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rr HE three types of one-man operation . which London Transport proposes to introduce in its complete switch to this type of operation, and the problems of introducing automatic fare collection (AFC), were discussed in a paper presented to the annual conference of the Public Transport Association in Folkestone on Wednesday. Entitled "One Man Operation" the paper was presented in two parts, part one "Operating Aspects" being discussed by Mr. W. P. Morgan, deputy chief operating manager (Central Buses), London Transport Board, and part two "Engineering Aspects" by Mr. J. W. Wicks, chief mechanical engineer (road services), LTB.
First of the three systems proposed, oneman operation with the driver collecting the fares and using a graduated fare table is already extensively employed on London Transport's country buses and is used to a lesser degree in the suburban operations of the central buses. This is the "conventional" method already employed in many parts of the country, but has obvious limitations where high-density and short-distance traffic is encountered.
The second system is the use of a fiat fare, with automatic passimeter gates on the buses, for short journeys over high density traffic routes in other words the "Red Arrow" type of operation already experimentally used by London Transport. Advantages of this type of operation over the conventional one-man bus are that each vehicle, with its standee layout, has a greater capacity; vehicle utilization is better due to the greater speed (loading time need be no longer than with a crew operated bus) and because the layover time at terminals can be less as the operator has no waybill to make up; the driver /operator's allowance for undertaking both jobs should be less if he is relieved of most of his revenue collection responsibilities.
The main advantage of the flat fare busks 30/40 per cent improvement in capacity over conventional one-man buses —can be used to greatest effect on routes with a high number of passengers per mile, justifying close headway services, because such services can be widened to take advantage of the high capacity without serious detriment to the attraction of the close headway as a travel incentive.
In some big cities some routes still carry large numbers of people five to seven miles to work or on shopping and pleasure expeditions. If a flat fare were to be set high enough to avoid revenue loss on such routes it would be unattractive to short distance passengers. The intensity of the traffic is too heavy for conventional one-man operation and a possible way of catering for it is with the graduated-fare AFC bus.
Mr. Morgan discussed the problems of AFC and whether it was necessary to provide change-giving machines on such buses. He said sophisticated and probably expensive equipment which did not yet exist would need to be developed to fulfil all the objectives required of AFC. Such equip rnent had to be reliable, robust and easily operated. London Transport was, in fact, actively developing such equipment and the system envisaged would operate on the pay-as-you-leave principle, the passenger gaining entry to the bus through a gate.
As he boarded, the passenger obtained a ticket from a dispenser by pressing a button, or he could insert a pre-purchased stored value ticket. In either case the ticket was encoded with details of the fare stage at which the passenger boarded. On leaving the bus the passenger inserted the ticket into the fare collection equipment which calculated and displayed the fare due. He then put the correct fare in the machine and was permitted exit through the turnstile.
Engineering aspects Some of the engineering aspects in designing new types of one-man buses were discussed by Mr. Wicks in the second part of the paper. Of particular interest was his description of the proposed layout of an AFC bus and his illustration (reproduced here) clearly shows that double-deckers are being considered for this type of operation.
With the growing introduction of one-man operated buses designed for the purpose and the increasing peak loads with standee-type vehicles it would seem that the need for increased engine power had to be faced even at the expense of increased fuel consumption, said Mr. Wicks. It seemed inevitable that the future one-man operated singledecker would have an engine requirement of 165 b.h.p. and for double-deck designs possibly 185 to 200 b.h.p.
This involved the need for consideration of a limitation of acceleration with such power available and the necessity for examination of the possibilities of controlling acceleration between the laden and unladen condition. It also raised the question of the noise problem, as the performances referred to would inevitably give rise to an increased maximum engine speed and necessitate more careful attention to the quietening of engines in relation to the proposed noise regulations.
The layout of vehicles would necessarily depend upon the operating requirements and would differ between the vehicle providing seats for all passengers and the one with two standees to one seated passenger. Thenumber and width of doors would be controlled by local conditions and would govern the loading and unloading times required in relation to particular types of service. This also applied to the number of steps which could be accepted from the ground into the vehicle, and both steps and door locations would react upon the need for ramped or stepped saloon floors.
Where double-deck vehicles were concerned, he said, there was common ground between door locations and steps, but there was also need for consideration of the location of staircases. The mock-up of the lower saloon of an AFC bus was made for feasibility studies and for the basis of these tests the equipment was, he said, being designed and produced on the following basis: (a) Two entry gates, accepting improvised coding on tickets.
(h) Three exit gates, accepting these tickets incorporating variable fare payment requirements.
(c) A change-giving machine which will give change for money paid in excess of the fare owed; this facility to be available at one gate, the other two gates being operated on the basis that the "passenger" knows the fare due for payment.