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The Motor Omnibus Wor' I.

28th December 1905
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Page 2, 28th December 1905 — The Motor Omnibus Wor' I.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The next open meeting of members and associ.iteof the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers will be held at the Hotel Cecil on Monday, January 8th.

The removal of the motorcar department of the Great Western Railway Company, which was first announced in our pages, will take place on and after Saturday next. This company is showing great enterprise in discovering fresh uses for its motor omnibuses. The Straker-Squire omnibus with the Dickenson type body, which we illustrated in our issue of October 2Ot le was employed during the Christmas pressure to distribute printed matter and handbills to various of the company's depots and receiving stations in London. This vehicle presented a remarkable appearance as it went through the streets covered with posters setting forth the attractions of the Cornish Riviera. It may be mentioned that the body of this omnibus was built by Messrs. Scammell and Nephew, of Fashion Street, Spi Some ado is being made in the general Press that the introduction of motor omnibuses in London is affecting breeders of horses in Ireland and Yorkshire : we must point out that the majority of London bus horses are imported from Canada, the Argentine, and other places abroad. There will be a sufficient residue of horsedrawn omnibuses 10 take up home supplies for many years.

During the dense fog which visited London about two weeks ago the motorbus proved itself able to cope with the most difficult traffic conditions, and to do wonders in carrying the public through the banks of thick and clammy air. Late at night, when the fog was at its worst, motor omnibuses could be seen making splendid headway along the street. Behind them crept the timorous drivers of horse buses in long tails, like barges being towed up the Thames by steam tugs. Other reports state how these conditions were reversed in some instances; but everything new has enemies who seek to decry it. A public meeting was to be held in Dumbarton to-night, in order to protest against the proposed construction of an electric tramway through the Vale of T.even to Balloch. Mr.

it

Alex Govan, managing ctor of Argyll Motors, Limited, has been most active in t •ng steps to secure full consideration for the claims of i itorbuses, and a fresh date will shortly be announced. An unfortunate accident took place in Birmingham one evening last week, when two motor omnibuses were in collision owing to a side-slip. The stairway of one vehicle was displaced, and a passenger ran some distance with his legs through the space between the ster and handrail. Another passenger who was on the foctb ard was flung under the other bus. Only slight injuries were sustained. At the last annual meeting of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, Limited, which was held recently at Winchester House, Old Broad Street, Sir Marcus Samuel, Chairman of the directors, presented the report, which was unanimously adopted, and stated, inter adia, that the company had accumulated a reserve fund of ,;:goo,000 in the comparatively brief period of its existence, and that the gross profits for the year amounted to the very large total of £524,075 75. id. We quote from the chairman's speech :—

" The public will have themselves to blame if they are led away by persons whose interest it is to decry heavy benzine and to vaunt the light. The fact is that specific gravity has nothing whatever to do with the utilitarian powers for motor purposes of benzine. The boiling points should alone be taken into consideration, and it will be found that the Borneo benzine is positively ideal in this respect. When we can sell the whole of our production of this one article an immense addition to our revenue will be secured, for during the current year we have been compelled actually to burn under our stills at least 35,000 tons. The great expansion in the motorcar traffic will, I am convineed, create a market for our product, and if the users of motor spirit will only be guided by experience, and refuse to listen to specious reasoning, they need have no fear whatever of any famine in petrol or undue rise in its price. We should strenuously oppose such, and will not enter into any combination having for its object the raising of the price of petrol to a prohibitive one. On the other hand, I am bound to say that the rates at which it has been sold up to the present have not been remunerative, and it would not do for promoters of automobile companies to base their calculations on prices ruling wholesale for the last few months, since these have been enacts unnecessarily low by competitors seeking to force a combination.

"The credit of first transr lig benzine in bulk is due en tirely to the courage and entei of this company. Up to the present time we have been so y engaged with the develop ment of productions and constri n of refineries that we have

not been able to give sufficient .te to the preparation of byproducts of which our crude oil capable."

We shall return to the subject of petroleum spirit supplies, and the prices for the various grades, early in the New Year, following up Mr. Henry Sturtney's suggestions. We understand that the municipalities of three great Berlin suburbs, to wit, Citarlottenburg, Schoneberg, and Wilmersdorf, are negotiating with the Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus Gesellschaft with a view to the establishing of motor omnibus lines between the capital and these suburbs, which, by the way, are each independent boroughs. The Gesellschaft will probably run trial omnibuses in these directions next Spring. We certainly think that some of our British makers might make an effort to get a footing in Berlin, where the requi, -gents of traffic are inadequately met by existing means. 'ire is tremendous scope for the motor omnibus, and roo /. British vehicles.

A special meet..' 4 the Birkenhead Town Council was held on Monday I; r with a view to determining whether

any legal proceedi 1-iould be instituted in order to stop

the running of thi yty Railway Company's motorbuses.

Dr. H. I aird P, Cow moved :—" That this council do direct thz legal p *dings be taken forthwith against the Mersey Away ryany to restrain the company from acquiring, establi: aftg, running, and using motor omnibuses or other like i,ehicles within the borough of Birkenhead, and for otheurelief, and that the town clerk be instructed to confer with counsel and to take such steps, by injunction or otherwise, as may be advised, and to incur all necessary expense on behalf of the Corporation of Birkenhead in regard to the matter." It appears, from Dr. Pearson's speech, that Mr. Cripps, K.C., had advised the council that the railway company had no powers to run motorbuses in the borough, and that this was tacitly admitted by the company because it was going to Parliament next session to seek power.. for the purpose. Dr. Pearson said he calculated that th 'motors would deprive the corporation ferries and electric itailricars each of one-eighth of their traffic, a total estimated loss of about 49,425 per annum—equal to a rate of 41d. in the 4. To this they would have to add the probable increased annual cost to upkeep of the roads over which the motors would run, say, 42,000. The motion was carried by 35 votes to S. Piquancy is added to the situation by the fact that 435,010 of the Birkenhead Corporation's funds are invested in the Mersey Railway Company's shares : it is understood, however, that they are 4 written down " considerably. In illustrating three of the omnibuses owned by the ivIersey Railway Company, it is interesting to note that four Saurer chassis, supplied by the Motorcar Emporium, Ltd., have been delivered, and that probably a further six will be ordered when certain tests are completed. Only three are in constant use, the fourth being held in reserve as a spare vehicle and for extra traffic. The route already open, which is only about a mile in length, is from the company's Birkenhead Central Station, through the shopping portion of the town, which is only indirectly served by any of the Birkenhead Corporation electric. tramcars; the route taken is Grange Road, Westhourne Road, to the residential district of Slatey Road. It is hoped to place two more buses on this service within the next few weeks, extending the route further into the suburbs to Ilidston Road, when the total length of route will be about a mile. A very frequent service is maintained; the buses run every 6 minutes in connection with the company's electric trains, which run every 6 minutes between Birkenhead Central Station and Liverpool, crossing under the River Mersey In, a well-ventilated and well-lighted tunnel. Through this tunnel a 3-minute service is maintained, but as the railway forks before reaching Birkenhead Central Station, the service there is only every 6 minutes. The buses have maintained their first fortnight's running with regularity and without hitch; the traffic has been greater each day than on the preceding day, and when the route is extended beyond the present bare mile a fair revenue return is expected. The first time that the buses were actually used in Birkenhead for conveying passengers was, as we reported a few weeks ago, on Saturday, December gth, on the occasion of the New Zealand football match : the buses carried upwards of t,soo passengers, notwithstanding the short time available for getting the trallic, which was very heavy but soon over. On Tuesday last, as the buses were not required on their usual route, they were utilised for rural tours across the Wirral Peninsula, from Birkenhead Central Station to Heswall-on-Dee, a distance of 71 miles. A half-hourly service was maintained, in each direction, from to a.m. to 3 p.m., the journey occupying about so minutes each way; the fares charged were Is. single, and is. 6d. return. When further buses are delivered the intention is to open other routes in Birkenhead, in connection with the electric railway, the object being to develop the district which feeds the Mersey tunnel. The whole situation is one of considerable interest, because the town of Birkenhead, and the extensive rural districts behind it, must depend for their future development upon the travelling facilities offered to connect them with the teeming districts of Liverpool and Lancashire viA the Mersey Railway. The local rural district councils all recognise this, and are reported to be ready to welcome the railway buses, which, however, must first pass through Birkenhead.


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