PASSENGER 'TRANSPORTATION IN INDUSTRIAL AREAS.
Page 20
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Opinion of the Manchester Tramway Manager an the Scope of the Motorbus.
• ` 1‘40TOEBUSES are a most useful to the tramway, and few systems can be considered complete without them." This striking observation was made. by Mr. Henry Mattinson, general manager of the Manchester Corporation Tramways in the course of a paper on " Passenger Transportation In Industrial Areas," read to the NorthWestern Local Section of the Institute of Transport at Manchester on January. 17th, Continuing, Mr. Maltinson, wnose paper_ was read by proxy, stated that the motorbus has opened out an enerpious field for passenger transportation, hind penetrated areas never befere sop-, plied with any service whatever. The results of this will be far-reaching, not only in the areas which they traverse, but in the larger industrial towns to Which they have become linked. The 5-notorbus services will be most adliantageously devoted to providing communication from tramway routes to rural districts the population of which does not call for the frequency of service necessary for the economic exis
tence of a tramway. Motorbuses, he contended, are the necessary feeders to the tramway service, and may be likened to the veins connecting the arteries of tramway communication.
Many advocates of the substitution of motorbuses for tramcars limited their claim, Mr. _Mattinson suggested, to the congested central areas of industrial districts, and at first sight there appears a case for the introduction of such vehicles, but he thought that such substitution would not attain the purpose aimed at., in SG far as at. least three times as many vehicles would be required to perform the same duty as the tramcars. Moreover, he pointed out that the public would rightly object to being turned out of one vehicle when approaching
their destination in order to enter another at a point where there would always be crowds, and then have to pay extra for the inconvenience involved in the procedure.
Mr. Mattinson, therefore, assumed the continued existence of the tramways to deal with the movement of the people of industrial areas as the main object, aided and stipplemented by the motorbus. The movement of this traffic is of a .very involved and complex nature. It commences at an early hour (in Manchester the first service ear starts at
5 a.m.) and censiste mainly of providing for early workers travelling inward, and nigbteworkers journeying outward. great movement of the day workers from the working-class residential districts to. the various works and factories commences at about 6.30 a.m. From about 7.30 a.m, this class is joined by the warehorsemen and shop assistants, who merge, after 8 a.m., with the clerks and -business men, the traffic attaining a maximum at about 9 a.m., when there is a sudden falling away in the volume of inward traffic.
After about 9,30 a.m. the regular toand-fro traffic becomes established, influenced between noon and 2 p.m. by the lunch-hour traffic, and this continues until 4.30 p.m., when the outward stream begins rapidly to flew, and continues so to do until a maximum is reached at about 6.30 p.m., after which the traffic steadily diminishes until about 7 p.m., when the service assumes a normal condition until the last cars, which are always full no matter at what hour they run. In Manchester an allnight service at hourly intervals is given on the principal routes. This general description is influenced by innumerable local requirements and these factors, which vary from A. me to time, call for detailed consideration based on local knowledge. It is doubtful, continued Mr. Mattinson, if any transportation system is called upon for such sudden variation in its organization; and needs such elasticity, as that which caters for the passengers from an industrial area. The outstanding characteristic of this traffic is the tremendous variation in load density durinethe different hours of the day. The question of dealing with rushhour traffic is one of the most clinching arguments against the economic emple)merit of the motorbus in substitution for the tramcar, he argued, as it would +take about three times as many buses as there are trams to deal with the " rush " traffic.
Mr. Mattinson contended that the claim of the tramcar to a prior use of any theraighfare would logically appear to be undisputed so long as it continues to be the best economic nnit for its .duty, but the right of the public as individuals must take precedence, "and the type of vehicle which carries the 'greatest num
ber of passengers be given priority. It is not a preference given r to the vehicle, he continued, but to its function in conveying the maximum number of individuals to and from their daily avocations.
It is not considered that a. route which cannot, support a service of one car every 15 minutes justifies a tramway-. Rela tive frequency is the essence of such transport, and Mr. Mattinson argued that it was'better to use a different-typo of vehicle, such as the motorbus, and give a frequent service, than the larger class of car at less frequent intervals. Mr. Mattinson made reference to report whieii has recently been presented to the Manchester City Council, and Which deals with the relative values of -different classes of vehicle 'for the public transportservice. In this report it is stated, in relation to the suitable
type (..>f vehicle for different traffic densities, that i—(a) The matorbus, is the
heat and most economical type of vehicle for any service not requiring a greater frequency than four vehicles per hour, and operating on the basis of . fares of three-quarters of a mile for ld. Above • such a service it may be fairly assumed that. the hours of operation and the average number of passengers per bus-mile will increase, and a de mand for a lower fare will arise, in which case (h) the trolley-bits is the most economical for services requiring
from four to.six.vehicles per hour, and
when it can operate for 16 hours per day carrying 17 passengers per mile at a fare of Id. per mile. (c) The tramcar is, "undeubtedlY, the most generally satisfactory vehicle for services on which six or more cars a-re run per hour,. and when it can operate for 18 hours per day, carrying an average load of 25 passengers per mile and at fares based on id. for one mile—the statutory fare charged on tramcars.
These ratios are not dogmatic, hut they cannot be taken as a basis ap plicable to any community. They indicate, however, an approximation in the region of which the respective vehicles should he considered as to their economic
The range of,uselninessindicated fOr a trolley-bus is but a Small -One. Mr. It/fattinson . holds the view that 'the vehicle itself -is net nearly so elastic in its adaptability as a Motorbus, and its -adoption Would require very careful consideration with regard to the period during which it -is likely -to-function;
Itis_woethy of mote at -this point that the Manchester Corporation is this year
applyingfor powers to Operate trolley
buses on any 'authorized. tramway route not 'constructed, but; as yet; it has not
been determined" to proceed with the scheme, although it .has been considered desirable to get the necessary eanction for instituting 7teolley-has -services.
In 1902 the population of Manchester took 158 journeys per head per annum, and this figure has steadily increased until last year it had risen to 288 per head per annum.
A moat point as to whether tramways should be municipally owned or not is often raised, and Mr. Mattinson thinks that municipal tramways generally have justified themselves. Private companies, he contends', can have but a limited security of tenure, which discourages their development,' and as no competition real be created, they are not im-" pelled -to. provide facilities that might otherwise be forthcoming.