PROGRESS IN PASSENGER TRAVEL.
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The Latest Doingst'and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
Closing Roads to Coaches.
The Pros and Cons of the Case, with Particular Reference to the Proposals of the Westmorland County Council.
WE PUBLISHED recently an article dealing with the possibility of restrictions being imposed on the use of heavy mechanical transport on certain roads, with particular reference to motor ' coaches. We have also published the actual proposals of the NVestmorland County Council in this respect. A study of the exact scope of those proposals shows immediately that their real object is to circumscribe the use of large motor coaches in districts where the roads are considered to be inadequate from the point of view of strength of foundations or of width, or dangerous by reason of their narrow and winding character. As the Roads Act definitely makes provision for local authorities to put in application& of this kind which may be made the subject of a public inquiry and subsequently adjudicated upon by the Ministry of Transport, it would be neither politic nor effective to meet all such proposals with a blank opposition unsupported by argument. Each case mast, in fact, be considered on its merits, but there are certain principles which must on no account be abandoned.
In the first place, we have the very pertinent fact that the proceeds of motor taxation are devoted to the maintenance and improvement of classified roads. It is obviously unreasonable to take money from the motor owner on the understanding that it will be used to give him better roads and then to close any of those roads against him altogether. This gives us the first principle, that no closing of classified roads should be permitted unless the bulk of motor users themselves favour that course, these roads being all necessarily maintained up to the stanaard required to make them suitable for all forms of legal traffic.
In respect of the unclassified roads-, the traffic upon which is for the most part purely local, the first principle to be insisted upon seems to be that if restrietione are permitted at all, their duration must be strictly limited. In other words, the authority would not be given power to close its road indefinitely to legal traffic, but would merely be given a reasonable interval during which, on the one hand, insufficiently strong roads would he protected from,serious injury and, on the other, these roads should he so improved that when the period of restriction terminates they will be fit for the traffic that desires to plyupon them. The next principleesheuld, we consider, be strictly to limit any restriction that may be granted, in respect of the class of vehicle to which it shall apply. it ought not to affect private motorcars, even if they are,elightly abovewhat has in the past been their legal limit of weight. Neither ought it to affect any goods-carrying vehicles whatever. This last may seem illogical, seeing that the goods-carrying vehicle may be even heavier than the largest type of motor coach, and may be of just as great dimensions. On the other hand, if the user of a goods-carrying vehicle is to employ it for all the legal purposes of bi,s trade, he B24 must be allowed to send it wherever his trade demandseite presence.
Any restriction preventing this from occurring wouldaii at all widely applied, mean that the heavier types of goodscarrying vehicle would be terribly handicapped in competition with rail transport. there would be driven to purchase Tight machines which, in many cases, would mean serious loss of economy, hampering the development of motor traffic as against the older forms of road transport.
Putting the thing in another way, the closing of roads to heavy but legal goodscarrying vehicles would mean, in the long run, prohibiting the use of seieh vehicle-8 altogether, and not merely on the roads specifically closed against them.
As regards motor coaches and similar traffic, the prineipleashould be adopted that no closing of roads should be permieBillie until owaers of such vehicles Ad been warned of the intention of the local authority, and had failed to a-ct upon the warning and used alternative routes where available. It is more than questionable whether, where no alternative route is available, any limitations of use should be permitted at all. Certainly it is out of the question that in such cases the use of roads by goods-carrying traffic within the law should be limibed.
Take tho case, for example, of furni ture removal. Is it to be compulsory upon a ratepayer, because the foundation of the local road is not sufficiently strengthened, to have his furniture carried in a large number of more or less unsuitable light vans atextortionate cost to himself if he happens to wish to change his place of residence?, Again, is it to be impossible in similar., circumstances to provide any means of transport for large heavy articles such az might be required, for instance, in building operations or in the equipment of a local power.house or pumping station? We deal on page 628 with the preceedings at the Ministry of Transport's inquiries into the Westmor. land County Council's proposals.
A New Motor Coach Step.
A PivOted Step which is Lowered when the Door is Opened and Brought Back into a Vertical Position when the Door is Closed.
N order to enable the full legal width of a motor-coach to be :employed in the build of the body itself many vehicles are now fitted with hinged running boards, the hinged part being arranged so as to fold over on to the fixed part, This is very desirable; but, unless the i hinged part s in a lowered position when passengers are entering and alighting from the vehicle, it might well be responsible for an untoward accident.
With the type of step which is described by Mr. F. D. CowiesOn, of Charles Street, St. Rollox, Glasgow, in patent specification No. 170,203, the risk of the step not being in position is entirely eliminated. This step comprises a step frame mounted on the cha,seis frame and fitted with a fixed footboard and a movable foethoard, the latter being elm nearer to tho ground. The bottom running board is mounted at a point at the end of the step frame to enable it to swing into the vertical position shown by the dotted lines in the drawing. The step is connected to the bottom of the vehicle door through the medium of a bell-crank lever, so that, when the door is closed, it is automatically raised so as to fall into line with the upper step. The bell-crank lever is pivoted at ia point in the middle of the step frame end connected by means of suitable links to the door and to the movable step, provision being made in the train of connections for a certain amount of lost motion, so that the running board will. not participate in the entire movements of the door. To provide the requisite lost motion, the uppermost link is formed with an elongated slot, which accommodates a slidable pin on the base of the door. A. stop serves to sustain the step in the lowered position. With 3 motor coach having a door to each row of seats, it. would be necessary to arrange that the opening of any of the doors brings the bottom running board into the lowered position. It would be 7110D8 costly to apply the idea to vehicles of this type than to coaches which have one passenger entrance only—a type, by the way, which is gradually gaining in favour, due to the weakness in the body sides when numerous door openings are introduced.
The L.C.C. Trolley-bus Scheme.. The L.C.C. Trolley-bus Scheme..
THE L.C.C. ha,s prepared its Tramways Bill, 1922. With regard to trolley-buses the Bill provides that the vehicles shall form part of the Council's tramways undertaking; that they shall not be deemed to be light locomotives within the meaning of the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, or of the bylaws and regulations made thereunder, or motorcars within the meaning. of the Motor Car Act, 1903, save for the purpose of Section 1 (1) of that Act, and that neither the regulations made under that Act nor the enactments mentioned in the schedule to the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, nor the Locomo
fives Act,' 1898, shall apply to such vehicles.
A clause is included, however, providing that nothing in the Act shall in any way affect the duties of excise now payable by law on licences to be taken out for trolley vehicles as carriages or light locomotives or hackney carriages. It is also provided that the form, weight and construction of the vehicles shall be subject to the approval of the Ministry of Transport, and that the Connell shall be empowered to lop trees and shrubs which overhang streets and footpaths in such a manner as to obstruct the working of the trolley vehicles, to remove snow and other matter to the side of the road, to acquire and hold patent rights and to provide buildings, plant and appliances. It is proposed that the Council shall have power to enter into agreements for through bookings with other authorities and companies owning railways, tramways, and omnibuses, and that the Minister of Transport shall have power to make by-laws and regulations with regard to the trolley vehicles. The appropriate general previsions of the Council's Tramways and Improvements acts and, following precedents set in recent Acts, certain of the provisions of the Tramways Act, 1870, have been applied to the vehicles.
. Trams or Buses ?
The Passenger Traffic Problem at Chester. How to Convert Non-paying Tram Routes.
L's OR MONTHS past the Chester Cori: poration has been considering whether the trams should be scrapped and replaced by motorbus services. The problem arose in connection with the heavy expense of repairing the tramway tracks in the city. Before coming to a decision, however, the Corporation asked Mr. A. R. Fearnley, the general manager of the Sheffield Corporation Tramways and Motors Department, to advise.
Mr. Fearnley has now submitted his report to the Chester Corporation, and generally advises that the tramways
should be maintained as at present laid out, and that the Corporation should proceed at once to deal with this question, on the -lines which are likely to cause the city the least financial loss and at the same time enable it to retain in its own hands the control and operation of the system.
Of the total capital expenditure on the undertaking of .V32,380 there was still outstanding £57,714 at the end of March last.
The work which requires putting in hand in order to allow of the undertaking being continued as suggested, is not extensive, nor does it require serious financial outlay, says Mr. Fearnley, and can easily be met out of the existing Renewals Fund, which at March last amounted to £17,539, On the question of obtaining tenders for leasing or purchasing of the tramway system, he says that it is very questionable whether any offers would be received to carry on the system under the terms of the lease or sale which the Corporation would be likely to grant, while either leasing or selling carries with it almost the entire loss of control of the undertaking by the Corporation. As to inviting tenders for motor omnibus services, M. Fearnley says that if the Chester Tramways Committee proposes to continue to ignore the powers which it has for providing its own motor omnibus services this might in some respects be considered an attrac
tive proposition. It, however, raises the whole question of policy of a municipality abandoning the duty of providing and controlling road passenger transport. It is possible by inviting tenders for motorbng services to take the place of the tramways and agreeing to give the support of the municipality to the company whose tender was accepted, that a considerable annual payment might be obtained from such company, it being agreed to withdraw and abandon the whole of the tramway services. Such a oompany, by using the city as its centre of operation and extending its ser
vices into the districts ;outside. the city, could undoubtedly obtain a remunerative and valuable business, capable of considerable expansion and development.
On this question of motorbus services, however, Mr. Fearnley urges that the municipality should bear in mind its own powers of operating motorbuses inside and outside the city; should care fully consider the question of extending the present tramway services by instituting motorbus services in connection
with the tramway ; and should also particularly point out to all applicants for motor emnibua licences, or renewal of licences what are the intentions of the Corporation in regards to the exercise of . the powers which it possesses.
If the Tramways Committee commenced to run a motor omnibus service
to one of the outlying districts in pro
longation of the tramway route it would obtain valuable experience of T the
feeding properties of motor omnibus services. The experience of other districts in regard to this matter has been that motor omnibus services operated in the manner suggested have had the effect of converting non-paying tram
routes into paying routes : have added enormously to the value of the-tramway undertaking; and assisted in many ways to improve the travelling -facilities which tramways can offer.
During the period which will eiatase for the economical life to be obtained from the system, tail id progress will un doubtedly be made with alternative methods of road passenger transporta tion. At the end of this period the Cor poration will have considerably further reduced its capital liability, and the de partment should be in a much better financial position. From the experience which the department will by that time have gained in practical operation of
motor omnibuses, the Corporation will then be in a position to decide whether
to continue the tramway system or to take advantage of the progress and improvements which undoubtedly will have . been made in other methods of transport.