Single-deckers for City Services
Page 54
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NAARICING a real step forward in 1Y1 the adaptation of the underfloorengined single-decker for operation in crowded British cities, the first two Guy maximum-capacity vehicles ordered by Southampton transport department were delivered last Monday. Several innovations have been incorporated in the bodies, 12 of which have been ordered and which are being built by Park Royal Vehicles, Ltd., Abbey Road, London, N.W.10.
Based on the Guy. Arab underfloorengined chassis with a wheelbase of 16 ft. 4 ins, and powered by the Gardner 6HLW engine, the new buses are 30 ft. long and 8 ft. wide. Seating is provided for 26 passengers, with standing room for another 26, 15 of whom are accommodated on the roomy platform at the rear. Intended for both one-man and two-man operation, the controls for the two doors are arranged so that they can be operated by the driver alone, when he is acting as a driver-conductor during off-peak periods, or by the driver and conductor when the vehicle is operating in the peak hours.
The conductor, when carried, is seated at a pay-desk located over the rear near-side wheel-arch, with his back to the pavement. Passengers enter through the folding rear doors. When the doors have been closed the passengers move forward past the conductor, who issues tickets from an Ultimate machine fixed to a small stand on his right. Change is kept in a suitably partitioned drawer which pulls out under the pay desk. Also on the right of the conductor are the door-operating buttons and the bell push.
As these new vehicles are built to the maximum permissible dimensions and are 10 ft. high, the unladen weight of 7 tons 15 cwt. must be considered excellent. This has been achieved, by the use of heavy-duty aluminium-alloy pillars in conjunction with a steel underframe and aluminium framing. Panelling is attached by hollow rivets in the interest of easy. repair. The main side windows are rubber glazed and are fixed. Ventilation is provided by top-sliding standee windows and by two letterbox vents in the front panelling and four extractor ventilators in the roof.
Both the doorways are of ample width, the front one being 2 ft. 6.1 ins. wide and the rear one 3 ft. 4+ ins, wide, so that the total platform area almost equals that of a double-decker. The steps, too, are convenient. At the rear, the first step from the ground is 1 ft.
ins, high, whilst the two steps to the main floor at the front and rear are each 10 ins. high.
Apart from a slight ramp at front and rear, the main saloon floor is level throughout.
Longitudinal seats are arranged at the front and rear to increase circulating space near the conductor's cash desk and round the front door. Easy steps, wide doors and a level floor are features calculated to speed the flow of passengers through the bus in peak hours. When in service in off-peak periods, passengers enter by the front door, pay the driver, whose ticketissuing machine is located onhis left, and pass into the saloon.
The driver's cab is roomy and visibility excellent. The large, double windscreen is almost vertical, so that the central pillar offers Hide obstruction to forward vision, an important point, because the vehicle will be operating in both narrow roads and in the congested centre of Southampton.
Mr. P. J. Baker, general manager and engineer of Southampton Corporation, whose ideas are incorporated in the new vehicles, intends to run them on routes worked at the moment by both one-man-operated single-deckers and by double-deckers. It is at present considered that two single-decker routes and one double-decker route should be linked with the new vehicles to improve the frequency and reduce costs. The results of the introduction of these new vehicles into the corporation system (described in "The Commercial Motor" dated March 23, 1951) will be awaited by undertakings throughout the country.