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Four single-deck buses compared "Dundee . ' — Daimler Flee - dine/Alexander demonstrator.
Page 48
Page 49
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Halifax—Daimler Fleetline/Winowbrook. Northern General—Leyland Panther/Marshall. Reading—Bristol RE/Pennine Coach Craft.
All these buses are built on chassis which would allow for a low floor. Only the Daimler demonstrator has taken real advantage of it, The Reading bus had the most shallow step from the road at 11 in. and the Halifax the highest at 15-kin. as measured on the stands.
The shallow, spacious entrance of the Dundee bus is a promising start but could be further improved—particularly in respect of handrails to the right of the entrance. The heights of the exit steps going down are 61, 6+ and 13in. The very slight ramping on this bus is so well done that it is likely to cause little trouble although Daimler claim that a perfectly level floor is possible.
The Marshall Camair bus for Northern General includes useful stanchions midway along the inward facing bench seats but from this point there is a gap of 48in. on the left and 64in, on the right to the next holds up the saloon. The exit would be improved by the addition of a similar handrail to that at the right of the entrance especially in view of the dangerous middle step which narrows at one side to a tread of 41in. from 14in. over a width of 39in. in order to accommodate the door.
Many handrails
No one can accuse the Reading operators of disregarding handrails as they abound in this bus. The central exit rail illustrates one of the points made in the introduction, Whether it is necessary to have a floor to ceiling rail to the lowest exit step may be debated and it will be interesting to see how popular this is in practice. The arrangement of rails is marred at the entrance by a long reach of 33in. to the nearest internal rail.
The steps on the Halifax bus were among the highest in the Show, spoiling a spacious entrance. It is a pity that the excellent system of handrails seen on the Halifax bus in 1966 is omitted here—they are needed—and that advantage was not taken of the low chassis. Once inside there is good access to seats.