BUS VERSUS TRAM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 25 (Supplement)

BUS VERSUS TRAM

AN AMERICAN VIEW. The opinion that fixed rail transportation will ultimately disappear from city and suburban areas is expressed by Frank R. Fageol, the well-konwn American omnibus expert, in an article in the San Francisco Examiner. Hf considers thnt it will take twenty years to make an appreciable change. Referring to relative running costs, hp says: “Our experience teaches us that the actual direct cost per mile of operating a modern bus of large seating capacity is about the same as the direct cost of operating an electric car. But since there is a difference in the total investment per transportation unit between the modern bus and the street car of about 1 to 24 (a bus unit with all garage and service equipment costs about £2BOO. as against about £7OOO for a street car unit, including tracks, overhead, etc.), there is necessarily a difference in interest charges and amortisation anywhre from 2d to 34d per mile in favour of the motorbus. Therefore, if our present large transportation companies will, when a considerable portion of any piece of track needs replacing or repaving, replace that entire line with modern buses, using the good cars removed on remaining trunk lines of the system, and then use this saving of 2d to per mile as a. sinking fund, we feel that practically the entire street car investment can bo amortised and returned to the owners in a period of 15 to 20 years. “Regarding inter urban bus service, it is apparent that the modern large capacity motor-coach is going to play a very large part as a practical substitute for the majority of fixed rail local transportation lines between cities, perhaps even up to distances of 200 to 300 miles. To-day, with large, modern buses, it is possible to profitably operate a bus line when there is a fair density of traffic at an average fare of Id per bus mile. Eventually, if the present situation is any criterion, most inter-urban fares are going to settle down and around this figure.” Failure to put a lock-nut on the tire valve stem will cause the valve stem to pull out of the tube, ruining the tube.