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Rapid Strides in
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COACH OPERATION IN FRANCE
The Country Covered by a Network of Services.
Room for Improvement in Provincial Bus Opera
. .
tion. How the Railway Coaches are Run. Sidelights on the Paris System
IN France, passenger transport by road has made considerable strides during the past three years and, in spite of recent restrictive legislation, business is developing quietly. As a matter of fact, the Road-Rail Coordination Bill, mentioned in our issue dated December 14 Iast, is already regarded as a dead letter. When the elected lords and masters of France introduce a law which the public considers unnecessary, it is simply ignored and the inconsistency with which laws are often administered offers some excuse for this attitude.
Passenger transport in the big provincial cities of France still leaves much to be desired and one frequently has to travel in buses which have seen 15 years' service or more. In Paris, however, the authorities have been making a real effort to bring their system up to date and, in particular, the replacement of trams by buses has been speeded up to a marked extent.
The rolling stock of the municipaltransport concern, known as the T.C.R.P., has, moreover, been thoroughly overhauled and improved, and solid tyres are no longer in evidence. The bus fleet has been increased from 1,450 vehicles in 1925 to nearly 1,800 units at the present time. Although these figures may sound small as compared with those for London's bus system, it should be remembered that, in spite of hard times, the taxicab habit is still ingrained in the Paris public.
With the tradeslump,. the number of taxicabs has fallen from 20,000 to 17,000, but, even so, the figure is double that for London, which has a population about twice as great.
Extensions of the Paris Metro and the construction of new underground railways have, moreover, eased surface transport to some extent, and the present bus fleet may be regarded as adequate for the needs of the city. Fresh vehicles are gradually added to the fleet, as the work of eliminating trains proceeds, and some of the latest types put into service compare favour ably with those of other great Continental cities.
The rear platform for standing passengers, common to buses in many big cities on the Continent, is still maintained and all buses are single-deckers. The double-decker has never found favour in the eyes of Paris municipal authorities since the first experiments were made in that city with British buses some 25 years ago
Six-wheelers were introduced shortly after the war, but the type has not been continued, although it is still employed on one service in Central Paris, from the Madeleine to the Place de la Republique. The chassis of these vehicles are of the well-known C. G. Schneider type, with 48-seater bodies and trailing axles to support the long rear overhang. After more than 14 years on the streets, these buses appear still to be running well.
For some years past, all new vehicles added' to the T.C.R.P. fleet have been of Renault make. The Renault-Scemia bus chassis, which has been fully described in these pages, appears to be giving complete satisfaction. Mechanically it is a fine machine, and, if interior accommodation may seem inferior, after the comfort of London buses, the Parisien has never known anything better and is thus quite satisfied.
The book-ticket system, instituted a little over five years ago, considerably expedites fare collection and its benefits in this direction are specially noticeable during peak hours. An extra ticket per section of the route gives the passenger a right to travel in the first-class compartment at the for.
ward end of the bus, where he or she will find imitation-leather upholstery, instead of the hard wood seats at the rear, The one-man-operated vehicle is employed on a number of suburban routes and here, again, the book-ticket system avoids delay at stopping points. This type of bus is not, however, popular with the average Parisien, who prefers the rear platform, where he may smoke.
The modern Renault buses are exceedingly fast and, since their introduction, a speed limit has been intro.. duced by the Prefecture of Police. There is no speed limit for other vehicles, but buses must not exceed 50 k.p.h. (31.06 m.p.h.). The standard of driving required by the T.C,R.P is, however, extremely high and serious bus accidents' are rare. A monthly bonus is paid to all drivers who escape any mishap.
Some years ago Sunday excursions into the country were instituted by the T.C.R.P., but these trips have not been well patronized and it is possible that they may be abandoned this year. Bus services in the big provincial cities of France do not present much interest, as they seem, for the most part, to be about 20 years behind the times, In Lyon, however, an interesting experiment with battery-electric buses has successfully been carried out for some time and, as reported in last week's issue, 28 new vehicles of this type have recently been purchased. In the north a certain number of trolleybuses may be found,
The coach as a regular means for transport from one town to another is a new development in France, apart from the district along the Riviera coast. In that favoured part of the country the business has, for many years, been well organized, and to-day one may travel for hundreds of miles in well-appointed coaches, running to regular time-tables and at astonishingly low fares.
The City of Nice possesses the only genuine coach station in the whole of France and traffic is intense throughout the year. The great railway concerns have, for the past 10 years or more, run excellent seasonal coach services for tourists in many parts of the country, but that side of the business has declined, for tourists from other countries no longer visit France in large numbers, owing to the adverse rate of exchange. The latest railway-operated coaches, of Panhard, Delahaye, Renault and other makes, are fine vehicles providing a high standard of comfort, and, as the fares compare favourably with those for second-class railway travel, the public is taking to the road when the services are available. As a result of changed conditions, the railways now nui more limited services, but, in • many cases, maintain them all the year round.
All railway coaches are run on the contract system by a large number of local operators, the railway directors being of the opinion that any large monopoly makes inefficient adminstration. In the Paris district, such as may be left of the moribund tourist business is dealt with chiefly by the
• Cooks-Wagon-Lit Co., for which Messrs. P. Hearr run a fine fleet of coaches ; one, a Renault, is illustrated. c55
Whilst the provincial cities of France started radial coach and bus systems, on a very limited scale, some five or six years ago, Paris itself had nothing of the kind until the Transports Citroen Co. was formed in 1932. This concern, followed shortly after its formation by a Renault Transport Co., achieved instantaneous success with the public.
Arrangements were made with the T.C.R.P. whereby competition in the suburban area could be avoided by carrying passengers only to points outside the limits of the existing municipal tram and bus services. From each of the most distant terminal points connection is made with radial services from other provincial towns and thus the system now links up all over the country. The new Renault coaches now "double " most of the Citroen services, but a friendly arrangement has been arrived at. whereby, when opening up new routes, the two enterprises do not compete so keenly. Transports Citroen Co. is en, tirely independent of the parent concern, and is thus not affected by the present Citroen financial crisis.
The great network of provincial services is run by half a dozen or more separate companies subsidiary to Transports Citroen and the work is again split up by the employment of private
enterprise. Local contractors using Citroen coaches supplement the official services all over the country and, by adhering to Citroen timetables, continue the linking-up scheme in a most efficient manner.
Our Paris representative has frequently made use both of the Citroen
and Renault coaches in the Paris district and other parts of France. He has nothing but praise for the organization of both concerns. Far from competing with the railways, these services would appear to assist them; by connecting up railway stations with isolated villages.