NEW TYPE OF BUS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19812, 14 December 1938, Page 4

NEW TYPE OF BUS

MUNICIPAL PURCHASE

TRAMOAR APPEARANCE ELIMINATION OF BONNET ONE OF FIRST IN N.Z. A new type of bus, unusual in design and appearance, is expected to be in the municipal service before Christmas. By the elimination of the bonnet, the bus resembles a tramcar in appearance, while another feature will ne that passengers will enter and make their exit from the bus by different doors. This will be one of the first of its type in New Zealand. The model is in universal use in the United States ,«nd in some -other countries, but only ,i few of thus design have made their HPpearance in New Zealand, the East-iNHirnt-Wcllington run being one of the few where the style has been adopted in this country. Two buses of this type are on order, and the first is expected within a few days. This will be in service for a short period before the second is completed, so that any alterations found necessary can be incorporated in the second one.

Twenty-Three Passengers

The new buses will seat 23 passengers, compared with a capacity of 19 in the old style at present in service. They are of the forward control type, tTre 'chief advantage being that for a given number of seats the bus is considerably shorter and c;m be turned and driven through the traffic with greater ease. The engine is mounted under an insulated" cover in the fore part, eliminating the conventional bonnet, and the driver is seated above i?ie engine. One of the problems facing the municipal service in Gisborne is the shortness of the routes and ihe ire quency of stops, and the bus manager, Mr. K. G. Bail, when explaining the new features, stated that to meet this position the new buses had been fitted with two doors, one for the loading of passengers and the other for unloading. This was almost universal practice in city .areas abroad. The unloading door was placed at the rear, and was operated by a vacuum control cylinder with adequate safety devices incorporated. Such a system made better loading and unloading possible, and was expected to reduce the delays that were an annoying feature of routes with many stops. The buses were petrol-driven, Mr. Ball explained, as it was considered that in Gisborne there were far tor many stops and the distances were too short lor the Diesel engine, which was not at its best under such conditions. Silence and comfort had been studied in the construction of the new buses. The colour scheme used was the same as with the present buses, but<the arrangement was different and in keeping with modern ideas. A shorter wheel -base than in the old buses was designed to provide easier turning in the streets. The wheel-base of the new buses was 13ft. 6in., compared with 15ft. in the older type at present in use in Gisborne.