SUGGESTED 'BUS SERVICE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 77, 14 March 1912, Page 5

SUGGESTED 'BUS SERVICE.

MR. BLACK'S REPORT. THE ’BUS CONDEMNED. Mr. Black reported as follows to the Napier Borough Council last night. In accordance with the council’s directions I have considered Mr. J. B. Fielder’s letter of February 19th, and have to report as follows : — Though no particular system of transit is even suggested by Mi. Fielder as being more up to date’ than electric tramways. I understand that what he and some other ratepayers have in mind is a petrol bus system. 1 propose therefore to deal with thi~. type of ti action, and fori the nib imi'iuin of the council to add | some icmaiks upon the trackless) trollev system. I By way ot preface I wish to state | that ail s.stems <t public -e'rice! traction have had my attent.on and study dii’.ng the last iouiteer y<>a.s I have followed the development cf the motor 'bus since the days of the Clarkson steam vehicle to the piesent time, and have leeeived direct from the makeis thawings, specifications, piives and actual i mining costs fot srvcial of the best tvpes of bus, all sent at m\ iequest in concspondence with the makers concerned. Within the last month I have received from Home several particulars of the Tilling-Stevens fiiotor-’bus —the latest type placed on the London streets. My views on the capabilities of the motor ’bus are therefore based upo* some knowledge of the subject. The motor ’bus as it exists to-day depends for its success absolutely upon the provision of first-class paved roads—either Neuchatel or wool blocking being essential. The results of operating over any othei kind of road are excessive i tinning and maintenance charges to the bu> proprietors and excessive cost of road repairs to the local authority Several English C’ountv Uoum ds have suffered so much in the latter respect that they recently combined to ask for legislation that will relieve them of a burden that has become intolerable. In London and other large cities the streets are all paved and the motor ’bus is therefore practicable, so far as this matter is concerned. In New Zealand where macadamised roads are, as a rule, the best that can be afforded, two towns at least have tried motor ’bus services and lost every penny invested in them. In Devonpcrt the Chelmsford ’bus failed to withstand the influences cf good but unpaved roads, and much more recently a service in Timaru, where the roads are as good as any in New Zealand, has ended disastrously and the ’buses have been turned out to rot and rust in a field. It may be urged that later and better types of ’bus are now available. This is true, but the latest und best of them all is not one whit better or more capable of withstanding injury when the trouble encountered is the never ceasing vibration caused by uneven load surfaces. It is frequently assumed that the successful development of motor ears is a sufficient indication of the probable success of motor 'buses on ordinaryroads. A few words will explain why this is far from the truth and at the same time make clear the reason for the failure of the motor ’bus in so many instances. A motor car carries say five people and with its load mayweigh a ton or ton and a half. It is mounted on the best anti-vibration device yet invented, the pneumatic tyre. The weight on each wheel is but a few hundredweight, consequently the stresses and strains set up are not excessive and are to a large extent absorbed by the tyres, so that they do not reach the engines. The motor ’bus however must carry 20 to 25 people if it is to earn a revenue that will pay for bare running expenses. With its load it weight from 5 to 6 tons, but all of this is carried on font wheels —no more than the motor car has got—and the lead pei wheel instead cf being a tew hundredweight is about II ton 1- PneLimati* tvres have worn out so fast when tried on buses that it is impossible c; .ise them and solid rubbers are employed. Tnc result ’s that the stresses and stiam set up are tho-e due co a load pci wheel four or five times gie.nei t..an occur-, on a motor ear. and the-e a'c t..inU mitted wholly to the engine, since the solid tvres absorb very hide cf the shock. It matters little what improvements are made in motor ’buses if petrol engines are ictained and macadamised reads are run over; the road will always defeat the ’bus though it suffer itself in doing so. A matter invariably disregarded by many people who quote examples of successful services is that these are not motor bus, but motor car institutions. There is a great difference —the difference between success and failure—in the cases of motor cars conveying a limited number of people to and from Mount Cook or over the four lakes trip at Rotorua and the motor bus running within the boundaries-of a town, stopping every few hundred yards of its journeys and earning a revenue made up of pennies. The motor car service with its few passengers, long runs and revenue earned in pounds has nothing in common with the motor bus. The council will not have any difficulty, I think, in realising that no form of motor bus could safely be W’ s ed on the hill roads in the borough. < The side slip and skidding which oc- ' curs on level roads both when verydry and when wet would be greatlyintensified on the steep roads of Scinde Island. I do not hesitate to say that no engineer with any sense of his responsibilities would for a moment propose to use motor buses of the size and weight mentioned in this report on such roads as that over Shakespeare Hill. It would be idle to suggest the use of smaller and lighter buses, since their revenue earning capacity would be far too limited. The claim made that motor buses enable a route to be tested is the exact reverse of fact. The public having no guarantiee that any route adopted will be permanently vvork-

ed, will not adjust itself to the service as in the case of a tramway. On routes outside a town land will not be taken up nor residences built until there can be some assurance of a service that will be permanent. With regard to the trackless trolley system, this is not in any sense a tramway. The cars do not differ from the motor bus except that their power is obtained from an external source, viz., the power station. It is the absence of the petrol engine and the speed change gearing that enables the trackless trolley car to operate on macadamised roads with success. The electric motor which propels it has only one moving part, and consequently the maintenance cost is not large. The trackless trolley bus is just as liable to side slip and skidding as the motor bus, and equally unsuitable for hill working. In England the system has been adopted in Leeds and Bradford for outlying routes, and it is proposed to install it in a number of other tovv ns to serve as a feeder system to the tramways. In France and in Germany several trackless systems have been in operation for a number of years, chiefly in rural districts. At the present time there is not a great deal of experience available upon the financial results 'of operation. With these particulars before them the council will, I trust, be placed in a position to deal with the question raised in Mr. Fielder’s letter. Mr. Black handed round a photo of a motor bus which had been discarded at Timaru as it was found to be useless. In answer to Cr. Niven, Mr. Black said that this bus was in use about five years ago. Cr. Niven said that five years ago the motor buses -were a failure in London, but now they were not. A vote of thanks to Mr. Black for attending concluded the meeting.