One-man 13us , Success Doubtful,
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But Stockholm Orders 200
IT is , understood .that Stockholms. Sparvagar, the municipal transport undertakingi. 'has oeitered 200 rearen gifted ; orte.4rnan Istises front Scan ia
VabiS, Sodes taije I hese,-buseS, 'based
09 the . C50.. specification,. will
have the Seania Nab's' eight-cylindered oil..engine ind a futh 'autalmatic transmission system made under licence from Ameriea.' Delivery of the vehicles is:Sehedured: to Start in January, 1q53
Mr. 'Tellghlak the. corporation operating .Manager, admitted at the InteznationalCongress.of-Public Transport in Edinburgh, last June, that the average 'speed of the Mackprototype was 10 per cent, lower, than that of Who= buses with a. • driver and conductor.
The vehicle was on test for 25,000 miles. but has now been withdrawn from service to be inspected at the Scania Vabis works. "The Commercial Motor" understands that independent observers have noted that the average boarding time,was 3-6 secs per passen-ger and that the bus was stationary for a minute while 10 passengers entered and were given tickets.
The local licensing authority is sad to be concerned over the stopping time Ea each point and has stipulated that, if necessary, tickets will have to be obtained from a condiictor either at the
-bOarding point or in the bus. It has also yet to be decided whether the trade union will permit drivers to collect fares.
No agreement has yet been reached between the operator and union as to the extra pay for a driver-conductor, and local information suggests that the union may refuse 'to allow one-man buses of the present planned capacity to be worked. • The prototype, driven by volunteer drivers, carried 49 seated and 31 standing passengers. „ Difficulty in Collecting Fares Observers criticized the difficulty of collecting fares on right-hand-control buses (all traffic ia Sweden drives on the left of the road, as in Britain) because both the driver and the passenger are required to be left-handed in dealing with tickets and change. It is not expected that one-man buseswill show any great financial saving, because, in addition to paying higher wages to the driver, the vehicles cost 40 per cont. more than the standard type.
In the suburban area. Stockholm's municipal transport system has peak loads of 17,400 passengers betWeen 5 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. and 35,000 between 6 p.m. and-6.30 p.m.