THE MUCH-ABUSED MOTOR COACH.
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The Complaint of the Motorist Another Case of the Pot and the Kettle. Possible Speed Limits and Restrictions.
By " Vectis."
CERTAIN ORGANS of the lay Press, in chronic search for something to grumble at, have hit upon the motor char-it-bancs, and, in doing so, have, for once (but quite accidentally); taken a, line which is acceptable to the average privatemotorcar owner. .
At th.e moment, •all that has happened in connection with the new scheme of taxation has by no means tended towards the creation of the friendliest possible relations between the representatives of the motorist, and those of the commercial and pulaie service vehicle owner. Consequently it is to be feared that the former, feeling that the commercial vehicle interests have entirely " queered the pitch" for him in the matter of taxation, will not be at all reluctant to get his own back by making himself very fairly unpleasant in the matter of the motor coach.
He finds that, in this, there is at least.. a 'fair volume -Of public opinion on his side. He feels that he has been let down by the proprietors of public service vehicles. He does not, perhaps; realize that the new scheme of taxation is in fact, calculated to bear very heavily on the char-a-bancs proprietor, -whose vehicles do not cover. anything approaching the mileages normally run by motor omnibuses, but who, nevertheless, is expected to pay an equal' licence duty.
Thus, it would seem that the motor coach proprietor is likely to be squeezed from both sides. On the one hand, he is being forced to pay part of the taxation for the mileage covered by motor omnibuses; on the other, he is being represented as a person who wilfully sends out on to the road 'a procession of juggernauts, or a herd of wild beasts. He must be beginning to wonder whethei, in the future, he is going to be taxed heavily for possessing his vehicles and then prohibited from using them.
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" Abnormal Conditions.
In this, as in all such eases, there is some force in the argument of the enemy. On the average, the
motor coach is distinctly longer, and has a bigger overhang than even the. largest types of goods
carrying vehicle. Probably its average speed in prac tice is somewhat higher. Altogether, the largest type of motor char-à,ancs is -by no means a pleasing thing to meet on a narrow country road,' and the job of passing when travelling in the same direction is perhaps even more distasteful, A very large number of motor coaches have recently been hurried on to the roads, in order to
be in time to make 'their profit during the current season. It stands to reason that a fair number of -drivers, while probably experienced on other vehicles, have not hitherto handled vehicles of this particular type. Many3. of these men have recently come out •
of the army, and they have been driving lorries in 'France and elsewhere,-and their experience has been
such as to make them somewhat oblivious of minor dangers and somewhat regardless of the comfort, or. even the safety, of other road users, se long as their own job is done up to time. Similarly, the chassis of many a the vehicles now in use have probably not been designed specifically.. for coach work, but were in many instances built for g.00ds transport in military service.
Thus, it is hardly fair to judge the normal motor coach and its driver purely on the basis of the experience of the moment.
Suggested Precautions and Rules. •
Nevertheless, we must recognize that even the large number of motor coaches already upon the road represents but asmall proportion of what will be on the road in two or three years' time if normal development be permitted. A „considerable section of the public is sick and tired of; the discomfortof railway travelling. The quantity -of goods requiring haulage by rail is increasing rapidly, and it IS more than questiceilble whether-the railway passenger, and -particularly the holiday maker, is at all likely to get any more consideration than he does at present-. He
I as abandoned the railway for the road, not so much for the comparative novelty of motor coaching, but because of the intrinsic superiority of this method of travelling for his purposes. The demand for-motor coach services will, therefore, continue to grow, and undoubtedly this demand will be met unless it is artificially checked. Such a check might conceivably result from an unduly large number of serieus accidents. It might result also from adverse legislation or oppressive taxation. I take it that motor coach proprietors as a whole would be by no means averse to some scheme under which drivers of public service Vehicles would be tested before receiving licences, always provided that any such scheme is practical. One of the consequences would probably be an increase in the wages paid to drivers. On the other hand, these drivers would be picked men, and their superior efficiency would probably result in savings more than sufficient to balance their increased cost.
Then, again, if, as most people seem to agree a left-hand drive is undesirable, it is just about equally undesirable that seating accommodation should be provided for a passenger on the 'right of the driver. •
Speed Limits.
As regards speed, the motor coach is no worse an offender -against the letter of the law than is the private motorcar. It is quite conceivable that the Speed limit for private motorcars will be abolished. Some speed limit for heavier vehicles must be retained, and this limit might, with advantage, bear a direct relation to the carrying capacity, or to the dimensions of the vehicle, instead of merely taking account of its weight.. 13y an intelligently arranged scheme of speed limits the comparatively small motor coach could be given an advantage over the bulkier vehicle. It would be enabled to complete' in a half-day-trip a journey to which a bigger machine would have to allot a day. Thus, the receipts obtainable might be' little, if any, short of those accruing . from the use of a 30-seater coach, and the 15 to 20 seater might thus be encouraged.
Closing Roads Against Coach Traffic.
• It would be absurd to adopt the suggestion that has been freely made that all motor coaches should be prohibited from the use of a considerable proportion of our country roads. The motor coach passenger has as good a right as the private motor at to see the beautiev of his own country, provided that he does not make too big a nuisance of himself while doing so. We cannot expect to be able to carry 30 people with no more inconvenience to other users of theroad and residents near it than is caused by the carriage of three or four people. If the coach carries 30 and the car thi se, then the former should be blamed by the occupant of the latter if it is ten times as big a nuisance.
When the law prescribes 'limited dimensions for a v.ehiele of any type, the natural inclination of constructors is to go right up to the limit. Thus, we undoubtedly get obstructive vehicles with somewhat long overhangs and inconveniently wide on narrow roads. The tail of such a, vehicle is so far from the driver that-, when it is travelling at any speed, it is almost impossible for him to hear a vehicle approaching behind and to appreciate its desire to pass. Would it not be conceivably possible to leave the limits of dimensions approximately as they are and to prohibit the use or certain reads to vehicles which exceed somewhat lower dimensions? Those latter would correspond to a properly arranged coach to carry from 15 to 15 passengers, This smaller type could advantageously be fitted with pneumatic tyres.
It will at once be suggested that such vehicles will be driven at eYeessive speeds.. It is, in fact, maintained already by some private motorists that the speed of existing coaches is grossly excessive. The same people complain that this excessive speed makes it difficult and dangerous for them to peas whet travelling in the same direction. It does not seem . to occur, to them that, if. the speed of the motor coach is what they say it is, they, at any rate for the present, have no legal groundsfor complaint, because they ought not to want to pass it at ell, and cannot do so without breaking the law themselves. Many people at. present are, in fact, grumbling that motor coaches travel at something above the legal speed for the motorcar, and will not make -way when overtaking cars wish to pass them, and yet they de not seem to see the weakness of their own position. It is somewhat inconsistent to suggest that the police should assiduously attack motor coaches, and that local authorities should close many of their roads to them, simply in order to allow other people to break the law with fewer hindrances and greater regularity.
Dangers of "Class" Legislation.
Personally, I 'am all for the abandonment of the motorcar speed limit. I do not. think that the speed limit for heavier vehicles can be altogether abolished. At the same time, see trouble likely to follow on any indiscreet attempt to accord totally. different treatment to the high-powered car of the rich man and the vehicle of about equal power but larger dimensions favoured by the poorer members of the community. The point that the private motorist ought to remember is that the motor coachis turning the average member of the public into a motorist, and so converting him to many of the views which motor-. ists hold as such. The bigger the mileage that anyone covers in a motor coach, the more completely does he assimilate the motorist's point of view, and the more bitterly would he resent legislation restrio'jug or in any way hindering the use of Motor vehicles. Thus, the motor coach is a great educator, upon which we must depend,in no small measure, for the removal of the various grievances under which the private motorist has always laboured.
Now? if the private motorist, instead of recognizing this and putting up with the motor coach as a well-meaning but rather •clurrisy friend, regards it as an enemy and as a trespasser upon the roads, the result will be merely to accentuate the class discord, which is .really at the bottom of most of the discomforts under which motorists now labour. The writer recently heard it stated by a very prominent public man that the last Olyinpia Show, by reason of the cost and luxury of many of the ears exhibited, put a powerful weapon into the hands of the extreme socialist. If th.e motorist is to get rid of his unpopularity, he must show the greatest possible tolerance for those who cannot own cars themselves.
Conclusion.
In making these remarks, I am really forecasting what I know I shall have to say at meetings at which this matter of motor coaches will be in dispute. 'When that time comes I shall. feel that I start with a handicap against me, because, as I have stated in a previous article, I am convinced* that the public service motor proprietors took a very selfish and regrettabler line on the question of taxation. When you have just succeeded in knocking a man down,it, is hardly discreet to ask him to pat your back, and this is what I feel sure I shall be told when I endeavour to persuade the representative; of the private car to look leniently on the motor coach, ' .
Nevertheless, I am convinced that it is in their ultimate interest to do so, and I feel that, while some very 'modest steps should be taken in the direction, of regulating the use hi the motor char-à-hancs in the interests of its proprietors and passengers, as' well as of the public, these steps should he taken with the utmost discretion, and should not be actuated by any vindictiveness or by intolerance towards those without vehose assistance the. private motorist will never get fair treatment in this country.