LONDON TRAFFIC

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7450, 26 May 1911, Page 6

LONDON TRAFFIC

A MILLION PASSENGERS A DAY. FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. LONDON, April 13. Sis years have passed since the first motor-bus , appeared on the ' London streets—a rattling, .lumbering malodorous vehicle. Every year has seen an lm« s provemont in the type and an increase m the number, and now one company alone, the London General Omnibus Company, has about 900 motor-buses plyin? for hire and another 500 building. When, the Coronation traffic is in full swing this company hope to have something like 1400 motor-buses to meet the demands. Estimates show' that ' this “fleet” will carry about 1,190,000 passengers daily. Officially verified figures \how that in tihe year 1901, when horses did the work, the 'General Omnibus Company carried no fewer than 220,000,000 passengers. The later estimate of the carrying-power, of existing and prospective Y motbT r buses indicates the enormous ./aggregate of- over 400,000,000 per annum; ' In other words, where seven years agp one person, journeved by horse' bus, two now journey by motor-bus. Tubes and underground railways notwithstanding.; Horse-drawn buses are still useful for linking up various services* but their number has decreased enormously since the advent o£-' the motor-bus. At one tiine the General Omnibus Company alone had no fewer th'an 17,000 horses in their stables. Now they have only about 2300. Soon even this' small number will • diminish, when the new motor-fleet is ready for the road. Hitherto the War ; Office has relied largely upon the London : 'bus horses for a supply of seasoned animals to Army use, but the rapid re- ) Auction in the number of horses on the } London streets indicate that the War | Office will have to Jook elsewhere in the (future to, satisfy public requirements. . One of-the principal'results of the perfecting of the motor-bus has. been ‘the (extension of‘the routes. On week-days , ore of .'the “General'' services starts from Ealing rin the extreme west apd passes through Shepherd's Bush, Oxford street, and the city to East Ham, a matter of seventeen miles. The fare is 6d;ail tie v. av. On Sundays the eastern terminus is Hippleside, three, miles further-afield. Another line of motors runs from -Putney to Wanstead, and fet another r from Willesdongreen. to Seven Kings—each' of them sixteen miles or over, with a maximum fare of 6d. With the advent of j noiv vehicles fresh occasional are/ to be opened up. On Sundays and bank / holidays, for instance, 'buses are to pljf between the Elephant and Castle arf Warren Wood House, Epping right up to the famous CoanauAt Waters.