Little Chance of 90 Passengers in Edinburgh Single-decker
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THE possibility of having 60 standing and 30 seated passengers in Edinburgh Corporation's experimental 36-ft.long standee single-decker is very remote, _ according toa Transport Department official.
Although the new Ministry of Transport memorandum, which shortly comes into force, allowed a maximum of two standing passengers to every one seated the governing clauses for this were so strict that it was very doubtful if this would he possible, he said. The memorandum laid down that there should be 300 sq. in. of floor area per standing • passenger, but this was permissible only after complying with other specified measurements.
The experimental Edinburgh bus at present carried 32 seated and 30 standing passengers. There had been no really adverse comment from the general public about travel on the bus, but this was not unusual where only one vehicle was concerned. What the Department would have to decide was what the public's reaction would be to a number of vehicles of this type.
The question of the number of standing passengers in this new type of single-deck bus was raised at a meeting by Cllr. James Cook. Referring to the fact that this type of bus could have 30 seated and 60 standing passengers he remarked that one could hardly imagine this in singledeck standee buses, thinking of the discomfort involved in a peak-hour journey on the city's solitary standee bus. He
deplored the "sardine-like" method, of travel on standee buses and trams abroad.
He considered that a general turn towards this type of bus would 'not be looked upon very enthusiastically bythe British travelling public and would result in customers being ,lost "-Edinburgh's travelling public must he alerted to the dangers of this form of transportation: Edinburgh's experimental bus is not an academic exercise or a gimmick. There are a number of bus managers and operators in Britain who would love to introduce this outrageous method of travel," said Cl1r. Cook. The introduction of this type of bus would not solve the operators' difficulties but could be their ruination, he added.