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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 20 June 1911, Page 4

THE now omnibuses which have com-e into the L-ondon, streets ■durin.g the past year appear, when compared with the wisfLnal on-es, as .n'oiseless. and. a-lmaosi as com for tal>!>3 as miottir ca-ra, says a. recent London letter. To-day it is rare to see a motor "bus thi-own out of aeticin i.nt the streets, while the c.ust of runn.inig has withiji six months beem reduced by oinehalf. This is due. in some part to :;m----jirovements: in construction', but in the main to the fa,ill in the price of -petrol. The im-mcd.iate .result of these. imiprov-C'd ocind it kins wa.s the suidden ris'O in the price of General. 'Omnibus shares from £l4 to £l3O. Fat fortunes have been made out of shares while they made this as-cent. But at the moment when directors ,ar.'d sharehold-ers 'we-re eon.g ratal'.'a ting therniseh-e-s npon ha-vi-ng esca,]s'ed from their long season of trouble, ,a new Omnibus Gompainy in London was -announced. Is is taken for granted that such well-known firms as Daimler -aind the B.S.A. would mot be coming into direct competition with the

existing omnibuses unless they h-ad a vehicle very superior to anything seen i::p to the present upon the London streets. Thus it is not .surprising that tlw> General Omnibus shares f-e-'.l froan their rise to £l3O to below £9O. Within: tho next- few mouths we shall probably see th.e new company in hot competition w i till the old'. Already the be"wiidermcnt of Loiwlon's traffic ha,s been dioublcd iby tlio 'p-nesenee, of the groat aii'd swift -oiTOiiibiij'Os, a.nd 1 .wlifn their number i« iiw>mt®e.d bv 50 per cent., as if is ffretty ce.rta-iu they wii'l be, for & trm-e at least, i-h-e tho-roughfares wila reach a, climax in confusion. thte public smiles, concludies t-he correfcip'ond'ent. for the natural outcome .of tfib) t fares.