’BUSES PREFERRED

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11785, 22 March 1924, Page 13

’BUSES PREFERRED

-TUBES LESS POPULAR. LONDON, February 22. Londoners are showing a preference for ’buses over tubes and trams. Lord Ashfield, chairman of the tube railway combine, with which the largest ’bus company is associated, directs attention to this new development, which is increasing tho vehicular congestion in the streets. The tubes, built at on enormous cost, are not fulfilling their natural function of relieving the congestion on the surface. The ’buses in 1923 carried 193,000,000 more passengers than in 1922. The tubes carried 20,000,000 less, and the trams 3,000,000- less. Lord Ashfield predicts a further increase in ’bus traffic in the summer owing to intensified competition. London traffic before the war averaged from eight to nine miles an hour. It now averages from four to five, through ttio congestion. London’s traffic, once the fastest in the world, is now the slowest.