MOTOR-BUS TALLY.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20789, 24 February 1933, Page 6

MOTOR-BUS TALLY.

.522 IN USE IN NEW ZEALAND. .13 DIFFERENT MAKES. Although the New Zealand register of motor vehicles shows a tally of 1204 omnibuses, an analysis of the registrations made by the New Zealand Motor Trade Association shows that less than half this number are omnibuses as understood by the general public. The legal definition of a motor-bus is "a vehicle designed solely or principally for the carriage of persons exceeding nine in number," Such a definition naturally embraces a large number of service cars and motor-coaches. If these arc deducted from the official total there are only 522 bona fide motor-buses in the Dominion. Ownership of this number is shared as follows: — No. of Owners, buses. Private owners .. 102 373 Local bodies . . • • 10 101 Railway Department .. 1 48 113 522 This analysis shows that private firms and individual owners operate more than 71 per cent, of the buses in service, local bodies about 20 per cent., and the Railway Department about 9 per cent, of the 522 buses, 309 are in the North Island, and the passenger capacity of the various vehicles ranges from 12 to 52. Double-deck buses, used ao extensively in England, have not made their appearance in New Zealand. Tho buses in use in New Zealand cover 43 different makes, and the most popular make has 82 vehicles on the road. British makes, representing 12 different English factories, total 123 vehicles. American buses of 27 different makes aggregate 370. There are 26 Belgian buses in use, all being of tho same make. French, German, and Italian makes arc represented by one bus each.