The Traffic Bill : An Inadequate Advisory Committee.
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THERE ARE so many abusoe of the public highway, so many authorities with power to break up its surface and to erect encampments of workmen who take life easily, so many obstructions to a free and rapid passage, that the London Traffic Bill is a measure that should have been prepared years ago. For all that, it is not one that should be rushed through Parliament before the fullest opportunity is given to every person and organization affected, or likely to be affected, to consider its provisions and to ensure the inclusion of proper safeguards.
Let us say, first of all, we have very little faith in legislation by means of regulations to be laid down by a Minister acting after consultation with an. Advisory Committee. So . much depends upon the constitution of that Committee and upon its ability to impress the Minister with its capacity to advise and upon the celerityeof its actions. As at present proposed, of the 12 ordinary members no fewer than seven will be drawn from the London County Council, county councils and boroughs, practically the whole of which are interested in tramway undertakings. The " additional " members, numbering six, represent the interests of labour engaged in the transport industry and of persons providing means of transport and users of road vehicles, but they are only to form part of the Committee when it discusses matters concerning the development, improvement or extension of the existing system of roadcommunication or of transport systems, or when questions arise upon the exercise °Carty of the powers of the Minister, and then only if the Minister directs that they form part of the Committee. They will have no locus standi when the great questions of the co-ordinationof the various forms of transport services and the co-operation of transport operators come up for discussion, although the repesentatives of the tramway undertakings will be there with a distinct majority of the Committee. Here is a weak spot which must be strengthened so far as the representatives of bus interests and those of the transport industry are concerned. .
There are clauses in the Bill which will give the Minister the power to make regulations prescribing routes to" be followed by all, or any, classes of traffic, for prescribing streets which are not to be used by vehicles of any specified class or classes, for prescribing conditions concerning the use of cabs and hackney carriages, of cab-ranks and ranks and stopping-places for buses and other public conveyances, for the erection, removal, form and character of traffic notices and other matters, coming altogether under 21 heads, and it is conceivable that, with an Advisory Committee behind him, with a majority of seven to five directly interested in tramways, the bus proprietor, whether he be in a large or small way, may find his interests sacrificed to those of a useful but expensive system—the tramway.
The Position of the Independent Bus Owner.
THERE ARE many—in fact, by far the great majority—among the independent bus owners of London who regard the Traffic Bill as being instigated by the combine which owns or controls the tubes, the underground railways, certain tramway systems and the great bus undertaking, and they scent in its clauses the third line of attack upon the new caterers for London's travelling millions. At present there are about 250 independently owned buses, carrying, it is claimed, nearly 300,000 passengers per day. The L.G.O.C. during 1923 employed nearly 3,900 buses, and it carried a daily average, throughout the year, of a,076,703 passengers. Since the end of December some 400 new buses have been put into service. Lord Ash.field is not claiming a monopoly of the provision of bus facilities, but he is a strong advocate for the establishment of control, and it is feared that efforts will not be wanting to secure the restriction of bus facilities over routes already served by tubes and tramways included in the "combine," and the prevention of expansion on the part of the independent bus owners, individually or as a group, by the imposition of restrictions upon the number of vehicles allowed to ply over given
routes. .
Some sort of control is unquestionably necessary, even if only to prevent the abuse that can be detected upon certain of the bus routes of London where a half-minute " headway " (the gap between one bus . and the next) is often observable. If the traffic. needs of a route could be officially determined, and bases be dispatched from a terminus with a definite headway, any departure from which (unless circumstances are exceptional) should be deemed a breach of the regulations, bus operators would he in a batter position, being able to determine their schedule of operations, and being assured. of the traffic peculiar to the headway thus granted to 'them. If a claim . is to be made to freedom of the road and the right to operate, provided the official requirements can be complied with, then that freedom and that right must obviously carry with them certain restrictions that will serve to prevent chaos, and will ensure that the public interests are placed above all others.
Wasted Carrying-capacity.
WE ARE often surprised at the way in which many users of commercial vehicles habitually run them only partially laden for the greater part of the time. It seems, because once in a long while it may be necessary to carryloads up to the full capacity of the body, to be considered essential that it large vehicle be employed for the rest of the time when the loads may amount to perhaps a quarter of the total_ capacity. To the user of one machine only, there appears to be no other solution of the difficulty, and so he becomes -resigned to paying much more per ton-mile than would be the ease if a vehicle more suited to the smaller Weights were utilized. In our opinion, the better way to cope with oases of this description is to _purchase the vehicle considered most suitable for the average quantity of goods carried and to hire additional means of transport in
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the event of arush, or in order to deal with any periodic peak loads which it may be necessary to carry. By following this procedure, the needless carrying of a considerable amount of deadweight is avoided and general efficiency is improved. The difference between the cost of running a vehicle light and that of using it fully loaded is not consider-. able ; in fact, there are some reasons why it is prefer able, from the Maintenance point of view, always to have it loaded, as there is then, usually, considerably less vibration and it holds the road in a better way. In any eaee, anyweight above that of the correct vehicle for the load is unproductive, and means the consumption of far more fuel and oil and more tyre wear. The present-day charges for hiring transport are not greatly in excess of the actual total costs and; if the peak-load periods are of short duration and do not occur very often, it is highly probable that a considerable .saving may be effected if the additional loads are accounted for in this manner. Additionally, it is not always realized that at a ,pinch, a light van can do almost as much wort as a heavy lorry owing to its greater speed, but its qualities in this direction depend entirely upon whether the extra loads may be split up into those suitable to its capacity, for, if underloa ding is bad, overloading is infinitely worse.
The Importance of Running Balance.
HE CORRECT balancing of all rapidly moving parts on a motor vehicle is of the utmost importance if smooth running' is to be secured, and the higher the average speed ofthe vehicle, the more does this factbecome apparent, for in some. cases comparatively smooth. running is obtained up to, say, 12 m.p.h., whilst above that speed most
objectionable vibrations set in. •
With coaches which travel Eit higher average speeds than goods vehicles the matter becomes of even greater consequence, not only from the point of view of safety and long life, but also from that of the comfort of the passengers. Many coaches, particularlythe smaller types, travel at speeds almost equal to those of the average private cars, but we are afraid that in few cases is the same care paid to the vital necessity for the utmost accuracy in balancing not only the engine details, but all other rotating parts. Even if all the important parts be balanced statically this is not always sufficient, for miming balance is quite a different thing, and may be the cause of vibrations and stresses almost, if not quite; as serious as the former. The flywheel is perhaps the component which requires the most attention in this respect ; it is uSuaIly fairly heavy, and has a rim velocity greater than that of any other part. Now, a flywheel may be so balanced that, when placed between centres, it appears perfect and yet be considerably out of balance "diagonally." That is to say,if a line could be drawn through 'the neutral point at the centre and at right angles to the crankshaft, in one-half of the flywheel the centre of. gravity for that half would be at one side of the line, whilst in the other half it would be at the other side, so that there would be a tendency for the flywheel to wobble under the effects of centrifugal force immediately it commenced to rotate, the stresses thus set up being directly proportional to the unbalanced weight, and proportional to the square of the speed. At low speeds this wobble effect may not be serious, but when the speed becomes considerable it throws stresses of considerable magnitude on the crankshaft and its bearings, which may quite conceivably be the cause of mysterious fractures. Other, components which require most careful .balancing are the clutch and propeller shaft, both of which revolve at engine speed, except, in the case of the latter, when a tow gear is employed.