The Difficult Problem of Route Indication for Motorbuses.
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Last week's issue of " Punch " not inappropriately contains the following reference to this subject :
"The !uninitiated may have a difficulty in ascertaining where an omnibus is going. Beginners will find it a good plan to stop the omnibus (raising the umbrella to the conductor is sufficient : it is not necessary to handle the vehicle in any way) and walk rciund it, reading the names of streets, public-houses, and churches, printed upon its sides. Another way is, having stopped the omnibus, to walk slowly up to
the conductor, and ask, 'Where are you going?' . . Do not run after a motor omnibus ; you are sure to lose."
The problem. of route indication is a sore one to-day, because the advent of the motorbus has introduced fresh difficulties. " Mr. Punch's " advice is certainly amusing thousands of visitors to London arc inconvenienced daily by the continued inadequacy of the indications and lettering upon the swifter stage-carriages which now ply so generally. Signs of restlessness and dissatisfaction concerning older methods have made themselves apparent, during the past ten days, in the case of the London Road Car Company, to whose departure attention was drawn in the preceding issue of this journal, and a new element is now introduced by a claim that a master patent exists in respect of the use of such numbers Or symbols to distinguish the vehicles which arc at work upon any one service from those at work upon another one. This claim is certainly unexpected, but we are naturally unable to offer, in view of threatened litigation, any opinion upon its merits.
The patent in question, number 8419 of roo6, is in the name of Mr. S. 0, Gilbert, the commercial manager of the Vanguard Motorbus Company, Limited, and we will confess our admiration for his foresight in bringing about that corn pany's adoption of the numerical indication of routes. Mem bers of the public have preferred .to any nomenclature, and it is almost the universal custom for an intend ing 'Passenger to he advised, whenever one-of the vehicles aies In the direction for which he enquires, to take " Vanguard No. so-and-so." The .system is good, by reason of its obvious simplicity, and we are not surprised that other companies should wish to adopt one of a similar nature, whilst we are informed that a precedent for the maintenance of Letters Patent upon parallel lines exists in the case of the London General Omnibus Company's use of the initial letters. of the termini of any route, for example, " P. and L.St." for " Putney and Liverpool Street," as applied on numerous vehicles, in particular positions, for many years: We understand that this earlier patent was sustained for its full period of 14 years, and we add the wording of the claims in the one which is now claiming attention. They are in the following terms : (i) Indicating the routes of public vehicles by a symbol or symbols, and detachably or permanently applying such symbol or symbols to the vehicles, substantially as described; (2) for use on public vehicles whose routes are indicated by a symbol or symbols as in Claim r, a device bearing such .symbol or symbols, in combination with means admitting of its being .readily applied to and removed from the vehicle, such point of application being within the ordinary range of view of intending passengers, substantially as described; (3) indicating the routes of public vehicles as described. it is clear that regard will have to be paid to the dates of any. foreign patents, and we hope litigation will be avoided, While on this subject, we would remind our readers of the claims of the alphabetical arrangement of the .names of places en route. This branch of the subject, of course, is distinct from the primary indication of the service itself, but it is of considerable importance from the standpoint of revenue. Two principal classes of would-be passengers have to be considered the first of these comprises the people who have been told to take an omnibus marked in a certain way, and they cannot be given any instruction more precise than to take, from a particular point, an omnibus which is lettered " Service No. 1 " or " Route A." The second, and probably the larger, class includes all who elect to look for the rlarTIC of their intended alighting spot upon the route boards, either in front or along the sides of the vehicles, and we believe the alphabetical order is superior to the geographical for those who are in such a case. It is, therefore, a matter for satisfaction to us to know that the scheme which has been so strenuously advocated in our pages by Mr, John Brown, F.R.S., of Belfast, will probably be given a trial in the Metropolis, such alphabetical order having, so f,u as AP experimental trial upon six motorbuses is concerned, now to receive only the necessary and formal approval of the Commissioner of Police.
It was obviously impossible to rest satisfied with the methods of route indication which served in the sleepy days of the horse bus, and much has been done to in-Trove the clearness and the lighting of destination-indicators. The first consideration, however, is that a would-he passenger should be enabled to select the right omnibus at the least expenditure of his or her own energy, and with the minimum of trouble to the police and the conductors. It is a secondary
matter to learn exactly when the desired alighting paint is being approached, and for that reason we regard insistence upon an external display of names in their geographical order as a misconception, if not as an absolute error. By all means let the geographical sequence have its place inside the vehicle, as is done by our tube railways, but optical gymnastics are nowadays involved when one is trying to catch a motorbus, apart from the fact that the supposed order of place is right in one direction of travel only, and diametrically wrong in the other.
New 30-cwt. Vans.
The second International Exhibition of Commercial Motor Vehicles and Motor Boats, which will be opened, at Olympia, seven weeks from to-day, will be made the occasion far the introduction of interesting examples of the 3o-cwt. van. These new models, which are now, in several, instances, practically ready for the market, arc no first attempts by makers with but little road experience, and we can assure our readers, of whom many are so closely interested in vans of the capacity named, that they will recognise the merits of the productions in question when they have the opportunity of inspection. We are advised, too, that the arrangements for output, in at least two cases, will permit the sale of these chassis at prices which show a not inconsiderable reduction on those of 1907.
An Era of Motor Fire-engines.
Evidences are not wanting that extensions of fire-brigade plant will be almost exclusively in the direction of self-propelled units, whilst the conversion of some of the largest Continental equipments, of which Vienna is the most striking example, continues apace. Motor plant, for use by fire brigades, is commending itself more and more every day to those who were highly sceptical but a very few years back, and it is not only by reason of the mechanical improvements that have been effected in respect of construction that this more favourable attitude has to be recorded. There are, ;amongst others, the special qualities of endurance and speed to commend the mechanical as superior to the animal. The books of numerous fire brigades, especially where gradients abound, show that mortality amongst horses is by no means of infrequent occurrence, and it is seif-evident that the dropping dead of a horse during the ascent of a steep hill must lead to great delay. Again, records of the tire committees prove that many heavy losses occur by reason of conflagrations at country houses and mansions, the private equipments of which residences are seldom on an adequate scale, or comparable with an organised service of a public or semi-public nature. Now that it is impossible to deny the success of the motor fire-engine, we foresee a fresh market for manufacturers, because the day cannot be far .distant when both rural and county authorities will be added to the list of purchasers in order that their ratepayers may benefit.
The Absence of "Strap Hangers."
It is a common saying„ in the United States, that Streetrailway Companies earn their dividends front the passengeis who hang on the straps, and such undertakings are not the eels: ones Whose directors view overcrowding during the crush hours with complacency. The underground and tube railways in London also derive a large accession of revenue from these " peaks " of traffic, and similar experiences are welcomed by most urban and suburban lines. In addition, the by-laws of practically every municipal tramway service provide that the cars may carry a certain number of passengers over and above the inside seating capacity. We see, therefore, how public passenger-carrying vehicles other than the motorbus are assisted in respect of their revenue accounts, and it is rather in the nature of a hardship that conductors of Landon motorbuses should go in peril of heavy fines if a solitary excess passenger is allowed either in or on one of these stage-carriages. Although inconvenience to the patrons of omnibuses is avoided by the stringency of the Metropolitan regulations against overcrowding, it cannot be denied that the omnibus companies are placed at a disadvantage in competition with railways, tubes, and tramears. We should, however, hesitate to recommend the granting of permission for an excess of the licensed complement, and we think that the salvation of London omnibus companies will not be found in this direction.
Clean Streets and Good Adhesion.
The writer drew attention, in his paper before the joint conference of road makers and users, at Olympia, in April last, to the bearing of proper street cleansing upon the skidding and side-slipping of self-propelled vehicles. Available data show that the co-efficient of friction of rubber upon asphalt may fall as low as o.o6, which corresponds with a limiting angle of friction of 0 degrees, and a power of holding the road which is only some to per cent. of that which exists on dry asphalt. Interesting confirmatory observations as to the effect of dirty streets upon adhesion may be made, on certain wet days, at the westernmost end of Rosebery Avenue, EC., where the gradient is r in 32 for an approximate length of yo yards. Drivers of single-deck tramcars of the London County Council, in the circumstances, often experience considerable difficulty in ascending this very moderate gradient, free sanding being sometimes insufficient to enable them to get the cars along without a second try. All these difficulties are due to the slimy and greasy condition of the roads, following the advent upon the rails of the detritus and other matter derived from the mixed traffic of the street. Less than sco yards away is the exit from the subway under Kingsway, where the gradient is i in io for an approximate length of Tb0 -yards. here, however, owing to the clean condition of the rails, consequent upon the reservation of the track for tramcars only, no skidding is experienced by the same cars and the same drivers. No more interesting fact can be adduced.