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Close watch kept on Dundee buses
Page 72
Page 73
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Tayside Regional Transporf is comprehensively monitoring the performances of four additions to its bus fleet, Noel Millier tells us exactly how the scheme works,
IBLE-DECKER buses cost a t deal of money and public ;port is a vital part of cornity life. Public spending is controlled and restricted, the total financial and -ational performance of s is critically important to vtain an adequate public ;port service and to protect ture.
(ith these facts in mind, CM, ther with Tayside Regional
isport, are closely ;Wring the performance of double-deck buses in DunThe purpose of the Tayside Jation is to calculate the ing costs of each vehicle, ig into consideration the I cost of each bus. Details of ery time, fuel and oil con)tion, brake and tyre life, changes and replacement downtime and spare-part ability will be recorded.
addition, the opinions and ons of all concerned with s — maintenance staff, bus 3ngers and crews — will be ht. Bus-drivers' reports and number of times maintenstaff are called out to each ..;le will also be carefully tored.
indee is a tough operating Dry for vehicles; with many high scheduled operating ds and heavy passenger the findings should be of 3st to every bus operator, indeed passenger, in the try.
le fleet size of a bus operais controlled by vehicle ability, as this factor de; the number of spare les that will be required to ite a full scheduled service. Joint will not be neglected evaluation.
;vironmental aspects will e neglected either. Factors such as noise levels and smoke emissions will be examined.
It was originally hoped to start the evaluation during the spring, but the late delivery of buses meant that only one of the "candidates" could be considered. The others were delivered by the autumn.
The buses involved in the survey are a standard British Volvo B55 fitted with an SCG fully automatic gearbox with CAV511 control, a Volvo B55 with Voith D851 transmission, an MCW Metrobus, and a Dennis Dominator.
The Volvos are both fitted with Walter Alexander bodywork and the Dennis has an East Lancashire body. The Metrobus has an MCW body.
It was originally intended to include a Leyland Titan in the exercise, and a vehicle was ordered for delivery at the same time as the other prototypes. Unfortunately the bus was never delivered, although a demonstration vehicle has been in service in Dundee.
Each bus carries posters inside stating that the vehicle is being evaluated with the object of finding the most suitable vehicle for the area in the future.
The standard specification Volvo B55 has been in service since the spring, and its performance to date has been recorded and will continue to be recorded until the vehicle has completed one year in service.
The other three buses have now entered service on Tayside routes 15 and 17 where their performances can be directly compared. These two routes run in conjunction between Menzieshill and Whitfield in Dundee, include steep gradients, and respectively are over 3 miles and 6 miles long.
The phasing out of bus grant emphasises the need for opera-. tors to be particularly selective in new fleet purchases to ensure that while buses provide a viable service to ensure that passengers do" not turn to an alternative form of transparent,
hey are also the most efficient ossible in a hard business ense.
The Tayside evaluation, as ell as deciding the composiion of the future Dundee bus leet will, for the first time, make ublicly known the costs of wning and operating Britain's new generation of buses.
It has already shown that with some of the vehicles, delivery times suit the manufacturers rather than the operator, but it is to be hoped that the buses at least will provide reliable transport for the people of Dundee.
Tayside Regional Council policy had previously been to compare two makes of bus, and a previous evaluation had showed that an Ailsa was more suitable for local conditions than a Bristol VRT.
The Ailsa, which is now known as the Volvo B55, became the standard bus for Dundee and is currently being ordered with Alexander or Northern Counties bodywork. Five Dennis Dominators have also been ordered as alternatives, although the final fleet requirement is expected to be decided as a result of the vehicle evaluation.
The Tayside Regional Council Dundee city bus fleet is one of Britain's larger municipal bus undertakings, with the entire fleet being one-man operated and consisting mainly of frontentrance and centre-exit double deckers. The one-man operation is possible by the use of nochange auto-fare equipment on the buses.
While it is possible that the one bus evaluated may not perform as well as others of the same type, careful monitoring and complete appraisal is the only course open to operators who have to ensure that the final fleet chosen will prove efficient and effective for twelve to fifteen years.
Reliability and availability must remain the key to providing successful public transport, which, now more than ever before, must be justified in economic terms.
We hope to ascertain from the Dundee trials how the passenger-transport user reacts to different suspension types, interior layouts and noise levels on buses and, indeed, whether they actually do notice what model of bus they ride on.
Bus drivers have different ideas to those of designers as to the interpretation of such concepts as silence, and ease of operation. The Dundee trials will consider their views too.
Three of the buses being evaluated are fitted with the Voith fully automatic •torque converter transmission with its built-in retarder. The evaluation will compare the economics and performance of this expensive unit, and the savings in factors such as the cost of brake linings and the cost of labour neede replace them, with the use o' cheaper SCG sem i-autom gearbox with fully autom control system but no retard
CM will fully report the formance of each vehicle its year in service and from • to time during the trial.
Public reaction and ticipation will be sought It crease the general awarene the evaluation, the cost! volved in running buses, the future of bus transpo Dundee.