Id service: ew technology
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NDOW displays at the Swiss ntre in London have taken a stalgic look at the velopment and equipment of e of Europe's oldest regular )tor bus operations.
n June 1906 "on-time" livery of three 14-passenger ses, ordered ten months rlier from Saurer, Berne and irtini, enabled the Swiss Post rice to inaugurate the
J nt ry's first two services tween Berne, the capital, and Hying districts, including a ,trr) run to Detligen.
lowever, there has been itinuing opposition to the use motor vehicles in many parts Switzerland. In the Grisons lion lorries and even cars re not permitted until 1919. is has meant that the postal thorities could not itemplate a full replacement horse-drawn mail coaches in the winter, sleighs! — til the early 1920s, 'ost-war transfer of 100 mer army vehicles to the Post (PTT) laid the foundation a more extensive
Aorisation programme and by Z2 the fleet consisted of 134 ses and seven lorries. These luded the first three "cars lins" from what was then a N name in the Swiss
.ornotive sector, FEW. In )9 the founder of this
-npany, Franz Brozincevic, had 3orne the official servicing J repair contractor to the post ice.
3y now over 600 horses had n retired, of which 392 had ;vided motive power on )untain routes. What would w be termed minibuses were reduced in 1923-4 in the more note regions of Central ritzerland, the Valais and ino cantons.
Iuilt by Martini — this maker ised production in 1925 — the vehicles were more like a large touring car and could carry eight passengers and a quantity of mail; they were specially designed for steep and narrow roads.
By the mid-Twenties PTT motor bus services had reached most alpine regions of the country and many historic pass routes were opened up to tourists. The longest of these provided an 80km link between Chur and St Moritz via the Julier Pass crossing which rises to a height of 7,495ft.
In the meantime, the development of contractor's services, still a unique feature of road passenger services in Switzerland, continued apace and became subject to the same stringent operating and equipment criteria which have given the Swiss postal bus services a worldwide reputation for service standards and safety.
This was of particular importance in the context of tourism where the postal bus fulfilled a vital complementary role to the country's rail system. In 1932 the fleet of 234 vehicles still included nine units on longterm hire from the military.
A year later the first dieselengined buses appeared and this soon led to the development of the compressed air type of starter (still extensively used in Switzerland) to reduce the load on the battery.
Until 1954 normal control vehicles were the rule in Swiss PTT operations although a Saurer forward-control prototype of semi-integral construction had been delivered to the post office as early as 1937. Today, Switzerland has a postbus network of almost 7,700km — excluding special services in holiday resort areas. Some 1,350 buses and coaches, including some of the latest articulated vehicles, are PTTowned. With the addition of vehicles in use by contractors' the system has become the largest single provider of passenger road transport in Switzerland.
There is, however, little or no duplication over routes also served by the railways or municipal operators although the extension of integrated fare structures, such as that practised in the Basle area, has resulted in improved postbus use.
Centred on the main automotive workshops in Berne, the PTT maintains 53 regional garages and repair shops which are also responsible for vehicles in use by the mail and phone services, totalling over 10,000 units.
A feature revealing a little of the working climate and staff relations in the PTT organisation is the seasonal help obtained from mechanical staff in driving vehicles.
In summer peak periods around 30-40 senior fitters from the Berne central workshops don drivers' uniforms to help with private hire and party work in holiday regions-throughout the country. While there are now a number of foreign-made buses and coaches in service with the PTT — the best-known were the Mercedes-Benz 0.303 coaches
workin.g Swissair motorway "flights" between Berne and Zurich until completion of a new airport rail link in 1980— Swiss industry is still the main supplier of the 90-odd replacement units bought each year.
Feedback from the often arduous service conditions under which PTT operations are carried out, particularly during the winter months, is giving manufacturers valuable data and information for incorporation in new models.
Swiss PTT bus operation has always been considered a firstclass test bed for much of the innovative technology which has distinguished Swiss automotive practice and one of the most recent examples concerns the introduction, in passenger service, of what is believed to be the worlds' first lpg engine fitted with a turbocharger.
The Saurer D3 KTU-G engine in the PTT prototype vehicle is a six-cylinder, 12.5-litre, horizontal unit derived from a normally aspirated lpg version first shown at Geneva in 1980. The underfloor-mounted engine no develops 184kW at 2,200rev/m in with a maximum torque of 1,020Nm at only 800rev/min. The turbocharged lpg engine is used in conjunction with a fivespeed automatic transmission and has outstanding low noise and exhaust emission values.
The vehicle is now in service in the St Gall postal region.