MODERN TOURIST BUS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25994, 23 December 1949, Page 8

MODERN TOURIST BUS

USE IN MILFORD , SOUND AREA PERSPEX ROOF FOR SIGHTSEEING From Our Own Reporter GREYMOUTH, December 22. One of the most modern tourist buses in New Zealand arrived at Greymouth yesterday afternoon, when it was unloaded from the Poolta, which brought a consignment of cargo from Wellington. Provided with a perspex roof enabling passengers to have a continuous uninterrupted view of mountain scenery, the bus is not for the West Coast, however, and has now left for the Milford Sound area. During the two seasons since the Milford hostel was reopened, a sevenseater bus has met the needs of tourists, but there has been a further expansion of the tourist trade at Milford this year and the larger bus is required urgently. Specially designed for the area, with a four-wheel drive to cope with the rough country there, the bus has a tunnel gauge in front to assist the driver when negotiating the small Homer tunnel. This gauge is a square frame of tubular steel, showing the driver what clearance the bus would have in the tunnel. The perspex’roof is* one of the latest features for tourist buses, and will be particularly valuable in the Milford area, where lofty bush-clad peaks are part of the rugged beauty of the . drive. Hundreds of people visited Milford last year and this season the interest in the area is even greater, it is reported. The fact that the port at Greymouth is open longer than usual this Christmas—it usually closes shortly alter the start of the holidays at the coal mines, which provide almost the whole of the exports—has made it possible to get the new bus to Milford in time for the peak tourist traffic. Almost as soon as it was discharged from the ship yesterday, it Was taken over by the N.Z. Railways Road Services and driven immediately to Oamaru on the first stage of its trip to Milford.