The Motor Omnibus on Trial. GROWING POPULARITY IN SPITE OF FAULTS. 360,000 PEOPLE CARRIED DAILY IN LONDON.

Progress, Volume II, Issue I, 1 November 1906, Page 16

The Motor Omnibus on Trial. GROWING POPULARITY IN SPITE OF FAULTS. 360,000 PEOPLE CARRIED DAILY IN LONDON.

The motor omnibus of to-day, speedy, cheap convenient, the supplanter of the old horse omnibus and the tramway car, the serious rival of the suburban train, is on trial for incidental faults before 'its tens of thousands of admirers People go on using it while they criticise, but they ask that its lessening noise shall entirely disappear, that its evil smelling vapours shall be seen and smelt no more that its comparative safety shall be made safer. The motor omnibus has in a little more than one year made itself indispensable to London ; London now asks that it shall make itself agreeable as well as swift and cheap. The terrible disaster to the motor omnibus on Handcross Hill recently shook the nerves of Londoners a little, and for a few days there were fewer passengers on the motor omnibuses in the streets. But an isolated accident, shocking as it may be, was not sufficient to frighten permanently the people who have found the vehicles of such value. A striking effect of the Handcross tragedy has been the caution and exceeding care which the drivers of the motor omnibuses have since been showing.

Action by the Police. Noise and smell are two of the complaints against the motor omnibus which the Chief Commissioner of Police is giving his immediate attention, and a Select Committee of the House of

Commons is considering regulations which he has drawn up. Meanwhile, the authorities are well aware that the manufacturers fully appreciate the shortcomings of the present type of omnibus, and will be able before long to place in the streets vehicles much less noisy and better fitted in all respects for traffic. Despite these incidental evils it is agreed on all sides that the motor omnibus is destined to play a large part in the evolution of London. The new London will be an ever-widening circle, stretching far into the country, the central parts being reserved more and more for the day work of the hundreds of thousands who live on the fringes, and travel backwards and forwards night and morning. The quicker and the cheaper the means of locomotion between the suburbs and the working centre of London the better it will be for the workers They will be able to live further afield in fiesher air, will have better houses, and will pay less for them.

Suburbs Nearer. Some of the outlying suburbs have hitherto been almost impossible as places of residence for thousands of workers, because of inaccessibility. The daily fares by tram were also often a heavy item in a humble household Now, however, the handicap of time and expense is being minimised by the motor omnibus" " The new vehicle," said Mr Duff, the manager of the Road Car Company, " will add two miles to the London omnibus radius" 'lhat is to say that, assuming the present omnibus radius from Charing Cross to be roughly from four to five miles, it will become by the use of the motor omnibus a radius of from six to seven miles. It is obvious that new, swift and cheap locomotion to and from this vast outlying circle of London must not only afford conveniences of residence to armies of workers, but must also greatly increase the value of all property tapped by the omnibus.

360,000 Passengers Daily But these are only indications of the benefits to be conferred on outer London. At present it is calculated that the 400 motor omnibuses in London carry 360,000 passengers daily The number of vehicles will be greatly increased in the next few months. The motor-omnibus companies and the dnveis seem to have been put on their mettle by the criticisms which are being directed against them, and a very determined effort is being made to improve matters. The men are in effect driving " on honour " In reply to a question by Mr Chanmng the Home Secretary gave the following list of motoromnibus accidents m the metropolitan police district in May and June • — May. June Accidents caused by motor omnibuses . . . . 400 390 Number of accidents causing personal injury . . . . 62 .. 80 Number of accidents which . . proved fatal . . . . 2 . . 3