The Motor Omnibus World.
Page 4
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The postal motor omnibus, which we illustrated in our issue of August loth, page 429 ante, was built by the Aligemeine Betriebs-Actiengesellschaft far Motorfahrzeugev of Cologne.
It is reported that the leading London omnibus companies will make it a general rule to train men who are under forty years of age as motor drivers; exceptions will be made where a horse driver shows particular aptitude and physical capacity, but not otherwise.
It is rumoured that quite an incredible number of fresh omnibus routes are being mapped out by the various companies which are already serving London or are preparing to do so. It is perfectly clear that a number of routes which would prove remunerative are not yet worked even by horsedrawn buses. Distances and gradients limit their scope.
The Springhead District Council has reluctantly come to the decision that it has no powers to run motor omnibuses viithout going to Parliament. Councillor Hinchcliffe, who is very active in all local affairs in the Oldham district, should be communicated with on the subject by motor omnibus manufacturers. .
The chaotic state of the London streets as regards upheaval from one cause or another, has served to draw attention to the control possessed by drivers of the motor omnibuses which are now plying in so many directions. The manner in which they thread their way through narrow streets, down which the chief traffic is diverted, attracts much attention.
There is little doubt that the Railway vote in the House of Commons will be unanimously in favour of requiring local authorities to license motor omnibuses or to submit the question to appeal. Under the various local acts, as under the Town Police Clauses Acts of 1847 and 1889, as governed by the Public Health Act of 1875, local councils are their own final court in this matter at present.
The motor omnibus service between Ravensthorpe and Bradley, to link the Electric (Heavy Woollen District) Traction Company's tramway lines with those of the Huddersfield Corporation, will be taken in hand by the Mirfield Engineering Co., Limited, whose capital is to he increased to .4;20,000 for the purpose. Three buses have been ordered, each of which will accommodate 42 passengers, and it is also intended to provide six chars-a-bancs. The managing director of the undertaking is Mr. W. A. Entwistle.
At Mariendorf, near Berlin, a financial group has been formed for connecting the southern suburbs wit the West End of Berlin by means of a motor omnibus line, which will run via Tempelhof and Schoneberg to the Zoological Gardens, As all the parishes concerned have readily granted the required concession, there is ground for assuming that the beginning of October will see the line working. The TeltowJonannisthal motor bus line, opened some months beck, has answered splendidly.
The Torquay and Disrrict Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., is being prebsed to give a reduction of fares and a later service in the evenings.
Residents in the Epping and Harlow districts are approaching the Great Eastern Railway Company for motor omnibus facilities, as are those at Ongar and Brentwood.
J. S. Critchley, Limited, of 251, Tottenham Court Road, 11.., has recently closed a contract for the supply of LeylandCrossley omnibuses to Birch Brothers, Limited.
The service of motor omnibuses about to be instituted at 13arh will be put in force between Bathford, Box, Corsham, and Bradford-on-Avon, before the billy district of Lansdown is tackled.
The Great Eastern Railway Company's omnibus services are being rapidly extended in localities round Ipswich, Chelmsford, and Colchester. The latest route to be served is that between lpswicn and Shutley.
Motor omnibuses are proving one of the greatest aids to the whole motor movement, by reason of the central fact that they appeal to the working classes. Thus it is that we see the popular Press referring to these vehicles as " The People's Motors."
One of the Isle of wight Express Motor Syndicate's omnibus drivers has been fined ;.:2 and 21s. costs on a conviction for driving a motor omnibus it the rate of /8f miles per hour between Ryde and Sandown. The timing was done over a strength of 220 yards of the high road, with stop watches which had only been put in the hands of the Police the same morning. It is a matter for regret, in addition, that the observation was undertaken at the instigation of a mo:orcar owner.
The report of Mr. Stephen Selion, the electric traction expert to the City Council of Oxford, includes the following estimates on capital account :—
Permanent way, 7.291 miles single track...„4.4o,ro6 Overhead work, 3.87 route miles ... • 5,031
Surface contact work, 2.434 track miles ... 7,302
-— This works Out at -,X17,357 per route-mile. Mr. Worby Beaumont's report, on the motor omnibus side of the case, puts the capital expense at £20,000 for a service of 18 vehicles, which forms an interesting comparison.
The half-yearly general meeting of the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., was held at Salisbury House, Finsbury Circus, on Thursday last, the 24th inst., when the Chairman, the Rt. Hon. Sir John Pound, the premalt Lord Mayor of London, presided. The report of the directors and the accounts were unanimously adopted. In the course of his speech, the Chairman pointed out that 108,943,000 passengers had been carried in the company's 1,414 omnibuses during the first six months of the year. This was an increase of 667,000 over the corresponding periotl of 1904, but the fart that the gross receipts had been .4:2,682 less showed a lower average fare. On the other hand, the total expenses had been reduced by .4;3,815. Their stud of horses stood at 17,000 animals, and horse-drawn omnibuses would be the backbone of the company for some years to come. The italics are ours, because these °biter dicta indicate the limited period which will elapse before motor omnibuses replace the )Ider type. The number of motor buses on order for the L.G.O. Co. is the best comment.
The shareholders of the North Metropolitan Tramways Co. Ltd., have accepted the offer of purchase made by the London County Council. The transfer of ownership affects .481 miles of track. Certain points in dispute are referred to -arbitration, and the actual surrender of the lines will take place at the end of March next.
The London Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., has let one of its omnibuses on hire for a week to an individual who thinks it will pay between London and Brighton. This is scheduled to start from the Hotel Victoria at 9.30 a.m., commencing yesterday (Wednesday), and to start back from Brighton at 3.30 p.m. The return fare for an outside seat is put at I2S. Ext.
The residents of Northenden, near Manchester, have for some time been expecting a decision from the Manchester Corporation Tramways Committee regarding the possible extension of the tramway system from Withington. It appears that property on the Palatine Road, between Withington and Northenden, is at a serious discount from the lack of passenger transport facilities. Salvation appears to have been discovered in the motor omnibus, because the supposition that a clause existed requiring Manchester to extend the tram line to Northenden has proved to be groundless. The chairman of the Manchester Corporation Tramways Committee, Councillor D. Boyle, should be communicated with by any motor omnibus manufacturer who is ready tc give reasonable delivery. We are requested to point out that the omnibus illustrated on page 452 ante was manufactured by Messrs. H. Bussing, of Brunswick.
The Nottingham Watch Committee has come to the decision that it is not prepared to license motor omnibuses in that city. Bradford has referred the question to a subcommittee of its Finance and General Purposes Committee.
A very wide publicity has been given by the general Press of the country to the appointment of a joint-cotninittee of the Automobile Club and the Motor Union to prepare evidence in connection with the sittings of the Royal Commission on the Motor Car Acts.
There is no truth in the rumour that the Leamington and District Motor Omnibus Company's vehicles were removed from their original routes because the tramcars took the traffic from them. The transfer was contemplated from the start, and the new routes are more remunerative.
It is amusing to notice how rail motorcars, which are nothing more than coaches with self-contained engines, are confounded with road motorcars. Many papers have quoted the recent statement by Mr. Baldwin, the chairman of the G.W. Railway, as though the 2* million passengers named had travelled in road vehicles. At the same time, it is likely that a greater number will be so conveyed this year by that company's motor omnibuses.
The fcllowing are applicants for enrolment as associates of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers, the names in brackets being those nominated as representatives at the meetings :—Messrs. Straker and Squire (L. R. L. Squire); the Palmer Tyre, Limited (Ernest J. Mitchell); Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited (Fredk. Thoresby); W. H. Willcox and Co., Limited (Walter II. Willcox); the Shrewsbury and Challiner Tyre Co., Limited (C. Challiner); J. W. and T. Connolly, Limited (j. W. Connolly); J. Liversidge and Son, Limited (Arthur J. Liversidge); the Peter Union Tyre Co., Limited (Richard BrockemuhI); the Motorcar Emporium, Limited (C. E. Rovvbottom); and the Lancashire Steam Motor Co., Limited (Henry Spurrier, jun.).