MOTORBUS DEVELOPMENT IN COLOGNE.
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Fleets Operated by the German Post Office and a Company Allied to that Running the Trams.
riOLOGNE, famous for its cathedral and its perfume,
has a population of some three-quarters of a million, and the transport problem is at present mainly solved by tramways. These single-deck trams, generally with two or three trailers, travel at high speeds, but at the best they cause fearful congestion in the narrow, crowded streets in the centre of the town.
There is, however a certain number of buses plying for hire, these being operated by the postal authorities and a company, the Kolner Strassen und Omnibus G.m.b.H., which is allied to the tramway company.
As the postal authorities operate the larger fleet, we will first deal with their activities. It naturally strikes English people as curious to find the Post Office as an omnibus proprietor, but this is quite usual in Continental countries, and, when one considers it, it seems quite logical that the mail and passenger services should be combined on the road, as they are by rail and ship.
Passenger transport is now quite a large feature of the activities of the German Post Office. In 1910 it had 130 buses in operation over a ratite mileage of 770, and in 1925 this fleet had grown to 1,600 vehicles, with a route mileage of 8,000 miles. This has been still further increased in the last six months, but exact figures are not available at the moment.
An interesting account of the services provided in the postal district of Cologne was obtained in a personal interview with Chief Inspector W. Zalm. He informed us that a fleet of 81 buses is operated in the area which extends in places to 35 miles or 40 miles from Cologne. This fleet is composed of Daag, Benz, Daimler, Mannesmann-Mulag, Vomag, M.A.N. and Bussing vehicles. The buses are mainly 19 to 26seaters, the one large unit being a 35-seater sixwheeled Bussing, which is used for conveying large parties. In addition, five chars-à-bancs are in service for regular tours and private hire.
These buses operate over 40 routes, seven of which run out from Cologne, whilst the remainder lie between' smaller towns in the neighbourhood. A mileage of about 100,000 a month is covered. The reason for the small number of routes operated from Cologne, the chief city of the district, was explained by the inspector, who said that the Post Office is not in any way out to compete with the railways. Its policy is to link up villages and small towns with the railways, and for this reason buses are generally garaged along the route upon which they work and at the end that is away from the railway. Thus the first bus in the morning takes people into the station and the last bus at night brings the late passengers home, saving dead mileage for the road vehicles.
The buses naturally carry the mails, and a certain
amount of small parcels is also carried as a convenience for dwellers in the countryside. All buses are equipped with letter-boxes and the drivers also clear the waysideboxes, so that a very efficient postal service is given to the country districts.
Comfort has received great attention. For instance, all the buses have heating systems worked from the exhaust; pneumatic tyres are standard, singles being fitted, on the front and duals on the rear, and all the latest buses are low-loaders with four-wheel brakes.
All the buses are of the one-man-controlled type, and the driver has, in addition, full charge of his vehicle. He is responsible for running repairs, cleaning, etc., the vehicles only being returned to the depot at CologneDeutz twice a year for overhaul or in case of accidents or breakdowns. Naturally, the drivers are very strictly tested in mechanical knowledge and driving efficiency
before being admitted to the service and must, in addition, undergo a two months' probation before being finally accepted.
Great importance is attached by the officials to careful and considerate driving, as they realize the benefit of a good reputation. An average speed of 14 m.p.h. is scheduled on the time-tables, this, of course, including stops, and although many of the buses are capable of speeds up to 40 m.p.h., such high speeds are strictly forbidden. And in this connection it is, of course, necessary to remember that the German roads are not generally so good as the English; therefore, lower speeds are the rule.
An average mileage of about 50 a day is allotted to each bus. This, of course, is necessary when each bus has only one driver, who must, in addition to driving, clean and attend to his vehicle. A life of ten years is estimated as a result of this small mileage, depreciation being written off at 10 per cent. per annum. Most of the routes are only some 10 or 15 miles long, the longest being 28 miles and the shortest 4 miles. Regular services—i.e., every hour or every two hours—are not run on most of the routes. The bus times are fitted in to coincide with the train times, except, of course, on the routes that run from Cologne.
Fares average about 1id. per mile. Monthly and weekly tickets at half-price are issued to school children and regular travellers. The coach trips which run daily from the old university town of Bonn are very fine indeed and cover some of the most beautiful scenery in the valleys of the Rhine and Mosel. A day tour costs about 14s., and at this price the tours enjoy a considerable popularity. Coaches of the 18-22-seater class are found to be the most suitable for the narrow, winding roads of the neighbourhood, and all are mounted on pneumatics. The coaches have detachable heads for winter use. One interesting feature that the inspector mentioned to us is that many of their patrons are themselves car-owners, but prefer to make use of the motor coaches for long tours ; which is also the experience of many English owners..
A repair shop for overhauling, repainting, reupholstering, etc., is maintained at Cologne-Deutz, where all except very complicated repairs can be carried out, and the buses come here in rotation, twice yearly, for a general overhaul.
A special feature of the organization is the care taken to ensure proper publicity for the services. Travel bureaux, hotels, large business firms, public authorities, etc., are all regularly supplied with time-tables, this being in addition, of course, to newspaper advertising and to small descriptive booklets which are published from time to time.
It forms altogether a very enterprising and up-to-date system of bus service, which shows nothing of the conservatism that we are accustomed to associate with government departments.
To turn to their competitors, the Milner Strassen und Omnibus G.m.b.H., we find this young company also progressing swiftly. Founded only in December of last year, it is an off-shoot of the tramway company, and both are controlled by the city authorities.
. In a short time this company has acquired a fleet of 30 buses. These units are :-14 six wheeled Bussing, 6 four-wheeled Bussing, 2 Mannesmann-Mulag, 2 Vomag, 5 .N.A.G., and 7 Magdeburger Fabrik vehicles. These are all mounted on pneumatics and have seating capacities varying from 19 to 35. Nine routes are operated, the longest being 45 miles and the shortest 4 miles. Six of these lines run out to neighbouring towns and three are city services. On the long routes a two-hour service is maintained and on the city. routes 30-minute, 20=nainute and 15-minute services are run respectively. There is, of course, no competition with the trams, but only in one instance is there a connection between bus and tram systems. To operate their services the company have in daily service 23 buses, so that 13 are kept in reserve and are used for private-hire work and for providing extra services on busy days.
Much longer mileages are the rule here than are permitted by the postal authorities, some of the vehicles covering 200 miles a day at busy seasons. Each bus has a shed day every ten days. All return to the garage each evening and the drivers have nothing to do with the cleaning or repairs. One-man control is the practice on all the routes, except two, but at busy periods the larger buses also carry a conductor.
The six-wheeled Bussings have stood up well to hard .driving over bad roads, and the passengers speak highly a the comfort obtained. Unfortunately, their size makes tlrein.very difficult to handle in the narrow, wind
lug streets that characterize most of the small German towns. The four-wheeled buses are considered to be more' suitable for town work, but, of course, newer and improved six-wheeled models may possibly remove these objections.
Thus we see in this short review of the two concerns that operate buses in Cologne that in organization the German omnibus owners are in no sense behind us. The four-wheeled, four-wheel-braked, low-load-line bus is already the standard model here. It is only the fact that capital is very scarce in Germany at present that delays the motorbus from taking the lead to the extent to which it has clone in Atneriea. and England.