bird's eye
Page 27
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view by the Hawk • Not on trust
Rome's decision to give free bus travel a whirl is, I think, the writing on the wall; despite all the stout denials and all the very excellent reasons for keeping public transport a pay-as-you-go enterprise, I am now convinced that free city travel will become an accepted practice much sooner than most people think. The pressures of congestion, and the need to stem the car tide, will be politically paramount.
On the way to this tragedy or nirvana, depending on your point of view, there will be some quirky little measures. Like the one which Sudbury, Ontario, city council has just rejected in favour of a standard 25 cent fare. The traffic committee had first suggested (in vain) an honour system whereby passengers without the correct fare could have travelled free on the promise that they would make up the difference on the next bus ride. (The basic object apparently is to relieve the o-m-o bus drivers from cash handling.)
At a second try, the committee came up with "the envelope plan". In this, a passenger who did not have 25 cents in change would have put his smallest bank note in an envelope provided and deposit it in the fare box. Next day he would have collected his change from the city hall. But the council didn't like that one either.
• Nothing but the best Talking of public transport, there was a nice sly letter in The Times recently from Dr John Adams of University College, London, who was having a dig at a Concorde
supporter who had ridden in the aircraft and reported having "a most enjoyable ride." Said Dr Adams: "The logic of the argument based upon this claim deserves scrutiny because arguments such as this appear to be the strongest that the supporters of Concorde can muster.
"I did once have the privilege of riding in a Rolls-Royce from the Aldwych to Marble Arch. The journey took, I estimate, less than half the time it would have taken had I travelled on London Transport's buses. The ride was superb in every way; indeed it was better than in any existing car or bus in which I have travelled.
"I can only suggest that it is time the knockers stopped knocking the Rolls-Royce, and that London Transport places its order for the car as soon as possible."
• The message
There is, of course, an obvious alternative. A colleague waiting for a London bus on the first Monday of 1972 was almost moved by the banner message on two successive double-deckers which passed in the opposite direction. Below the upper deck windows each carried a streamer ad which simply read: KEEP WALKING.
It was only on closer inspection that small type yielded up a mention of K shoes.
When a bus finally arrived and a 2+p ticket was requested, the conductress remarked that this was now 3p. In the ensuing discussion she admitted: "They have kept rather quiet about this and have not advertised it very much."
Perhaps they think the external message is sufficient in itself.
• Freight contract John Guttridge, the popular public relations officer of the FTA, and editor of Freight, was married on Saturday. I gather his colleagues have been making rather unkind suggestions about expecting a sharp improvement in his prose standards — he has married a teacher of English!
• Er, what confusion?
Somebody's slip is showing. The National Guild of Transport Managers recently wrote to the DoE asking that the hgv driving licence and operator's licence weight limits should both be made 3+ tons plated weight because of the "ludicrous and confusing situation" arising from 0-licences being needed for vehicles plated at 3+ tons and above, and hgv licences for vehicles weighing 3 tons gross and above.
I'm sure I shan't be the first to point out that the hgv licence weight limit is 3 tons unladen, a very different matter indeed.
• Which hunt?
Owners of smoky lorries beware. The Guardian's Checkout column is launching a Dirty Lorries Register for 1972, and on Monday publicized its first victim — a haulier operating for a Smithfield meat company whose van was alleged to be making black smoke and also letting it waft into the load space full of bacon.
The column managed to get a solidly defensive quote from both parties, but has ended its first example with an invitation for contributions from readers. You have been warned.
• I'll read that again You think you are in an odd sort of business? How about this random list of headings in the US National Bureau of Standards monthly guide to publications:
Hot-Hole Electron Cascades in Field Emission.
The Piezoelectric Effect in Polymers. FORTRAN Program for ArbitraryLength Arithmetic.
Dissociation of Gases by Electron Bombardment, Studied at JILA.
Siped Tires No Advantage on Wet Roads. Crystal Filter Narrow, Stabilizes Dye Laser Output.
• Multi-coloured
Fleet engineers or marketing advisers seeking to introduce a new vehicle livery may like to know that Butterworths have just published (at 1110) the ICI Colour Atlas. Guess how many shades it contains? No fewer than 27,580. Whatever you do, don't tell the missus. She might be even more insistent about getting just the right colour for the smallest room.
Henry Ford I —"I don't care what colour you have so long as it's black" will turn in his grave.