Oops ! A Drop Too Much
Page 66
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THE November 2 issue of The Commercial !dolor is very -I' interesting, especially the municipal bus analysis. But please let us have accuracy; some of the main municipal fleets are left out. Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, and Burnley, Caine and Nelson are all missing. I feel that there must have been some mistake in omitting these, especially Birmingham's 1,700-odd buses, as Mr. Townsin is usually very accurate.
Idle, Bradford. HAROLD BREARLEY.
Query on Orders
JWONDER if I might be permitted to point out one or two comparatively minor errors in connection with Mr. Townsin's otherwise excellent survey of the municipal bus fleets contained in your issue of November 1 The figure quoted for the number of Daimler Fleetlines on order and due for delivery by, or soon after, September 1, 1963, is a little inaccurate. Mr. Townsin appears to have overlooked the two Fleetlines for Salford Corporation(which, presumably, had not entered service at the time the survey was compiled as they are not included in this operator's fleet); and Walsall, in actual fact, have 15 Fleetlines on order (including the Show vehicle), not one as quoted. This would thus amend the total ordered to 339 and would agree with my records.
Although Mr. Townsin makes the point that he has only included in his bus order figures vehicles scheduled for delivery in 1963, it is interesting to reflect that, had he included all vehicles on order on September 1, 1962, irrespective of delivery date, the Daimler Fleetline would be well ahead in the popularity stakes compared with its rival, the Leyland Atiaritean. The recent massive contract from Birmingham Corporation for 300 Fleetlines would bring the total number of this model on order by municipal operators to around the 540 mark—an impressive figure for a chassis that has only been on the market for two years.
Mr. Townsin should, however, be congratulated on a thoroughly engrossing article. It is evident that he has done a considerable amount of research and I for one hope that this regular and unique annual survey of municipal passenger vehicles continues for a long time with Mr. Townsin at the helm!
Sanderstead, Surrey. R. D. HYSLOP.
[The heading used. for the municipal bus fleet analysis was "A Slight Drop ". This proved to be uncomfortably appropriate, and we apologize for the unintentional omission of the eight entries reproduced below. This was most unfortunate, but luckily it does not affect any of the figures in the tables which summarized current fleets or vehicles on order, as these included the buses and trolleybuses listed herewith.
In answer to Mr. Hyslop and others who wrote along similar lines, two aspects of the analysis of vehicles on order have to be borne in mind. One is that the figures quoted are based on information supplied by the various municipalities. A possible explanation of some of the slight discrepancies may be that orders were not actually confirmed on September 1, and in other eases that vehicles were delivered but had not actually been officially taken into stock.
I attempted to confine the figures for vehicles on order to those due for delivery during the year ended September 1, 1963. This proved to be very difficult, as some municipalities order for delivery during their financial years (which themselves vary from undertaking to undertaking) and others for delivery during the calendar year. These did not really " fit " the yardstick I had set, and it was necessary to make individual decisions as to whether they should be included or not.
These will inevitably prove to be inaccurate in certain cases, but I was anxious to give as balanced a picture of the choice of models currently favoured by municipalities as possible. I felt that a large order for one model with delivery spread over, say, three years could disturb the balance unfairly. One has to bear in mind that another undertaking of equal size may order just as many buses of another make over the same period, but may prefer to do so on an annual basis. This does not detract from the interesting point about the popularity of the Daimler Fleetline, made in the third paragraph of Mr. Hyslop's letter, which results from considering the matter from another direction.
I am also indebted to Mr. R. Le Fevre, general manager and engineer of Halifax Passenger Transport Department, for pointing out that the current Halifax fleet total is 169 and not as given. He also states that 10 Albion Nimbus single-deckers for delivery in 1963-64 (which I excluded from the analysis on the basis mentioned above) are, in fact, due for delivery before next September. A further eight Leyland PD2 may also be in course of delivery by then.—A.A.T.]