A S indicated in last week's issue, the policy underlying to-day's
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set-up of transport in Eire is co-ordination between road and rail, based on the supposition that, in most cases, rail transport is more economic over 50 miles radius, whilst up to that distance traffic is generally better sent by road. This does not mean that the customer's free choice is in any way
restricted. The passenger can still use long-distance coaches, but usually it is quicker by rail, the road service being specifically designed to provide for intermediate passengers whose needs arc not so well satisfied by the train.
So far as Dublin is concerned, Oiras Iompair Ereann regrets the continued presence of its trams and is using every effort to replace them by buses. Extension of the bus services will gradually absorb more and more convenient picking-up points, and when the trams finally
• disappear, some reshuffling of city stops may be necessary. It is to avoid congestion that the services are, in the main, planned as cross-city runs, with few terminals in the busy central streets.
660 Vehicles The total bus fleet at the time of writing numbers 660 vehicles, of which a little over half are devoted to the Dublin services and the remainder are spread through out the provinces. Something like 90 per cent. are Leylands, the remainder being chiefly of A.E.C.manufacture.
Observant visitors to Dublin can hardly fail to be impressed by the high standard of cleanliness of the city's buses. It is difficult to believe that, except for a few new 8-footers, most of the double-deckers are 8 or 10 years old, and the single-deckers 10 to 12 years.
Operating on two busy city services are the new 8-ft.
• wide Leylands, which will carry 66 passengers (plus five standing), as compared with 55 and five standing of the normal type Apart from the additional carrying capacity, the wide gangway results in an appreciable
increase in passenger comfort. Incidentally, the 66seater would appear to be the maximum size on which it is possible for a conductor to collect all fares at busy
periods. . _ . • During the war, draitic cuts bad to be made in services. The first casualty of the emergency period was the service of coach tours (then, together with the provincial buses, run by the Great Southern Railway). This wellnown. facility, which provided the visitors with anything from a half-day trip for 5s. to an extended tour A34 for, perhaps, £15, is still in abeyance, because of fuel restrictions, but may be resumed in the near future.
Despite acute difficulties, sufficient transport was provided to keep the country going. Buses were always crowded and during the first five years of the war period the number of passengers per mile was approximately doubled. On the bus services as a whole, the number of passengers in 1945 was more than 16,000,000 greater than in the previous year. How the situation developed in Dublin can be seen from the following table:—
It seems that Dublin people are coming to rely still more upon their bus services, for in the city alone buses are carrying 100,000 passengers a week more than they did a year ago, and this without any appreciable increase in the fleet. Little appears to have been done in Irish industry to stagger working hours, and Dublin's transport has to face two highly concentrated peaks, one from 8.45 a.m. to 9.20 a.m., and the other from 5.30 p.m. to 6.20 p.m. Fairly high pressure on carrying capacity. extends from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., from 12.30 p.m. to 2.36 p.m., from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and from 10.30 p.m. onwards, and only during these times are five passengers permitted to travel standing.
Back in 1939, Dublin had a tram fleet of 126 vehicles. but following upon the suspension of certain tramway services, the number fell sharply. Because of the lack of electricity for four months in 1944, all trams were off the road, and the bus fleet had to deal with a fresh influx of passengers. Various expedients were employed to ease the situation, among them being night docking of buses, which lasted for a period of three weeks. How the trams fared during the past seven years may be seen from the following figures:— Comparison between the city bus and train operations throughout the emergency period can be made by reference to the following table of passengers carried during a typical month each year —
Because of the various restrictions, mileages on the provincial services had to be cut time and again, but the number of passengers (26,500,000 in 1939) did not fall anything like proportionately. How traffic fluctuated from year to year may be seen from the figures which follow:— Despite the many curtailments of running, heavier loadings resulted n revenue being well maintained, as compared with the 1939 figures. Further increases took place for 1944-1945, but this improvement was largely counterbalanced by the heavy rise in expenditure.
C.I.E. road freight services are operated by a fleet of some 650 vehicles, chiefly of A.E.C., Bedford, Fordson and Leyland manufacture. Some 60 A.E.C. Matadors, the first of an order for 200 such vehicles, are now in use and, with the exception of eight or nine units of earlier types, are the first oil-engined goods vehicles to be used in Eire. The goods fleet is employed for door-to-door deliveries and for terminal services from the railhead. Because of the essential nature of this work, there was little restriction on petrol supply during the emergency, and, as will be noted from the following table, the operations remained steady until 1944-45, when a substantial rise took place:— Despite the volume of work, however, the goods services would appear to have been compelled to carry a large amount of traffic at uneconomic rates. For the 1945 financial year, after providing for depreciation, the road freight accounts showed .a loss amounting to over 07,000. This situation is the subject of close study by the responsible officials, with the object of redressing the balance, if possible, by some reductions in the currently heavy costs of maintenance. Apart from general goods, large quantities of livestock are carried, as will be seen from the analysis which follows:
How heavily legal responsibility for providing transport can fall on an undertaking can be visualized if one looks back some four years to the time when fuel and . spares shortages were greatly restricting the work of the private operator. Away in the sparsely populated West of Ireland, privately operated vehicles were, not unnaturally, being used to carry the profitable traffic, so that in many of the distant towns and villages the population was being starved of essential supplies.
In particular, mobile shops were ceasing to travel beyond a very limited radius and, at that time, there was nothing to replace them. In some cases they did not even deliver goods for which ration coupons had already been collected.
To deal with this situation, the Government of 'Eire, under an Emergency Powers Order, scheduled certain areas within which competitive road ,transport was temporarily suspended and the onus of organizing services placed entirely on C.I.E. To meet the special needs of the areas, the road freight section hired many vehicles, established scheduled services and organized warehouses. As a result, many country stores re-opened to assist in the distribution of the goods transported.
This scheme first applied to areas in Mayo and Galway, and was later extended to the Limerick, Clare, Kerry and Midland zones. Throughout the emergency only the G.S.R. services (as they were until the end of 1944) were operated for hire or reward within these scheduled areas. After the end of the emergency, the scheduled area restrictions were withdrawn, but because of local demand the regular road freight timetables are still being worked.
On the maintenance side, the current situation may well be summarized by saying that the successful Dublin United Transport systems are gradually being superimposed throughout the former G.S.R. services.
A great deal of assembly is performed by the C.I.E. works in the Dublin area, new chassis arriving in the knocked-down state and being built up into the finished product At present this section of the works is busy putting the new Matador machines on the road. It is also working on recent deliveries from a contract for 100 Dyson trailers, which will be used in conjunction with the new A.E.C. vehicles.
In brief, the maintenance programme provides for a fortnightly dock, with major overhauls at six-monthly or two-yearly intervals. For the purpose of the fortnightly inspection, also for the intermediate dock at six-monthly intervals, vehicles are sent to the central garage of the particular area, so that the mechanical superintendent will have opportunities for personal supervision.
In the case of the fortnightly check, a brief road test is given, whilst at six-monthly intervals reconditioned assemblies are fitted as required. For the two-yearly dock, all vehicles are moved up to the engineering headquarters in Dublin. Vehicles work loaded on their journeys between their normal stations and the repair depots.
At the engineering headquarters, careful statistics are maintained in relation to oil fuel, petrol and lubricants, calculations being made to the second place of decimals each day. Where there is any marked departure from the average for a particular route, the vehicle will be taken out of service for checking and correction.
Each week the fuel and lubricant record is prepared, analysed as to types of vehicles and subdivided into
garages. From one such record taken at random it is noted that for the week in question 341 vehicles were on service, with a total mileage of 273,133, using 28,078 gallons of oil fuel and 2731 gallons of lubricant oil, or 9.73 m.p.g. and 997.75 m.p.g., respectively. The cost of oil fuel and petrol for buses may be seenin the
Another abstract shows details of delays experienced, subdivided into garages, together with miles per breakdown and the precise cause. For the purpose of costing, records of expenditure are broken down into pence per mile per vehicle, so that the costs for individual routes and for purpose of comparison can be computed with a minimum of delay.
To ensure that engagement and employment of staff were maintained on a consistent basis, a personnel department was set up in April, 1944, with a personnel officer, who was made responsible for employment, education and training, welfare, accidents and safety. apprentices and students, and the interpretation of wage agreements. Except in certain specified trades, there is no labour shortage in Eire, and large numbers of requests for employment with C.I.E. pass through the hands of this department.
Registers are kept of applicatilans and when vacancies arise the department's special form is sent out to a number of suitable applicpts. Those desiring employment as. say, conductors, are given a brief but revealing test, which includes a paper designed to show mental -alertness, some arithmetic and .conikosition.
In view of the operation of the undertaking's compulsory pension scheme, employees are not engaged after the age of 45 years, retirement being compulsory at 65 Male employees contribute Is. per week, and, on retirement, have the choice of a pension of LI per week for life, or 30s. for five years, with 12s. a week for life thereafter, or 37s. 6d. for five years and 6s. per week thereafter. The reductions in rates are related to the incidence of the Eire State old-age pensions
All members are covered by a life assurance of £100,, this sum being received as an endowment on retirement or, alternatively, it may be exchanged for a fully paid policy for £125, payable at death.
Among its other welfare services, C.I.E. has an extensive and well-equipped social organization, whilst four full-time and 400 part-time medical officers are engaged in giving free medical attention, a facility which is also
extended to the employees' dependants. 1 There are attractive schemes which encourage the entry of suitable young men into both clerical and engineering grades. For the purpose of apprenticeship, candidates are accepted between the ages of 16 and 17i years and follow a live-year course. No fees are charged and pay rises from 17s. to £2 2: per week, to, which certain bonuses are added.
Ceras lompair Eireann takes thd long view in all its-operations, and, despite many handicaps, is building up a transport organization that will 'compare favourably with any in the world.