in spite of extra precautions to ensure the rejection of any leaking tins, instances where the spirit,did get upon the platforms of the lorries, and thence into the atmosphere behind the vehicles. There was not, however, a single case of ignition or conflagration, because each tail-lamp was suspended from the pole above the loads, and was not left upon its ordinary bracket. Had the man who suffered death by the fearful agony of burning known that petrol vapour was heavier than air, he would not have placed an oil-lamp on the ground. We hope this warning may save others, and that they will remember, in case of necessity, to keep any lamp above the level of any leak, and to shine the enclosed light downwards, from a vertical height of not less than 2i feet, and from a greater elevation and distance if possible.
Co-operative Motoring.
An American writer in a contemporary journal (" The Business Man's Magazine ") inclines to the view that com
mercial motor traffic will extend on co-operative lines, but
holds the view that, as the same business laws have affected passenger transport, combination and concentration will affect the use of the commercial motor. This writer argues from the fact that the individual had a horse, and slow travel, whilst the world-wide community, having a railway, now has speed. He proceeds that, as the farmer adopted a threshing machine, which could knock the kernels out of more wheat straws than the ordinary farm could raise, so must there be a concentrated effort to put heavy motor traffic upon a more generally recognised plane of common utility. This writer, a Mr. E. Ralph Estep, impresses the view that the individual use of motor wagons creates waste, and concludes as follows :--" Business men who keep a close eye on the development of the motor express system will find that they are learning one of the greatest lessons of experience which commerce has to offer : out of. concentration, speed ; out of speed, profit." The article in question seeks to develop the idea of the joint use of commercial motors by two or more business houses acting in concert, but we are bound to confess to the view that such a proposition can only be feasible in rare instances. It is true that appropriate organisation is essential to the successful use of commercial motors on a large scale, but we believe that the facilities which are offered by existing carrying and forwarding companies, such as Carter, Paterson and Company, Limited, and Pickford's, Limited, will appeal More to the average British merchant or shopkeeper than will a proposal for joint ownership of one or two vans in conjunction with some other trading house. The alterna tive of new motor-carrying companies is greatly handicappec by the lack of elasticity which characterises their organisation at the beginning, as it is necessary that they should 13( started on a very large scale, and that they should be prepared to make no profit for the first few rears, if they are tc go into effective competition with companies such as thost we have named.
Our opinion is all against this suggestion for co-operativo ownership, at least so far as its prospects of adoption in any thing more than exceptional cases are concerned. W4 urge, instead, that haulage contractors and team ownert should gradually become possessed of mechanically-propellec
plant, and we believe they will put themselves in positiot to undertake particular contracts for existing or new client! by means of such road motors. In addition to this, as is be ing more clearly demonstrated each month, owners of moto: garages and repair shops will be equally prepared to ente. into similar hiring contracts for commercial motors as the: do for private cars. We do not deny that there is a curtail measure of theoretic attractiveness about the regular back load from a works which requires to send its products in de reverse direction to that from which goods arrive in it. neighbourhood from some other works, or port, but such co operative haulage seldom proves to be as satisfactory ii practice as it appears in the abstract. It is much better tha a manufacturer or trader should have full control of hi carrying agency, and he can only obtain that by becomin the outright purchaser, or by obtainingthe exclusive servic of a vehicle from some other owner whose business it is do jobbing work upon agreed terms,
Keeping the Trials Routes.
An unpleasantly high number of the road observers wh4 have daily custody of the vehicles which are taking part ii the R.A.C. Trials lose their way. These experiences ar naturally disagreeable, in that they involve waste of tim and the introduction of difficulties as regards the regainml of the proper route, but they have a much more importan
significance. The Club's route-maps convey very littl more than does the average representation of a raiIwa company's main line in its official time-table, which map are notoriously straight-line affairs, and the first few day of the trials amply demonstrated that the simple-lookin, pieces of card-board were insufficient for the purposes i view.
Going back to the i,000-mile trial of 1900, and to otht trials that have been held in this country, one finds thk reliance was not placed upon mere tracings that might ha% been made without any visit to the roads in question, an whilst admitting the shortness of time at the disposal the Club, we feel, having regard to the absence of limit: tion upon expenditure, and to the fundamental necessity • accurate mileage records for each vehicle, in order that r discrepancies shall vitiate the divisors afterwards, it is in possible to do otherwise than express regret that the pr cedents in its possession were not turned to better accoun We approach this subject in no spirit of idle criticism, Is as the result of personal experience, and in response to tl representations of numerous competitors. Not much liar has been done to the trials, so far, by the uncertainties th have been introduced, and we believe that Mr. Orde will " able to make good this branch of the organisation witho difficulty now that its imperfections are realised. The su gestion that confetti of different colours should be used ale,' each route is open to several objections, and we believe th scrupulous care in the placing of indication-arrows at for and turnings is the practicable remedy, such indicators bell placed in position by a single official along the whole leng of each route, and not -being left to the mercy of a vark of individuals. The Club has sufficient cars at its dispos or can arrange to have them, in order to send one out for t specific purpose of insuring the correct marking of ea road, and we suggest that a brush and a pot of paste mig be more frequently used for -putting up the arrows on ga ways, walls, posts, and other surfaces en route. If t official for each class were dispatched, each morning, hour in advance of the first participating vehicle, he shoi be able to keep ahead, notwithstanding his stoppages the purpose of putting up the cards and sheets bearing I arrows and other indications.