The Motor Omnibus World.
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Manchester Licenses.
No definite decision has yet been reached by the Manchester City Council, in respect of fresh licenses for motorbuses. The whole matter is engaging the attention of a sub-committee of the Watch Committee.
A Clarkson Trip.
The " Essex County Chronicle " of the 17th instant contains an interesting account of the latest tour by a Clarkson motorbus round the country. We made a short reference to this trip in our issue of the i8th June (page 381 ante).
Routes at Nottingham.
A valued correspondent of this journal writes, in reference to the declared failure of the motorbuses at Nottingham, that the Corporation ran the vehicles upon a road where it would not pay to run anything else. He goes on to suggest that the Nottingham City Council should allow the motorbuses to ply where the horse buses are at present plying, in which case he is confident there would be an ample return on the investment.
Liverpool's Unwillingness.
By 32 votes to 26, at its meeting on the 14th instant, the Liverpool City Council rejected a resolution in favour of the provision of a service a motorbuses. The memory of the early disasters which attended the use of motor lorries in Liverpool, prior to the passing of the 1903 Act, evidently has its adverse effects still, but we note with satisfaction that an increasing number of councillors is in favour of a trial for motorbuses.
Seeking the Traffic Board.
Paddington Borough Council is communicating with the other Metropolitan Borough Councils transmitting a resolution passed by the former authority requesting the local representative upon the L.C.C. to urge that body to take steps to promote the establishment of a Traffic Board for London, on the lines suggested in the report of the Royal Commission on London Traffic. Paddington Council asks that similar action should be taken by the other local authorities of the Metropolis.
Shareholder& Meetings.
At the meeting of the debenture holders of the Road Car Company, on Monday last, /5 votes were cast for, and six against, the resolution for amalgamation ; a poll being demanded by the Chairman, the resolution was duly adopted. The general body of shareholders subsequently approved the resolutions with only ten dissentients. In like manner, at the meeting Of the debenture holders of the Vanguard Motorbus Company, a poll showed that the holders of 148,149 shares supported the terms of the fusion, compared with 131 shares in opposition. Later, the ordinary shareholders, on a poll, approved the resolutions by 142,692 shares in favour, with only 143 shares in opposition. A summary of the financial terms of the arrangements was given in our last issue. The Curse of Excessive Speed.
We would invite the authorities to consider how much of the blame for excessive speed and apparent racing should be laid upon the shoulders of the drivers, and how much should be laid at the door of the persons upon whose instructions the drivers have to undertake " shepherding " and " nursing " operations. Excessive speed on " opposition roads " have, in many cases, been forced on the drivers as an unwelcome business necessity.
Accumulator Propulsion.
Mr. J. Darwen and Dr. E. E. Lehv,,ess, directors of the Electric Vehicle Company, Limited, of t, _Earl Street, Westminster, S.W., have been at York, for the purpose of demonstrating the " Electrobus " locally. Prior to the visit to York, a demonstration had been given at Loughborough, where, as announced in our issue of the 21st May (page 297 ante), the local authorities have decided upon accumulator propulsion.
Municipal Motorbuses for Keighley• Powers Outside the Borough.
The Police and Sanitary Committee of the House of Commons has granted to Keighley Corporation powers for the running of motor omnibuses. When the powers sought for in the Corporation Bill now before Parliament (which has already been before a Committee of the House of Lords) were considered, the Corporation had no opposition from other interests to contend with, there being provision for the protection of railways.
Under the clauses accepted by the Police and Sanitary Committee, the Corporation is empowered to provide (but not to manufacture) and run motor omnibuses within the Borough, and outside the Borough along the following routes :--(a) from the borough boundary, at Utley, along the Keighley and Kendal main road, through Steeton to Eastburn ; (b) from the borough boundary, at Stockbridge, along the Keighley and Bradford main road to BingIcy; (c) from the borough boundary, near Exley .Head, along the Toiler Lane, Haworth, and Blue Bell Road to Oakworth. The clauses provide : that the Corporation may demand such reasonable fares and charges for the conveyance of passengers as may be approved by the Board of Trade; may purchase by 'agreement and take on lease lands and buildings, and may erect on any land acquired by them necessary buildings and provide requisite plant, appliances, etc. The Corporation is also empowered to make by-laws. Under the clauses, all provisions of the Conveyance of Mails Act,_ 1893, relating to conveyance of mails on tramways, apply and have effect in relation to the motor omnibuses. It is .laid down that the motor omnibuses are to be used only for the conveyance of traffic arising at and destined for places on the routes authorised by the Act or within the Borough, and are not to be used as part of a through route to or from any other place in competition with the Midland Railway or the Great Northern Railway.
Facilities for Bathers.
For the benefit of bathers and holiday makers generally, Renard trains are being run at excursion rates between the railway station at Wimereux and Cap Grisnez, in the Pas de Calais. The service is a daily one, and it will last until the 15111 September, when the bathing season in the north of France terminates. The time table is : Leave Wimereux station, 10.30 a.m.; Wimereux Bridge, to. ; Ambleteuse, 10.55 ; Audresselles, mm ; arrive Cap Grisnez, 11.30 a.m.
Leave Cap Gris-Nez, 4.50 p.m. ; Audresselles, 5.15; AlTlbleteUSSe, 5.25; Wimereux Bridge, 5.45 ; arrive Wimereux station, 5.5o p.m.
Progress in Switzerland.
A correspondent of "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " writes :—Anyone visiting Switzerland nowadays cannot fail to be struck with the promptness with which the hoteliers have taken up the small motor omnibus. At such centres as Geneva and Lucerne, a long line of handsome vehicles, with smartlyliveried drivers at the wheels, may be seen outside the stations just before the arrival of the tourist-carrying trains. The buses are richly upholstered, and space is afforded on the roof for the carriage of the visitors' luggage. In a land of " funiculars " and lake steamers, there may be no great demand for motor chars-hebancs, but that the motorbus is a modern necessity is recognised by the proprietors of all the palatial caravanseries of Switzerland.
Tramways and Theobald's Road Congestion.
In regard to the suggestions made by Holborn Borough Council, relative to the congestion of traffic in Theobald's Road, due to the tramways, the Works and General Purposes Committee reported on Monday, that the Highways Committee of the London County Council received the deputation from the Borough Council. The Highways Committee intimated its inability to adopt any of the recommendations put forward. Attention was directed to the fact that a Board of Trade by-law providing that no tramcar shall approach another on the same line nearer than 5o yards, except at junctions, is systematically disregarded, and the deputation was informed that the Borough Council had the remedy in its own hands, viz., to prosecute the drivers. The Town Clerle has accordingly. been requested to communicate with the police, and to render them any possible assistance in any prosecutions they may undertake. The committee still has the matter before it, and is to advise the Borough Council should anything transpire which would enable any further steps to be taken in the matter. We would direct attention to the bylaw which prohibits the stoppage of two tramcars, opposite to one another, on parallel lines of rail. The Traffic Department.
The following changes have taken place on the London motorbus services durihg the past week :— UNION JACK.—The Darkopp machines which belong to the " S " route now run a Sunday service from Putney to Shoreditch, via Fulham Palace Road, Shepherd's Bush, Bayswater, Oxford Street, Charing Cross, Strand and the Bank. The alteration took place on the i9th instant.
VANGUARD.—Service " 12," which was shortened, on the 21st June, at the Willesden end, was again extended, on the t9th instant, to the " Rising Sun," Willesden, and now runs, via Willesden Green, Kilburn High Road, .Maida Vale, and Hyde Park to Victoria Station.
GREAT EASTERN.—The Upton Park to Oxford Circus route, on Monday the 20th instant, was diverted to run via Strand, 'Charing Cross and Piccadilly Circus, instead of the old route along Holborn and Oxford Street. A reduction has been made in the fares on this service; .Piccadilly Circus to Ludgate Circus, and Charing Cross to the Mansion House, are now penny fares, On the Shepherd's Bush and Liverpool Street route,the fare between Shepherd's Bush and Tottenham Court Road is now twopence, and for the whole journey .it is threepence.
Old Accounts.
It is, perhaps, a work of supererogation to enter into any detail of accounts for a period which has already expired more than a year. We do, none the less, note a few of the figures in the accounts of the four, companies which, as from the 1st April, 19o7, became amalgamated under the title of the Vanguard Motorbus Company, Limited.
The London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited; had traffic earnings, for the nine months ended the 31st March, 1907, of iji67,885, to which had to be added £5,629 for penalties in respect of non-delivery of chassis, ,4;5,980 for advertising and sundry receipts, the total thus being ,179,494. The total expenses for the same period, without any provision for depreciation, amounted to .4:205,888, no less than .4;23,705 of this being in respect of claims. The total cost of the Handcross accident was ,4'11,895, of which £4,000 was recovered from an insurance company.
The receipts for the London and District Motor Bus Company, Limited, from the date of its incorporation on the ist March, '9o, to the 3oth March, 1907, were .4;158,762, of which £53797 were traffic receipts. Both receipts and payments are stated in the baldest form, with capital and trading amounts, indistinguishable one from the other, so we are unable, here to say how great the company's trading loss was before it was amalgamated, though some idea may be gathered from the fact that £18,500 had been borrowed.. In this.
company's case, claims for accidents amounted to .4;2,507, of which .4;509 was recovered.
Similar summaries are given in respect of the receipts and payments by the London and Provincial Motorbus and Traction Company, Limited, from • the isth February, 5906 (the date of incorporation), to the 3oth March, 1907, and for the Motor Bus Company,. Limited, from the 19th May, 1905 (the date of incorporation), to the 3oth. March, 5907. They are in no sense trading accounts, and we can only remark that the former company had 26,063 cash in hand at the date of its absorption, whilst the latter had ,4',17,923 in hand.