A YORKSHIRE TROLLEY-BUS SYSTEM.
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A Comparison with an Earlier Petrol Bus Service on Similar Routes.
THE trend of public opinion towards many questions of social reform suggests that during the next few years there will be a much greater demand for efficient local passenger transport services than there has been in the past. Instead of being merely a matter of convenience an efficient service of passenger conveyances will be a necessity in the development of the plans for the future which the most active brains of the community are developing at the present time. Everything points to a great migration to the country to assist in the revival of agriculture, and to a general movement to the outskirts of the towns in the case of the business community. The centres of the towns and cities of the future will be given over for purely business purposes, and the suburbs will be the place of residence not only of the higher paid workers, who now reside in the villas surrounding the towns, but also of the clerk and the artisan, who now live in the town almost. Residential districts will' be spreadover a gr.eater area, and for this reason the problems of the transport engineer will be many. They will vary with each particular district, but the greatest advantages will
. accrue to promoters and passengers where the system i adopted s the one most suitable for the particular circumstances which prevail in the district served.
. Some extremely critical remarks were passed in the pages of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR a short time ago With regard to the use, and the future prospects of the trolley-bus, but a contributor quickly came forward to controvert the pessimistic views ,apparently held in sOine quarters of the future of this form of transport. In addition to the places named by the contributor who wrote in favour of the trolley-bus the case of the rail•-less service run. by the Keighley Corporation might be cited as an instance where the trolley-bus is giving satisfaction. As this particular system took the place of a system of petrol buses some sort of comparison-can be made between the cost of running the two systems on almost the same moutes.
The Keighley system was the first of its kind adopted in. this country, and is probably the only one M existence here. It came from Austria just before the wee, and though the compulsory winding up of the company responsible for the building of the vehicles has caused -inconvenience in the matter of repairs, with the electrical engineering industry working under normal conditions matters will right themselves. Three routes are in operation, connecting the outlying townships With the borough of Keighley, and two of these routes are such that they provide a 'severe, test to any kind -of vehicle. Yet the electric trolley vehicles have proved themselves more reliable than petrol vehicles tinder the trying circumstances. Some idea of the severity of the gradients can be gained from the fact that in the first mile on the Oakworth route there is a rise of 240 ft., and before the second mile is completed the bus is 530 ft. above the starting point. The Cross Roads route is almost as severe, running, as it does, up the other side of the valley of the river Worth: but the one to Sutton,
taking the main road in the bottom of the Aire valley, is fairly level. The Cross Roads route, it might be mentioned, has been extended to Oxenhope, mile and a quarter further_ out, making the total length of the route about four miles. For the present, however, the Local Government Board request that this extension shall not be used on the ground that additional repairs will be needed to the road, and this they wish to avoid.
The cars were the patent of the Cedes-Stoll Electric Traction Co., a concern which originated from Vienna. They differ from other systems operated in the West Riding, in that there is a direct drive on to the back wheel. The armatures of the motors form part of the back wheels, and they revolve round field magnets, which are bolted to a rigid bar. The power 'being transmitted direct to the wheels by separate motors, there is no transmission system, and the whole arrangement is such that the controls are much simpler than those of the petrol bus, and are much nearer fool-proof in the hands of inexperienced drivers. On the other hand, it might be pointed out that the motors are unsprung and subject to all road shocks. Power is obtained from double overhead wires, the bus being fitted with a flexible connection and current collector of truck-like form, having" four grooved wheels which run on the top of the wires. Detachable contact boxes are provided, and may be exchanged from one car to another when vehicles wish to_pass on the road. _•
To give comparisons of the running costs of the present service and those of petrol buses formerly used presents some difficulties, as the trolley-bus service has been running under war conditions only. But a comparison which takes into consideration the, changed circumstances would point to the trolley-bus having the advantage from the point of view of low running cost. The first section opened' cost the Corporation £1650 per mile, for everything except the care, which were •then loaned to the local authority. In Vienna the cost was £1690 per mile. Two ears for 28 passengers, cost the Corporation 2710,1 and before the service commenced running it was estimated that the running &tit would be about 7d. per mile. During the ivar, diffickilties in getting repairs have interfered With the service, but the working expenses per car mile amounted to 9.356d. in 1914-15, 9.003d. in 1915-16, and 9.921d. in 1916-17. Excluding-power cost the expenses were 5.446d., 7.898d., and 8:936d., in the above-mentioned years. In the same periods the car miles run were 37,773, 91,029, and 73,277, and the units of electricity consumed per car. mile .875, 1.105, and .985 As a comparison with these figures the working expenses, of the motorbus service over almost the same routes will probably be interesting. Taking the period when the petrol buses were .in full working order, in 191142, the working expenses. per bus mile (including cost of petrol) were 12.987d., and in 1912-13 12:393d. the expenses, excluding cost of petrol, being 10.995d., and 9.522d.respectively. In these cases the bus miles ran were 121,295, and 86,691, while he petrol consumed was at the rate of 4.181 miles and 3.82 miles per gallon. The motorbuses were made by one of the bestknown makers. When superseded by the trolley-buses they were sold, and to the knowledge of the writer two of them are at the present time in operation by a firm of haulage contractors and used as lorries. Before the war, in addition to ordinary haulage work during the week, they were Put into use as chars-iibanes, and have given good service to the peesent owners. The seating capacity of the motorbuses Was, of course, greater than the trolley-buses, hut the upper deck could not be used in bad weather. As the trolley-buses have carried a Similar number of passengers, in comparison with the bus-miles run, apparently. the seating capacity of the trolley-bus has been sufficient for this particular service. • One trolley-bus is fitted with an upper deck, however. The service taps districts which are badly served by the railways, and two of the routes serve as feeders to the tramway service, bringing additional reverue to the Corporation in this way. The failure to get the motors in the wheels rewound hampered activities after the winding up of affairs of the company responsible for the installation of the system. They had a guarantee to keep the vehicles in repair, but, of course, the Corporation lost that advantage, and other firms were not eager to take .up the work in war timer When one wheel, gave out, another could be taken from another bus ta make good for .a? time, but there have been occasions when the service has been practically sfispended.