MODERN TRANSPORT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 122, 27 May 1925, Page 5

MODERN TRANSPORT

COMING OF MOTOR BUS

ITS SCOPE IN CITY TRAFFIC

FURTHER FACTS AND FIGURES.

(By "Autos.")

Interest in the difficult problem of city transport is evinced by a number of letters received containing information and inquiries relative to an article on the subject, which appeared in the "Evening Post" of Thursday last, reviewing a work by Mr. K. G. Fenelon, on "The Economics of Road Transport." On a question so debatable as the proper place of the various methods of modern road transport in the great task of moving the people of cities to and from their work and about their business, it is natural that there should be considerable difference of opinion, and that the facts, figures, and conclusions eveu of authorities like Mr. Fenelon should be canvassed and challenged. Such interest in the subject is by no means to be deprecated; one feels sure that the high officials of i the city in charge of transport operations and members of the City Council themselves will welcome the fullest discussion, and all possible fresh material bearing on the topic with the idea of forming a definite pubic opinion without which the authorities in democratic municipal government will always be more .or less handicapped in laying down and carrying out a definite policy in any direction. What follows is a summary of the recent contributions mentioned at the outset. LONDON FIGURES

First, in regard to Mr. Fenelon's statement as to the part pla.yed by motor buses in London's city transport, based on the figures for 1922, showing that the buses, L.G.O.C. and others, carried less than a third of the total passengers on all London's public transport systems —trams, trains, and tubes—a correspondent, M. Driver, quotes later statistics, giving chapter and verse as follow:— . Lord'-Ashfield (chairman), at the annual meeting of the London General Omnibus Company, which controls the London tube railways, stated that, in 1924, the aggregate number of passengers carried by all the concerns under the'control of the combine was 1,457,000,000, an increase of 111 millions or 8 per cent., as compared'with 1923.

The whole of ■ the increased traffic had fallen to the share of the omnibuses, and in addition over seven millions of passengers gained by the buses

had been lost to the railways.

The total number of passengers carried by L.G.O.C. buses in 1924 was 1,158,411,377, an increase of 118,475,655 over the preceding year. The daily average number of passengers carried rose by .433,605. The number of raptor buses licensed in London of 28th' February, last was 5474, of which 4259 belonged to the L.G.O.C; an increase of nearly 400. over the number for the preceding year. NEW BUSES FOR OLD TRAMS On the questlbn'of substitutions of ex-,' isting tramway systems, the same }cor-! respondent, quoting mainly from -"Motor Traction,", contributes the ■ following. j .'items:— ''"' - /■■ ••:•-.■ - "-:---; i

The city 6i Worcester has decided; practically, unanimously' to scrap its 'tramways'and substitute buses when the' tramway lease expires.

The Oldham Corporation is seeking Parliamentary powers to run trolley buses in the borough and motor liuses in and out of the borough. '•■ Glasgow has introduced motor bus services to open, up districts not served by trams. ' .' ' .

The Wolverhampton Corporation is Jikely to seek Parliamentary powers to provide for the conversion of its tramways to the trolley bus system. Alderman Craddock, chairman of tho Wolverhampton Tramway Committee, said that the introduction of the trolley bus had been the salvation of tho whole position. Had it been necessary to put down another tramway track from the Wolverhampton boundary to Dudley, the expenditure could not have been faced because of the existing debt on the undertaking.

Similar extracts are given to show the success of motor bus and trolley bus transport in other cities like York; Plymouth, Liverpool, Hull, Walsall, and West Hartlepool. Decreasing receipts , from Bristol tramways are also noted. ; It seems only fair to state here that Britain was one of the pioneers in electric tramway traction, when there was no alternative method of transport available. At the time these systems were laid down, capital costs were much lower than to-day and wages and other items bulked much . smaller. The life of a tramway system is from 20 to 25 years, after which extensive renewals are necessary. Unless provision has been made during the comparatively "fat" years for depreciation and amortisation, it is quite clear that in many cases, where towns are stationary or even declining owing to "lean" years of bad trade and unemployment, and traffic is on the downgrade, it will be impossible to restore electric tramways on an economic basis._ The case of the Galsgow Corporation which has paid for its tramways put of profits is, of course, different. ("Autos.") PROGRESS IN AMERICA From another and regular correspondent, "D," comes an interesting story of • the extraordinary development and progress of the motor-bus in- America. . "A few years back,' he says, -'there -was strong opposition in America by the railway and tramway authorities to the advent of the motor-bus on the ground that the motor-bus was a competitor that meant ruination to their transport ■and passenger-carrying corporations. They openly' fought the motor-bus, and combined forces to keep it off the road. But tho American public demanded the motor-bus, and the result has been that during the past two years there has been a complete reversal of attitude. To-day the leading cities and transport corporations of U.S.A. have a true appreciation of the value of the pneumatic-shod motor-bus, and a new and broader vision of the future of such transport, the motor-bus being viewed not as a competitor of rail and tram transportation systems, but as valuable adjuncts and auxiliaries thereto, and to-day" these corporations who in the past fought the motor-bus_ are using large numbers of these velncles to enlarge their own pas-senger-carrying businesses. They are laying down no new rails—whero motorbuses can serve—using instead pneu-matic-tired buses and motor-trucks as feeders to their systems. The result has been a remarkable development in the use of buses and trucks for transport purposes. r RUN ON PNEJJMATICS

There are now 173 tramway companies using' over 3000 buses, as' against 100 companies working 750 buses the previous year. 'Furthermore, there were

174 railroads \isin£ motor-bus and track service at the beginning of 1925. Statistics compiled in. America disclose the fact that 2,500,000 bus miles were travelled in 1924, an average,"of 500,000 miles a day, and huge as these figures are it is predicted that they will be nearly doubled this year, representing billions of passengers. There are now in -use over 53,000 pneumatic-tired buses, and provision.is being made for a further 20,000 being placed on the roads this year. It is significant that .out of the 12,500 new buses made in 1921 one-fourth of them were bought and operated by tramway companies, and indications are that onethird of the 1925 output of these vehicles will be used as auxiliaries to city and interurban electric railway systems.

"It will surprise those who oppose tho motor-bus in this country to learn that, no fewer than 13,037 American schools have one or more buses, and that number is being added to rapidly. "The daily mileage of the American bus systems" ranges from 120 to 200 miles, and the average life per bus is in the region of 300,000 miles. The cost per-ve-hicle, averages about £l 00 0? but many of tho Pullman type of vehicles cost up wards of.'£2ooo. In some of the States, buses run on routes extending to 500 miles, and even a 1000 miles in a. few instances, a sleeper bus having been designed and made for. tho long-distance runs. It is worthy of note that some of the interurban lines and railroads are not only using motor buses as auxiliaries to their systems, but are running huses in direct competition to their own lines. In all directions American railway aiid tramway companies are ceasing extending- lines and are' installing bus systems to fill the gaps. The motor-bus has won its battle in America. In conclusion, attention might bo drawn to the fact that 6071 miles of nsw concrete roads were laid down in America duiing 1924, making in all a total of 32,000 miles of concrete roads in that country."