PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 67
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
ONE-MAN-CONTROLLED DOUBLE-DECKERS.
Brief Particulars of Interesting Vehicles Used in an Experimental Capacity by an American Bus Operator.
ACCORDING to our American contemporary, has Transportation, the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., operating passenger vehicles in Milwaukee, U.S.A., has been running, as an experiment, two 49-seater, doubledeck buses rearranged for one-man control. In their present form these buses have now been on the road for several months and it is reported that the experiment has proved eminently successful.
With regard to running times, it is stated that those of the twa experimental buses compare favourably with those of one-man-controlled singledeckers and normal-type double-deckers operating to the same schedules. This, however, is thought to be because passengers on the route concerned are used to being served by one-man-operated machines equipped with electric ticketissuing devices and thus have their fare money ready before the bus arrives.
Two methods of controlling the double-deckers have been experimented with. One of the redesigned vehicles has been fitted with its entrance for passengers at the rear, whilst that and the staircase of the other are situated at the forward end of the bus, the entrance being just beside the driver's compartment; this type of vehicle is shown in an accompanying illustration. Both bodies are fully enclosed at the rear and are provided with rear emergency doors, these exits being under the control of the driver.
The vehicle with the forward entrance
and staircase is stated to have better answered the purpose of the company, and, in consequence of this, a further bus, reconstructed to this design but incorporating a number of extra refinements, has recently been put into operation on the Prospect-Wisconsin route.
This third bus has been painted in colours which enable intending pas sengers to distinguish it from the normal type of double-decker on the route and electrically actuated fare-collecting machines have been installed to facilitate operation.
Previous to their design being altered, the buses in question were capable of seating 51 passengers. In their present form, however, they have 21 seats on the lower deck and 28 on the upper deck. It is reported that the engineers of the company consider that the seating capacity of the vehicles can • be brought back to its former level by the making of a few minor alterations to certain parts of the body.