The ORGANIZATION
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of a
TOWN'S BUS SERVICE.
A Description of the Method of Controlling and Maintaining Chesterfield's Petrol Buses and _Trolley-buses.
By W. G. Marks, A.M.Inst.T., Transport Manager to the Corporation of Chesterfield.
CFIESTERFIELD'S last tramcar ran its last journey on May 23rd, 1927, and of that more anon, lest I be misunderstood. Almost simultaneously the new garage and offices at Thornfield were opened.The decision to proceed with the erection of these new premises was made at about the same time as that to substitute trolley-buses and petrol buses for the tramcars, and it is a moot question as to which was really the more pressing need. The old garage had long been inadequate, so much so that, for some time, many of the buses had, perforce, to be garaged in the open. What this meant to the organization in the winter, when radiators had to be emptied each night and refilled in the morning, and when, in addition, there was the difficulty of starting the engines each morning, needs no description.
The only question was whether to build additional Premises elsewhere to supplement the existing garage— there was no room for extensions in the same area— or whether to erect new premises altogether and to put all the organization under the one roof. Fortunately, for the organization as a whole, the second scheme found favour. I say " fortunately " because there is an immediate economy and gain in efficiency by centralizing an organization. At the very least it saves the necessity of having a multiplicity of foremen, timekeepers and supervisory staff.
Importance of Reducing Dead Mileage.
We were again fortunate at once, in that a site became available nearer to the centre of the town than the old one. This enabled the dead mileage to be cut down by a quarter of a mile per vehicle per day, the total gained mileage representing a saving of over 7,000 vehicle-miles per annum, the figures being returned for a fleet of 77 vehicles.
• The land purchased was 7i acres in extent, but of that area only a portion is, so far, in use. A supplementary purchase provided the enormous advantage of two separate ways into and out of the garage. This, too, obviated the need, which at first seemed unavoidable, of cutting a. road through from the garage level to a height corresponding to that of the main road, which was at a higher level.
The plan of the buildings is shown in an accompanying sketch. On this the positions' of the two exits and entrances are indicated. One-way traffic prevails both for buses and trolley-buses, but, whilst the trolley-buses enter by road A and leave by road the lbuses enter and leave in the reverse direction. This advantageously-affects the interior organization of the garage itself, as I shall show, and causes no inconvenience or confusion, inasmuch as both types of vehicle are generally entering or leaving together.
The garage itself is a steel strueture; 29541. by 150 ft., arranged in two spans, one of 50 ft.-and_ one of 100-ft: The large bay thus provides 29,500 sq. ft. of floor space entirely bare. of any obstruction and is, therefore, extremely, convenient for use as a garage.
The trolley-buses go right to the back of the garage and take up positions parallel with the line of the building. The petrol buses are arranged in two rows facing one another, one row backing on to the line of trolley-buses, the other row facing the first and leaving a 21-ft. gaugway between, which is ample room to allow any bus being taken out at any time.
The petrol buses, before they enter the garage, are brought to a stop alongside one or other of the three Wayne petrol pumps. There they are relinquished by the drivers and conductors and taken over by the garage staff. The petrol tanks are filled and the cleaners commence work by sweeping out the bus interiors. Leaving the petrol pump, each bus passes immediately to the wash which is located just inside the entrance to the garage and where a four-gun, B.E.N. Myers' high-pressure, hydraulic washing plant is installed. Here water at a pressure of over 300 lb. per sq in. is available and is transformed by the spray guns into jets of water of the required intensity and description according to the 'Portion of the buS which is being cleaned. A fierce direct acting jet is used for the chassis and under parts of the vehicle and a fine spray for the paint and varnish work of the body. Ilsd of this high-pressure plant effects a considerable saving in the time and labour necessary for the operation. Immediately they have been washed in this manner, the buses are taken to their position in the garage, where they are leathered off, the cushions being cleaned and other supplementary cleaning operations carried out. Tyre pressures are tested and tyres inflated by means of a portable electrically driven pump wherever the need exists.
The smaller bay is utilized as a stores and repair shop • conveniently arranged in the following order down the length of the bay : stores, tyre repairs, general mechanical repairs, electrical repairs, welding shop and smithy, body repairs and paint shop.
Each bus is subjected to a daily inspection, with a pit overhaul every six weeks and 'a thorough mechanical overhaul every three months. One bus is completely repainted each week, being brought into the paint shop for that purpose first thing on Monday morning and turned out again on Friday night, so as to' give 'a 100 per cent. service on a Saturday, when a ddhiand for such a service is present. This scheme operateS .to ensure that, each vehicle is repainted once every 18' months. " The repaint is timed to coincide with one of the three-monthly overhauls so that at
the end of the repainting the bus as a whole is turned out•in perfect order both externally and internally.
I should like to stress the importance of this regular System of maintenance, which ensures that the most minor of defects is discovered in its incipient stage and is never allowed to get beyond that stage. The result is that it is extremely rare for a bus or a trolley-bus to be held up on the road. The lost mileage from that source is so low as .004 per cent. in the case of petrol buses and .902 per cent. in the case of trolley-buses. This regularity and reliability of service has a tremedonns moral effect in maintaining the confidence of patrons, who' are always sure that the bus which they set out to use will be there at the appointed time and will make the journey according to schedule. It is germane. to add that the total annual bus mileage is 1,500,000 in the case of the petrol buses and 450,000 for the trolley-buses, a total of 2,000,000 miles per annum in round. figures.
Cost of Operation.
The advantages of this regular and systematic maintenance are also reflected in the cast of operation of the fleet. A total cost of operation of the petrol buses is 10.10d. per mile, made up as follows: Traffic expenses, 5.58d.; general expenses, 0.87d.; repairs and • 'maintenance, 1.04d.; tyres, 0.69d.; petrol and henzole, 1.92d.• The trolley-bus costs are
9.57d. per mile; traffic expenses being 4.59d.; general expenses, 1.33d.; repairs and maintenance, 1.2d. ; tyres, 0.81d.; power' 1.64d. The item of general expenses includes, in the case of the trolley-buses, the rates which have to be paid on those vehicles, whilst that of .repairs and maintenance embodies 0.37 per mile for maintenance of overhead equipment.
The way in which the maintenance cost is made up may be of interest. The system of costing is such that the actual cost of repairs to each of the principal units of the vehicle is known. On the petrol buses these unit costs are:
Chassis, 0.02d. per mile; engines, 0.32d.; front axle and steering, 0.05d. ;rear axle and wheels, 0.03d.; gearbox and clutch, 0.06d.; brakes, 0.05d.; transmission, 0.02d.; ignition, 0.03d.; petrol supPlY, 0.02d. ; total, 0.60d. On the trolley-buses: Chassis, nil; motor, 0.04d.; front axle and steering, nil; rear axle and wheels, 0.09d.; controller,' 0.07d.; brakes, 0.26d. ; transmission, 0.01d.; trolley,• *0.20d.; miscellaneous, 0.01d.; total, 0.66d. The difference between these totals and the figures given above for repairs and maintenance is accounted for by body repairs and by a proportion of expenditure for buildifig plant, etc.
Pneumatic tyres are used throughout the bulk of the it fleet. Goodyears and Dun, lops are the makes generally
employed and they give equal service. On the trolley-buses the average life is 28,000 miles. and on the petrol buses .33,000. On some tyres, we have had as much as 60,000 miles' service, but as, of course, there arc cases where they give out at comparatively low mileages, the average is what has been stated. This long life and immunity from trouble is largely due to the care which is taken of the tyres, and it is a fact that one result of the regular maintenance and daily testing and inflation is that we have been able to remove all the gear-driven tyre pumps from the chassis and discard them.
Economies in Office Administration.
Advantage was taken of the lay of the land when scheming the arrangement of the offices. The front entrance on the higher level, that of the main road, is used by the office and administrative staff, which is entirely on that floor. The rear entrance is a stage lower down, on the same level as the garage,' and the offices on that floor are used by the conductors, drivers, inspectors and ticket clerks. Each section of the staff is thus self-contained and free from inter ference by the others.
The arrangements for the issue of tickets to conductors are, I believe, unique, and will accordingly be of interest, especially as considerable economies in clerical staff are effected thereby. Each conductor has his own locker, numbered and provided with a key. These lockers are arranged in a continuous bank, and in them each conductor stores his tickets, waybill, punch, cash bag and other small accessories. These lockers, locked at the front, are open at the back, but access to them is only possible through one of two locked doors at each end of a gangway Which rune past the whole series of. lockers. At the other side of the gangway and opposite each locker is a duplicate but open locker. In these duplicate lockers the ticket clerk keeps an adequate stock of tickets of all kinds.
When the conductor who makes up his own waybill) Is running short of any particular kind of ticket he takes a requistion form and makes out an order for the wanted tickets, this being left in his locker. These requisition forms are collected by the ticket clerk from the rear of the lockers each morning, and the requisition forms are met by transference of the necessary tickets from the rear lockers to the front ones. It is, of course, the ticket clerk's duty to keep the stock of tickets in the rear lockers up to date. The advantage of the system is that it enables the wholo of the
-work of providing and checking the tickets of the operation of the whole fleet to be done by one man.
Conductors are not asked to have their cash and waybills checked each evening. Each has his own bag, and every evening he puts cash and waybill into that bag and drops it through a hole in the counter of the office, the hole being fitted with a non-return cover so that nothing can be extracted through it. He is given a receipt ticket, which is an acknowledgment of the fact that he has put something through that orifice. The bags fall into a bin on wheels, a detachable part of the counter, which, when the last conductor has gone, is wheeled at once into the strong room and locked up for the night. The contents of that bin and of the individual bag are checked over the next day by the clerical staff.
The two most important advantages of this scheme are, first, that the conductors do not need to wait at night in a queue while their takings are being counted and checked; second, that there is no need for a clerical staff to stay after office hours for the purpose of effecting that counting and checking. The inspector on duty supervises the handing in of the bags and presents the receipt ticket There are offices on this lower floor for inspectors and the chief inspector, as well as a messroom and other accommodation, thus ensuring that this particular department is self-contained.
Trains, Trolley-Buses, or Petrol Buses ?
I should like, in concluding, to revert to my opening statement and to touch lightly upon a very controversial discuss ion, namely, the relative merits of trains, trolley-buses and
petrol buses. I do not wish it to be understood, because I commenced by referring to the fact that Chesterfield had dispensed with trams, that I in any way suggest that this is an example necessarily to be followed by other townships. The Chesterfield trains were superseded largely, in the first case, because a capital outlay of no less than £65,000 would have been necessary to put the system into efficient working order. At the same time, however, trolley-buses are better than trains for a town like Chesterfield, where there are no enormous peak loads and where such peaks as do come are infrequent and of short duration. With the absence of peak loads, trolleybuses are better because they are smaller vehicles and thus give a better headway. With trsms, a ten-minute service would be possible here; with trolley-buses a six-minute service can be run and, in ease of need, a three-minute service. This is brought about by the fact that the smaller vehicle, having fewer passengers, needs less frequently to stop to set down and pick up. Those who use the buses for short journeys benefit accordingly and they have shown their appreciation in this town, as is evident from the fact that the receipts from id. fares have increased by 25 per cent., those from 1id. fares by 16 per cent., but fro'n longer runs only 3 per cent.
With enormous peak -loads such as, for example, occur in Sheffield, the tram is the best vehicle. Not only is its nominal capacity greater, but it can be loaded to absolute capacity with safety. I am, as a matter of fact, considering the purchase of double-deck vehicles for use here in connection with our peak loads, but I shall use them for that purpose only, as, otherwise, they will have the effect of slowing up the service; they may even do so as it is, but not sufficient to negative the increased carrying capacity available when that is temporarily needed. The buses at present in use with the 4-ft. wide doors can be emptied in 14 minutes.