Consideration for and Encouragement • of the Bus Owner.
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A TTENTION was drawn in the issue of The 'Commercial Motor for May 18th to the undeniable fact that the public had been extremely grateful to the proprietors of buses outside of the Underground Combine for their action in maintaining, and even considerably extending their bus services on London traffic routes (luring the strike and, at the same time, we urged the Minister of Transport to consider the advisability of a modification of the attitude of partial repression recently adopted towards these proprietors. We are glad to find from correspondence in the lay Press, from letters which have reached us and from questions and comments in the House of Commons that our suggestion enjoys considerable support.
Each independent bus owner who had the opportunity and could obtain the necessary staff secured the use of additional buses, chars-a-bancs and vans and augmented the services with which he was acquainted to such effect that at times they fully met the needs of the public and in the course of the day greatly ameliorated the hardships of those who felt compelled to travel. Many of these owners took considerable risks and it is doubtful if they were very much in pocket as a result of their enterprise. In the first place, traffic was always below normal for three reasons : (1) many businesses were wholly or partly closed down, (2) no one travelled who could possibly avoid it, and (3) thousands of private cars and many " jitney " services carried a large proportion of those travelling. Hence the traffic was concentrated at the peak periods, which were merely lengthened. In the second place, the independent owners did not increase their fares; in the third place, they lost a lot of fares which, because of the overcrowding, could not be collected, and, in the fourth place, the wear and tear on the vehicles was excessive because of traffic congestion and overloading.
The practical suggestion can here be made Oat, as an earnest of the intentions of the Minister, the prosecution of the Uxbridge Road bus owners for disregard of the order to reduce the number of buses operating upon that road be dropped, and that at least a year's grace be given before the recommendations of the Traffic Advisory Committee be put into force.
The Expanding Need for More Bridges.
P-r HE future of Waterloo Bridge is of much -L. more than local importance because the river Thames is a very considerable barrier between the midland and southern counties. There are five principal rivers in this country that create the same difficulty, and experience shows that, with the best will in the world, the difficulty is far from being easy to surmount. The commencement of the road tunnel below the Mersey is the only instance of real progress ; the bridging of the Forth and Severn seems a long way off still, and the proposals for the Humber tunnel have made no headway. Looking ahead, as it is necessary to do in the case of all cross-river facilities, it would seem as if it is impbssible to avoid the widening of Waterloo Bridge for road traffic or the construction of the projected St. Paul's Bridge, and as the widening of the bridge would increase the difficulties of river navigation at a point where they are already great, it would seem necessary to reduce the number of arches from eight to five (as proposed), and this would mean the demolition of Rennie's masterpiece. However, as the bridge could not possibly be leftin its present sunken and distorted condition and as, at the least, one pier and two arches would have to be rebuilt, the way would seem open to the removal of the bridge to one of the higher reaches of the river and its replacement with a bridge to carry six lines of traffic.
Parliament has now sanctioned the expenditure of funds by the London County Council upon the work of reconstruction, and we see no reason, if the particular style of Rennie's bridge is considered so suitable to the situation, why it should not be followed as closely as a wider bridge with fewer arches would allow. It must not be forgotten, however, that whilst a few men prominent in the artistic world have accepted the dictum of an early writer that Waterloo Bridge was beautiful, there are many among the silent people who consider it a gloomy, forbidding structure and who greatly prefer Westminster Bridge and some of the bridges over the Seine at Paris. For example, the Pont Alexandre III joining the Champs Elysdes with the Champ de Mars has not an equal in London for grace or utility.
What is Required of the Batteryelectric Vehicle.
rr HE requirements of the vehicle user and the manner in which they are met by the manufacturers often lead to contention, as it is obvious that, in the majority of cases, the resulting vehicle has to be a mean which will best serve the interests of both parties on the scores of price, performance, running and maintenance costs.
Considering this matter, so far as it concerns the battery-electric vehicle, from the point of view of the user, we cannot do better than refer to the remarks made recently by a prominent member of a well-known carrying company in connection with the type of vehicle which, in his opinion, could best replace the horse in what is usually c1S considered its own particular sphere of activity. As given by this authority, the requirements of a suitable electric vehicle are as follow : capital cost not to be appreciably greater than that of a horse van and harness—this applying to the chassis and, presumably, battery only the amount being somewhat in the region of £120, the radius of operation to be 20 miles and the maximum road speed 15 m.p.h. Allowance must be made in the design for stopping and starting 100 times per day. The combined cost for charging plant and current should amount to the same as—or, if possible, less than—it costs to feed a horse.
We certainly think that the promoter of these suggestions is highly optimistic so far as tae price of the vehicle is concerned, and it is difficult to understand why he has placed the capital cost at such a low figure, in view of the fact that the power-propelled machine would, undoubtedly, carry out its work far more expeditiously than the horsed vehicle, whilst with a midday boosting charge it would probably cover quite twice the mileage of the slower means of transport.
Encouraging the Rigid Six-wheeler.
ESPITE the many advantages obtained by the employment of vehicles with more wheels than four, many manufacturers have been loth to produce chassis which, in the opinion of some, will have, far a considerable time to come, a very limited market, and it has been left to a few pioneers to carry on with the work.
There is another reason, and that is the somewhat indefinite legal status of the rigid sixwheeler ; but we think that fears of undue restrictions on it are overrated. The attitude of the Minister of Transport is that, if practicable designs which show real merit are submitted to him they will be given every consideration and, if thought advisable in the public interest, the present restrictions will be suitably modified to cover any new development.
In so far as the market for six-wheelers is concerned. we believe that this will soon be far larger than is at present realized. Already inquiries have been sent out by certain important municipalities for six-wheeled buses ranging from the 20-seater to a much larger vehicle seating actually more persons than the largest type of London bus. The demand for the bigger models does not surprise us, but that six-wheelers are wanted for such small vehicles as 20-seaters shows that a really discerning and almost prophetic view is, being taken of the advantages of the multi-wheeler. The invitation to tender for these vehicles has caused a flutter in many dovecotes. It is inevitable that at this juncture many of the tenders have been returned with "unable to quote" written upon them, but this is a state of affairs which cannot exist for very long. The supply will soon meet the demand, and there is no doubt that many. designers and makers are urgently turning their attention to the production of suitable chassis, whilst, in some cases, a study is first being made of the developments occurring in other countries.
It is thus obvious that The Commercial Motor has again pioneered—and this in the face e much criticism—a movement which would appear to possess immense potentialities.