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THE COACH
ENTRANCE•
Be Placed?
Some Controversy Exists Among Bodybuilders and Passenger-vehicle Operators as to Whether the Door Should be at the Front or Rear, and Our Bodybuilding Expert Sets Out the Facts of the Case
THE regulations which have been made under the Road Traffic Act specify that a stage carriage shall have its normal entrance and exit on the near side. Apart from this, no distinction is made, so far as the position and number of entrances are concerned, as between a hackney and stage carriage. This is a matter which at present is left open.
Probably the most important change _which the Act has brought into being is in legalizing the front entrance for the service bus working in any part of the country. There is also no Ringer any need for providing the coach with two near-side doorways. If these are to be retained for the service bus it will be because such an arrangement is considered to be a timesaver at stoppingplaces.
It would appear, therefore, that in the near future the majority of buses and coaches will have either a front or rear entrance and the emergency exit will be at the back or on the off side.
The rear-entrance coach is a comparative rarity, but it becomes feasible if the emergency exit may be on the off side. Even this latter door may be dispensed with if there be a doorless rear entrance and access be provided at the rear of the back platform. This is defined in the Act as a clear space at least 18 ins. wide.
When the entrance is at the rear and the coach has the conventional type of steering, the first side window, instead of being a small triangular-shaped one, as it is in the case of the front-entrance vehicle, may be increased in size so that it has practically the same area as the other windows.
The size of this window should, however, not be excessive, because a door has to be hung on the off side opposite to it. It is not essential • that all the near-side and off-side pillars should be opposite to one another, but if they be arranged in that way construction is simplified.
An attractive seating plan for a medium-sized coach with a rear entrance is one which• includes staggered individual seats. Such an arrangement requires more length of body than do the usual double seats., but more elbow and shoulder room is provided. When separate seats are employed it is easier to provide for adjustment of the cushion and back rest.
If the body be about 20 ft. long seats for 23 passengers may be set out in the following manner : There is an isolated passenger seat in line with that of the driver. Immediately behind are three rows of staggered seats on each side of the central gangway. Over each wheelarch there is a longitudinal seat for two persons, then a pair of off-side seats and finally a back row individually shaped for four passengers.
The rear entrance and the side panelling beyond it are recessed and the step extends from the rear bulkhead to the end of the body. The emergency exit may be placed on the off side, next to the driver's door.
A front-entrance coach with a similar arrangement of seats would have a clear space beside the driver and a row of four seats, instead of two off-side ones, at the rear. But with forward control a coach of about the same overall length and seating capacity could be equipped
with luggage and other sections.
The near-side front corner of the main saloon is rounded and has a slop g front window. Over(Lie wheel-arch there is a 3,ggage compartment on the near side and a lavatodr on the off side. Here.tl/gangway is offset in or .,er that more space may7te devoted to the lavator; than is set apart for ,.tEggage. The gangway/ between these compaiXnents is also wider
than/c is between the seats. Vino lavatory be required luggage y be carried on both sides. It is considered that one large and one small luggage compartment are of greater value than are two the same area. The small one may be used for carrying luggage that is required at intermediate points, whilst the other may house luggage which is to be carried for. the full journey.
A fairly wide ,gangway gives room for handling the luggage and for loading the compartment from the inside, although outside doors may also be provided.
The seating plan forward of the wheel-arches consists of four double seats on the off side, whilst on the near side there are two double seats and a single one, the last-named having its back against the partition.
Behind the luggage compartments there are three double seats on the off side, and a single seat and two double seats on the near side, with an emergency exit in the middle of the back of the coach.
The sile of • the coach, between the compartment area and the rear rounded corners, has only one large window. The first row of seats has its back against the partitions and the last two rows may be arranged face to face.
There are thus seats., for 13 passengers in the front part of the coach and 11 seats at the rear.