The Motor Omnibus World.
Page 6
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Our editorial of last week deals with the question of motor omnibuses in relation to the report of the Royal Commission on London Traffic.
Birkdale, which adjoins Southport, is reported by the local Press to present a good opening for a motor omnibus service.
The Killiney Urban Council is a circumspect body. A recent application for a license to run a motor omnibus service was deferred for enquiry into the status of the syndicate which made the offer.
Berlin is to have its motor buses very shortly; they will be of the same type as those at present running in London. Electrically driven buses were tried in Berlin some time ago, but they were found to be unreliable and costly to maintain, so they were withdrawn.
In regard to the rumours about the Birmingham motor omnibuses, we are authorised to state that all that has taken place is a transfer of the vehicles from one route to another. The heavy wear which was experienced with the tyres when running the buses on the Harborne service has led the owners to work a route which is better paved until they make fresh arrangements about their tyres.
The Chiswick Urban District Council will, at its next meeting, to be held in September, consider a resolution to the effect that it is desirable to start a service of motor omnibuses in order to assist the development of the parish. This will be moved by Councillor Hopkin Morris, the idea being to develop the roads between Chiswick Lane and Kew Bridge. via Burlington Lane and Grove Park.
The secretary to the London Road Car Co., Ltd., announces that, after allowing for depreciation and transferring 4.2,000 to general reserve fund, the directors have resolved to recommend, subject to final audit, a dividend, for the half-year ending 3oth June last, at the rate of 61 per Oent, per annum (equal to 4s. per share on the fully-paid shares), and to carry forward a balance of .4;6,600 to the credit of the present half-year. The dividend fall is five-sixths of one per cent. compared with the last distribution.
Messrs. Baily and Baily, South Street, Dorking, have taken a leading part in the formation of a motor omnibus company to operate between Dorking, Holmwood, and Leatherhead. The authorised capital of the company is placed at 4.5,000, and Mr. W. J. Hodges is acting as secretary pro tempo. The company has already ordered three Dennis 24h.p. omnibuses, and it is understood that the fare between Leatherhead and Dorking will be 4d. A continuous service .between the _Queen's Head Hotel and the L.B. and S.C. Railway and S.E. Railway stations, with fares at id. or 2d., is also proposed. Small parcels will be carried in addition.
The Vanguard service between Brondesbury and the Law Courts has now been extended to Cricklewood and the Elepleint and Castle.
A motor bus advertising company, with a capital of £2,500 in A;t shares, has been formed to acquire the leases of advertising spaces on the buses belonging to the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited.
The Select Committee of the House of Commons on Worknien's Trains, of which Col. Bowles is chairman, is in favour of an extension from 8 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. of the morning limit for the cheap bookings.
One of the two Leyland-Crossley motor omnibuses recently completed by the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., at its carriage works, climbed Brockley Hill, near Elstree, under full load, during a trial trip last week.
Our contemporary" The Surveyor" comments in its issue of July 28th on the favourable separate reports of Sir Joseph Dimsdale and Sir George Bartley, in regard to the prospects of motor omnibuses, and endorses their opinions as to the great scope which lies before them.
At a meeting of the shareholders of the British Electric Traction Co., Ltd., the Chairman, Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, G.C.M.G., C.B., stated that : " Petrol omnibuses, no doubt, had a special field of usefulness, but that lay in directions other than those in which electric tramways were proving successful."
The Mayor of Dunstable is taking active steps to bring the proposed motor omnibus service between that town and Luton to a head. It is proposed that the buses should run in conjunction with the express trains of the Midland Railway Company. Manufacturers should send particulars of their vehicles to the Mayor.
The manager of every motor omnibus company, or the secretary to any group of individuals contemplating the formation of a syndicate for that purpose, should write immediately to W. S. Laycock, Ltd., Victoria Works, Millhouses, Sheffield, for a copy of its illustrated catalogue of fittings. It is most comprehensive and interesting.
The Corporation of Oxford has agreed to purchase the existing system of horse tramways and has empowered Mr. W. Worby Beaumont to advise as to the form of traction most suitable for the city, with special reference to the use of motor omnibuses. Mr. Stephen Sellon has also been similarly instructed in regard to electric tramway methods.
We observe, from an attractive programme of excursions issued by the Furness Railway Company, which owns a line serving the beautiful Lake District of Lancashire and Cumberland, that twenty coach and steam yacht tours are arranged to take place daily throughout the tourist season. This company should be ready to avail itself of motor vehicle transport as well.
The Chairman of the Devonport Corporation Tramway Committee (Mr. J. C. Tozer) and the Town Clerk (Mr. R. J. Fittall) have been instructed by their council to proceed to London to interview the Chairman of the Devonport and District Tramway Company respecting grievances connected with the tramways. Is there an opening at Devonport for motor omnibuses?
The jobmasters of Clacton-on-Sea have sent a memorial to the Urban District Council, suggesting that the introduction of motor buses will prove detrimental to their interests, and requesting the council to refuse any further application or,that nature. This was referred to the highways committee, but the same meeting of the council granted a license to a Mr. H. G. Bright to run a motor bus in the town.
A correspondent to the " Pall Mall Gazette" gives some very good reasons for the further development of motor
bus services. He says Why pend more millions of the ratepayers' money. in laying down new tramways When private enterprise is already at work in placing motor buses on the streets "? Again, he adds : "The motor bus is a great improvement on the tramcar. It is faster in practice because it can, in the event of a block, pass off into another route. It is less dangerous to life and does not ruin the' roads by wires or conduits."