BUILDING AND RUNNING MOTORBUSES.
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The Activities of a Large Provincial Company, Who Have Had 50 Years' Intimate Association with the Passenger Transport Industry and Have Built Their Own Buses Throughout for Many Years Past.
THOSE who have closely • followed modern development of the motorbus, and have marvelled at the incursions made by this form of passengercarrying unit into the more or less stolid lives of the rural populace, will fully appreciate the part played by such concerns as the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd.; the East Kent Road Car Co., Ltd.; United Automobile Services, Ltd. ; the Crosville Motor Cu., and the Northern General Transport Go., Ltd., and others who, one and all, have, evidenced commendable enterprise in the establishment of a comprehensive network of bus services in the respective areas which they serve.
The influence which such concerns have had on the expansion of the road transport industry, as a whole, has been far-reaching, and their collective views have served as an invaluable guide to the chassis manufacturer and bodybuilder alike, who have profited from this varied experience.
• Provincial bus-operating conditions are widely divergent in different parts of the country, depending to a great extent upon the contour of the roads, the distances separating villages and towns, and the size of the population in the areas served. Such circumstances have a direct bearing upon the type of vehicle which can be remuneratively operated, and it is perhaps significant that, almost without exception, the largest provincial bus companies operate fleets of single-deck buses throughout the whole year. To the best of our knowledge there is only one provincial bus company who make their own vehicle throughout, and that is the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd., who operate about 50 'distinct services, covering about 700 road:miles. These services extend from Bridgwater arid Street in the south to Le.dbury, Tewkesbury and Broadway in the north, and Burford, Faringelon and Hungerford in the east. The distances on regular routes vary_ from: 38 miles between Weston-super-Mare. and Fromm to short milag-es' on city routes within the borough of Bristol.
The first motorbuses to be put on the road in Bristol were put into service by the Bristol company in 1906, and in the following year they decided to build their 'own vehicles, the first buses of their. own manufacture being put into service on the occasion of the Whitsun holiday in 1908. The company have, therefore, it will be seen, been building and running motorbuses for a period of 15 years, and during this period they have amassed an invaluable fund of knowledge and gained extensive experience dealing with motorbus operation.
In the middle of 1914, owing to the outbreak of war, the building of the chassis was suspended in order that the company could assist their associatql concern, the Bristol Aeroplane Co:, in aircraft construction. In consequence, the whole of the fleet of buses which is at present in use—numbering more than 150 vehicles—has been manufactured since the Armistice, and the works of the company have been equipped and modernized in order to provide for an annual output of 750 chassis. It was not Until 1920, on the occasion of the Cosainercial Motor Show at Olympia, that the Bristol company first offered the Bristol 'chassis to the public, their production during the previous years having been solely confined to meeting their own requirements.
The omnibuses in service in Bristol all have single-deck, saloon type bodies, with a seating capacity for 29 pasSengore, and these bodies are fitted on the only chassis built by the company, which is intended for use as a 4-ton goods vehicle or as a 28 or 29 seater, pa.ssengercarrying unit. The Bristol chassis has a number of notable features of design. In the first place it is of remarkably simple construction and is characterized throughout by sturdiness and neatness of design. It represents a soUnd engineering job, combining the features of strength with lightness.
The engine has four cylinders of 4i. in bore and 51 in. stroke and develops 40 b.h.p: at 1,400 r.p.m.. The engine is three-point suspended. Thermo-siphonic water circulation is employed, whilst for lubrication a gear pump-, driven off the A group of Bristol saloonbuses due to leave at mid-day for country districts. The buses link together a number of hamlets and 'villages w th the •busy
trading centres.
camshaft by means of a spiral gear, is incorporated. The engine drive is conveyed to a Ferodolined, single-plate dry clutch, which transmits it to a fourspeed-and-reverse gearbox situated amidships and supported at four points.
From the gearbox the drive is taken to the overhead worm-driven rear axle, through the medium of a tubular pro peiler shaft with two leather disc universal joints. The back axle is a strong pot-type steel casting. The change speed operating mechanism is of novel construction, necessitating the use of. one external rc;c1 only. The usual gate is dispensed with and a slotted "rotor," mounted inside the gearbox casing, per1cirms. the function of gear selection.
In actual service, both for the company themselves and for other users, the Bristol chassis has proved to be ex emely economical and reliable.
The bus bodies fitted on the Bristol chassis are built in the works of the associated company, to whom we have already referred. Single-deck bus bodies are used owing to the very hilly nature of the country in which the services are run and also because Only a small proportion of the fleet is in use in urban areas. The seating is of the ordinary transverse type, the seats of the ordinary garden type being well upholstered and fitted with sliecial spring-steel backs. Each seat is arranged for two passengers, whilst the latest type of bus in the company's service has separate doors for entrance and vait, and a smoking compartment for 11) passengers at the rear.
In dealing with the subject of maintenance of the Bristol fleet of .buses, it should be remembered that the maintenance department is at all times in close touch with the factory ; at the same time this department is quite sepa-. rate from the factory and is well 'equipped in 'every way for the overhaul of the fleet and can, undertakesuch matters as ytinder grinding and crankshaft lapping.' The maintenance staff is divided into four groups Group 1 _is the dock' overhaul staff,' Each vehicle of Jim, fleet is brought.in after every 3,000 miles of the road and thoroughly examined, and every part showing signs of wear is either ,repaired or renewed by this staff. Each man has a particularlunit to examine, and this form of specialization enables every, man to become an expert at his own job.
Group 2 is the shop staff. Should the dock overhaul staff find after a, prelimin
ary examination that a unit is in such a bad state that its repair would delay the vehicle from returning to service in one and a half days the unit is taken out and sent to the shops, a serviceable unit extracted from the stores being fitted in its place: The actual work of the shop Staff is to repair units and send them to the stores,.from which they can be drawn as -required.
Group 3 is the running repair staff, This staff attends to all running repairs, drivers' evening reports, lighting defects, etc. It is responsible for the starting up and preparation of the vehicles before they are turned out each morning. Group 4 miriade up of cleaners, petrol fillers and oilers. Most of the work carried cut by this staff is effected at night. The men are responsible for filling, oiling and cleaning the vehicles ready for the morning's duties. This short epitome of the maintenance system is sufficient in itself to show that the buses are continually under keen and critical observation. It is the thoroughness of this system which has been directly responsible for the building up of an efficient fleet which gives reliable and uninterrupted service to the inhabitants of the districts carved.
The fares charged by the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd., are fixed an a mileage basis, the present practice being to charge a fraction under lid, per passenger per mile for through passengers, and about lid. per mile for intermediate passengers. The company have had a certain amount of experience with pneum,atic tyres, and, in their own words, " for buses or large motor coaches they are not so reliable as solids, whilst the cost is not less than four times greater."
The company have four bus garages in Bristol, and others are located at
Weston-super-Mare, Wells, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon, from each of which centres the services, as will be seen from the map which we reproduce St the beginning of this article, radiate in
all directions. This 'map also gives details of the various services run. The accommodation at these various garages is sufficient for from 12 to 50 buses. The average mileage per week per bits in service is 800.