The By-law that Slows Glasgow's Traffic,
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TT ONLY required a few days spent in the City of Glasgow, in the course of a visit te the Scottish Motor Show and to a few of the prominent users of commercial motors and the manufacturers thereof, to convince one of the mistake which has been made in the enactment of the by-law under Which it is an offence for a vehicle to be driven past a stationary tramcar on its near side. Many efforts have been made to secure similar power l in other cities and towns, but, fortunately, very few municipalities have acquired them.
The effect of compliance with the by-law, very strictly enforced as it is by the police, is to put a drag on the whole of the traffic. In the first place, the tramcars in Glasgow travel at a very slow pace (this is rather a failing with all tramcar services outside of London), and one would observe, in the course of, say, a quarter of an hour, a dozen instances of a queue of vehicles moving slowly behind a tramcar which crawled from stopping-place to stopping-place and stopped at each, the traffic not being able at any time to pass on the off side, and only one or two vehicles being able to slip past on the inside between one tram stop and the next. Some of the delay was caused by the fact that passengers from the tramcar took alvantage of the immunity afforded them by the by-law and did not hurry to get out of the way. We should imagine that the citizens of Glasgow suffer a great loss of time and money through the working of this foolish stipulation.
The greatest of all the objections ts, such an enactment is that it places a power of repression in the hands of tramway managers and employees. With the right of way assured to their vehicles and immunity to the passengers, no one attempts to hurry, so that, to one who is uaed to the greater speed of London traffic (itself, to an extent, slower than that of Paris, because of the 'fact that London's streets are not so wide as the Parisian boulevards), and to the lack of encouragement of dawdling when in the roadway, the delays in Glasgow seemed extremely irritating.
The only competition with Glasgow's tramway system is the taxicab, but in the central part of the city it was often quicker to walk than to take a taxi, for the tramcars had a bad habit of bulking up into almost endless terraces, every tram stopping at each street crossing. Were such a scheme to be tried in London, where the tramway, as a municipal undertaking, is in direct competition with the omnibuses, which are run by private undertakings, the position would become serious indeed, and congestion on tramway routes would be simply terrible. We hope that Sir Henry Maybury, whilst he was in Glasgow, looked into the working of this bylaw and went away convinced that the Ministry of Transport is right in opposing the applications of other local authorities for powers to enact similar by laws.
Bus Services Developing in Scotland.
THE GREAT development in Scotland, as in many parts of the more southern portion of the kingdom, is in the direction of the provision of bus services. Local authorities and private concerns are placing orders for buses in substantial quantities, and the movement which has gathered such impetus in England and Wales, and which is doing so much to improve the conditions of those who previously have almost been isolated in country districts, is now spreading into areas of Scotland which have hitherto seemed somewhat out of he world. The erection of housing estates is serving to spread the population of the large towns, and is justifying the inauguration of transport facilities, but more important than this (because it would be obvious that the establishment of such services would immediately follow upon the settlement of a large population on a new site adjacent to a business and residential centre) is the opening up of inter-urban and inter-village services. The benefit resulting to the inhabitants is going to be so far-reaching asalmost to amount to a revolution in their lives, and it is gratifying to note from Sir Henry Maybury's statements—not only publicly, but privately in the course of friendly conversation--that the Ministry is alive to the desirability of assisting in the provision of roads and road surfaces suitable for the traffic which is growing. We have noticed in the past two or three years a distinct improvement in Scottish roads—the removal of danger-spots, the bridging of many a watercourse along the loch sides, the widening and straightening of the roadways and the provision of new roads. As an example of the benefit obtainable from the making of but a short length of motor road, the new eight-mile .stret,.h beside Loch Lomond, north of Tarbet, cuts out a long detour via Tyndrum and Dalmally for any vehicle travelling to Oban or elsewhere in the west. We welcome the efforts to get a road made between Braemar and Blair-Atholl, of which route only nine miles of new road is required, and to open the east-coast road by new bridges over the Forth and Tay. We also feel that a new road should be cut from Braemar to Grantown-on-Spey, or the one via Tomintoul shorn of its dangers. The call for passenger-travel facilities throughout Scotland is now very insistent, and fortunately there are active and enthusiastic men at work who, in the course of the next ten years, will work wonders in the way of roads and services.
The Road Transport System of the Metropolitan Police. •
-pLSEWHERE in this issue will be found an 11'4 interesting and illuminating article dealing with the large fleet of motor vehicles of all types utilized by the Metropolitan Police for special duty, communication between sub-stations and headquarters at New Scotland Yard, the conveyance of prisoners to and from the courts and between the gaols, the exchanging of accumulators for the many thousands of Wootton electric lanterns which are in constant employment and the conveyance of stores, etc. To many people the extent of the road services will certainly come as a surprise, and although we at8 have been able to deal in our article with many phases of police transport activity, we have necessarily had to touch only lightly or, even in .aome eases not at all, upon certain branches of the work, as the publication of detailsmight b2, prejudicial to the interests of public security. The thanks of this journal are due to the Commissioner, Brig.-Gen. Sir William Horwood, K.C.B.,
D.S.O., and his able assistants for the courteous treatment accorded to our representative and for permission to publish much exclusive information.
Knowing the efficiency of the Metropolitan Police as a body, we were, in a measure, prepared to find the transport system organized in a satisfactory manner, but even so we must confess that we were surprised and gratified to observe the excellence of
the work in the various departments, and the way
in which these are all arranged on a commercial basis. Whatever may be said regarding other branches of our administration it would be futile to lodge any accusation against the Metropolitan Police as to undue expenditure of public funds for the transport services.
The example in transport thus set by the Metropolitan Police is one which will eventually (and
should, quite early) be followed by police forces and watch committees all over the country. Every police station should be equipped with at least one fast vehicle to enable the superintendent at once to deal with any trouble reported by a resident, tradesman, police constable or other person, for often the saving of a few minutes in arriving at ties scene of the trouble or complaint may be vital in the arrest of the miscreants.
The Success of the W.D. Subsidy Scheme.
HERE have been rumours in certain quarters 1 that the W.D. subsidy scheme has not proved successful, but from information derived from official sources we are able to state definitely that these rumours are entirely without foundation. From the point of view of the War Office, the scheme has proved an unqualified success. Half a
dozen manufacturers have already placed satisfac tory types Of chassis on the market, all of which have been tested and approved by the War Department, and, although the sales at first were not very brisk, they have pulled up marvellously in the past few months, with the result that the authorities concerned are completely satisfied. It must be remembered that a scheme of this nature has limitations. It is only necessary to sub sidize a certain number of vehicles to meet the
requirements of the War Department, and this number is also limited by reasons of finance. Conse quently, it will be unwise for chassis builders to he too precipitate in entering the field of subsidy chassis construction. There is nothing to prevent them so doing, but, on the other hand, it is necessary to give careful consideration to the question whether it would be worth their while to compete with makers who are already well established in this direction. It is only by selling a considerable number of a certain type of chassis that a maker can hope to
recoup his expenditure in turning out a new. product.
Consequently, the greater number of makers there is in the field the fewer orders will fall to the share of each of them, for it is doubtful whether buyers will be found for such vehicles (except with modifications) once the limit of the subsidy allotment has been reached and they do not receive any monetary inducement, as these chassis must necessarily be slightly more expensive than ordinary types, although they are perfectly fitted to cope with all classes of commercial work within their lead capacity.