BUSES IN INDIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 616, 19 March 1929, Page 7

BUSES IN INDIA

A POPULAR MEANS OF LONG DISTANCE TRAVEL The use of motor-buses in India has grown rapidly in recent years, and is continuing to develop all over the country, according to W. McHardy Forman, managing director of General Motors, New Zealand, Ltd. “India is approximately the size oi Europe without Russia, and has a population of 320,000,000 people, , 90 per cent, of whom live in the country. Almost all the big towns anu cities in the country are connected by railways, with a regular and fast j service, but large tracts are yet un- ! i touched by rails. For about 500 miles , j along the coast from Bombay, for i instance, there is no railway line be- j ; cause of the ruggedness of the counI try, and numerous rivers which swell ! during the rainy season,” said Mr. ! Forman. Before the introduction of the bus, people travelled only in cases of great necessity. There Mas a system of stage coaches, but the service was slow, and disappeared rapidly with the advent of the motorbus. “The highways are mostly of the water bound macadam type, except in big cities like Bombay, where there are asphalt and other dustless pavements. Light buses equipped with pneumatic tyres are used. The bus has given a new life to road improvement. The cry for more railways, which was so persistent a few years ago, is no longer heard,” continued Mr. Forman. “To-day the demand is for better roads, and the Government is turning its attention to the highways. “To-day there is not a single main road in India without its regular bus service. Even small villages want to be on a bus line. Buses are also becoming popular for the transportation of goods for short distances.”

The A.A.A. has been advised that it would cost £3OO to issue 16,000 coloured “safety first” books to children of the first and second standards in the Auckland Province. The outlay is rather heavy for the association to undertake, but the question of arranging the distribution with a Government subsidy has been referred to the Finance Committee.