Southdown Buy 20 One-man 39-seaters for Rural Work
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'TWENTY one-man-operated buses e being added to the fleet of Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., to take over certain routes formerly non-paying with two-men crews because of the sparsity of the population. Amicable arrangements have been made with the union and drivers concerned.
The vehicles have Duple Lightweight Provincial bodies on Leyland Tiger Cub chassis. They can, if necessary, be completed to seat 44 passengers instead of 39, in the event of operation with driver and conductor.
For one-man work, there is a C.A.V. electrically operated folding door and the driver-conductor is fully enclosed, the near-side partition being an extension to the windscreen of that behind the driver. At his left is an Acral change-giving machine with pressbutton operation and a Sctright ticket issuer, specially developed as a dualpurpose unit. This is normally electrically operated, but if passengers are aboard before the start, the machine can be lifteel off and operated by hand.
A public-address system, designed and built by Southdown, enables the driver to advise the passengers if they miss the "pay-desk," or for other purposes.
Heating, ventilating and demisting are attended to by a Clayton L.6 unit and there is an additional heater towards the rear of the vehicle. Passengers signal by Cronoprcss strip.
A representative of The Commercial Motor had a short run on one of these vehicles on Monday. The driver was making only his fourth trip and a long queue at the first stop, which nearly filled the bus, took about four minutes to clear, but later stops were of under a minute's duration. Experience shows that more practice cuts these times. A new Southdown bus station at Lewes was opened by the chairman, Mr. R. P. Beddow, last Friday. It is of pagoda-type construction in two storeys, the projecting upper storey affording weather protection additional to that given by the artistically designed waiting room. It also provides greater floor area.
GUY BUY S.A. PLANTS
FACTOR1ES in Capetown and Durban have been acquired by the Guy-Sunbeam organization, who have for some time been considering establishing assembly plants and service stations in South Africa.
CHEAPER FUEL: BIGGER REBATE
FI'VE oil companies announced on I Tuesday a reduction of Id. a gallon in the price of their second-grade petrols. Dery has also been reduced by id.
The companies were Shell-Mex and B.P., Ltd., Esso, Regent Oil Co., Power Petroleum Co., and National Benzole Co.
At the same time, an operator who at present enjoys a rebate of id. a gallon was offered one of over Id. a gallon. This substantial increase foreshadows keener competition among the oil companies. HALT ON HIGHER FARES?
rAA SPOKESMAN for London Transport told The Commercial Motor on Monday that discussions were still proceeding between London Transport and the British Transport Commission on the subject of increased fares. He could not comment on a report that it was unlikely that the B.T.C. would use their powers to make an early increase.