Glasgow PTA delay supported
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the bus builders. Busmen, however, must accept a fair proportion of the blame. They had failed to stop experimenting with
designs there had been too much "keeping up with the Joneses--and they had played about too much with "trifling modifications".
He spoke about the "explosion" of design, the total weight of a typical double-decker having risen from eight to 16 tons, length from 26 to 33ft. and passenger carrying capacity from 50 to 100 passengers. The bus builders had been pressurized into producing designs to match this explosion.
The idea of a working party put forward by Mr Womar appealed to Mr Marcus Smith, who thought it "an excellent idea". Some efforts had already been made in this direction, he said, though he warned of domestic problems such as London Transport or other big operators wanting to retain some rights for reproducing their own ideas.
He was glad that Mr Cox had been able to report high mileages for gearboxes on Edinburgh's Atlanteans. but readily accepted that some operators were getting one-fifth of this. He conceded that there were faults in the design of standard buses, but made a plea for operators to clearly define any complaints. The rear-eneined double-decker must be made to work, he stressed, and the problem of cooling was one that must be looked at.
One explanation for the shortage of spares, claimed Mr Marcus Smith, was the introduction of productivity schemes . in many workshops, which had resulted in an 80 per cent increase in the demand for spares! Store keeping revealed a drop in demand in some cases, however, due to the keeping of stock records and increased van deliveries. He asked the delegates. -Do you know yourselves where you should go?"
The future aim of British Leyland was to sell proved engineering, he continued. First example was the new Leyland National integral single-decker on which they were carrying out a £14-m proving plan—ironing out the faults which operators had had to do in the past. He pledged that they would really tackle the rear-engined double-decker and move forward to a new double-decker chassis. "It must be a standard design—but it will be a good one", he promised.
Finally, the only real support for the single-deck bus came from Mr A. C. Barlow (St. Helens) who described how his undertaking had decided five years ago to adopt as standard a 44-seat single-deck bus with capacity for 25 standees. These buses (33ft AEC Swifts) were averaging 9.58 mpg, he said, and they were currently waiting their fifth yearly batch. Already 33 per cent of the services—carrying heavy urban traffic—were operated with these buses.
During his reply to the speakers. Mr Bailey revealed that he had applied to the MoT last October to make a change in floor height from the Ministry standards for some new buses he was buying. He had still had no reply, and was having to go ahead without approval, he said. • Glasgow Corporation's attitude towards the formation of a PTA for Greater Glasgow—that it should be delayed for four or five years until the recommendations of the Wheatley Committee on local government reform had been implemented —received support last week when representatives of 24 local authorities held a round of talks at the City Chambers. No firm resolution was made but Lord Provost Donald Liddle said that there had been a great deal of sympathy for Glasgow's attitude. While expressing no outright opposition to the concept of a PTA, most of the representatives felt that more information was needed and were concerned about the financial implications.
Pointing out that local authorities had until the end of June to make submissions to the Scottish Secretary, Mr Liddle said he hoped that a meeting with Mr Ross or one of his Ministers could be arranged before then and that all local authority representatives would be invited.