Public Transport of Future
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THERE have been reports that the slow tempo of the bus-building industry in the United States is causing some anxiety there. Not long ago we were told that only one maker in this field was doing really good business. If this be authentic, then no doubt more determined 'efforts will be made to develop the 'overseas market in this type of .Vehicle. The dearth of dollars in most countries outside America is, however, hound to create difficulties with any considerable move in this direction.
The chief reason given for this curious tendency, which is so different from that which we are experiencing in Britain, is the enormous development of private motoring, which is automatically reducing the call upon public-transport facilities.
In the States it is quite frequently the case that every adult member of a family possesses his or her own mechanical means for transport, and individuals think nothing of mileages which to us, in the confines of our Isles, would be classed as long journeys. This is no doubt one of the effects Of an average Wage amongst workers of £1,000 per year plus the comparative Cheapness of pretentious-looking cars.
Buses Economize in Road Space It is not a happy situation from the point of view of those who are engaged in providing public transport, and it is causing considerable perturbation amongst municipal authorities and those who control the traffic, for congestion is increasing steadily and cars occupy far more traffic space for the number of people they carry than do well-laden buses. Great efforts are being made to cope with the problem, but the difficulties are increasing.
In Britain the small number of private cars allocated to the home market and the severe rationing of petrol have prevented any such expansion in this sphere. Even if these factors were non-existent, our people are severely taxed and have not such a financial capacity as to permit the purchasing of great numbers of private vehicles. Consequently, it is likely to be a considerable number of years before the difficulty becomes sufficiently pronounced to cause any great worry to our operators and makers. If this were not so; itTmight soon become a case of the "biter being bit," for if _public passenger transport be eventually taken over, almost in its entirety by the State, the latter might find it a diminishing asset.
Notwithstanding these temporary alleviating conditions, if we are able within the next few years to overcome much of our present financial embarrassment, we must be prepared for a steady and reasonably large growth in the number of cars in service, not that, at its highest, this is ever likely to approach in proportion to our population the figures attained in America. We, however, have the grave disadvantages of old-established cities and towns, often with, absurdly narrow thoroughfares which ; even now can barely accommodate the traffic without eonstant delays, these in themselves alone representing an enormous waste of time and money.
Road-capacity Increase Neglected It was thought, at one time, that the bombing and consequent destruction of many buildings in CUE great cities would facilitate their reconstruction in a manner which would permit much greater traffic flow; instead, it seems that in many places huge buildings are being erected almost precisely on the original sites. There may be reasonably extensive areas, as in the City of London, which will lend themselves to more considered treatment, but the high cost of really material efforts in this direction will probably debar them for a long period, so that 4, Make do and hang the delay" is likely robe the pro gramme for as far as we can see ahead. Therefore, unless we eventually have a Government of great vision and the means for carrying out extensive public works, the various wellthought-out schemes for the improvement of the Metropolis and other big centres of population may remain pigeon-holed for a generation. It is, Of course, possible that we may again be faced with the spectre of unemployment, when work of any nature might be deemed better than idle subsistence ona dole, in which event, if the materials -be available, such important enterprises as we visualize might be forced upon us. Whether we shall ever find ourselves in such a calamitous position depends very much upon the manner in which we pull ourselves together in the next year or two, and whether many of our workers will cease to be lulled into a false sense of security and prosperity inculcated by external help and the camouflaging of our real cost of living.
Angry Sunset
0N some folk the rustle of the Treasury note exercises an irresistible attraction, more compelling by far than the influence of the Pied Piper upon the children of Hamelin.
There are, just at the moment, signs that the rustlings created by the payments of compensation to hauliers acquired under the Transport Act have not been without their effect in the courts of the moneychangers, so that the time may be opportune to suggest again to those who now possess cash in lieu of businesses that they should examine closely any propositions that are put before them to exchange their bank balances for other businesses, and especially such undertakings as cannot produce satisfactory audited accounts going back to pre-war years.
In the days of his youth many a haulier plunged joYfully into a business that was highly speculative in many respects, but the intervening years of prosperity can easily have blunted his critical faculties. Therefore, dare it be suggested that it might happen that in his anxiety to return to what he regarded for years as a useful sphere, he could fall for proposals lacking the substance so essential to the man who was once fully established in the industry.
Independent experts are, of course, available who are fully qualified to advise on such matters and their services should be employed by those who have the slightest doubts.
Far better is it that those with money to spare should stick to some quiet and steady investment with which they are coMpletely at home rather than devote their cash to possibly illusory schemes which may easily produce nothing more tangible than an outsize fleet of chariots of wrath. A Grave but Rare Accident THE news of a regrettable accident to a bus, in which a child is said to have fallen through the floor and been killed by the propeller shaft, is an occurrence which is so rare that this fact alone may attract more attention to it than would other events cbnnected with road transport which occur more frequently, It is said that the cause was the disconnecting of a front coupling through the fracture or loosening of a bolt, the shaft then whirling and breaking through the floor.
Years ago, when design for safety was perhaps not so well understood as it is now and the materials of construction were not so reliable. failures of propeller shafts were fairly common. although seldom accompanied by injury to the occupants of vehicles.
The more frequent result was that the shaft dropped on to the road and acted" as a sprag. It was for this reason that a regulation was framed to enforce the provision of a suitable sling under the shaft, with the object of holding it up and preventing such spragging action. Often now, such shafts pass through holes in cross-members, and where these are suitably situated they would no doubt prevent accidents of this nature.
Whilst it will be understood that no piece of man-made mechanism can be entirely free from the risk of failure, modern propeller shafts are mostly produced by specialists, and the possibility of a breakage of this type is extremely slight, unless maintenance be badly neglected. We are not suggesting, however, that this was the cause in the particular instance to which we refer. That will remain a matter for suitable investigation.
In the past, we have known of other cases in which a shaft has broken into the body of a vehicle, whilst in one instance a petrol tank was fractured in a similar manner and as a consequence several passengers died from burns.
However, we emphasize that the risk is slight and not greater than has to be accepted with almost any other means for transport. At the same time, increased precautions should be taken to raise the safety factor to the highest possible level.