MOTOR BUSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19205, 23 June 1924, Page 7

MOTOR BUSES

ADAPTABILITY TO AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS. . ADVICE OF AN EXPERT. Pre»» Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. NEW YORK, June 19. In view of the discussion on transit problems in various Australian cities, especially Adelaide and Melbourne, with reference to the practicability of motor buses, Mr R. E. Felder, general manager of tho Fifth Avenue Bus Company, and a leading American authority on this question, was interviewed. Mr Folder said: T understand that the Australian highways, especially in tho suburbs, are inferior to those of tho United States in the finish of their surfaces, but this is easily counterbalanced by their width, which assures reduced running time. The successful operation of buses depends principally upon the use of a standardised typo of vehicle and any one of a dozen reputable types is likely to give good results on the Australian roads provided that tho bus has a sufficiently long wheel base to distribute tho shocks more evenly. Tl is more important to employ a standardised type, even at the risk of tho buses being imperfectly adapted to colonial roads than to use a variety of buses of relatively higher quality. The latter require tho maintenance of a multiplicity of repair stocks, and this eats ruinously into the profits! Mixed types, moreover, necessitate the instruction of drivers to operate different buses, while employment of standard tvpes permits a driver ouickly to grow accustomed to its operation, * eventually enabling him often to make ]p s own repairs while en route, and increasing the active earning power of the vehicle ” -A. and N.Z. Cable.