The Motor Omnibus.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 791, 6 April 1905, Page 2

The Motor Omnibus.

T\vo years ago the pooplo of cent- • i , . ou hailed the cowing of tho electric tramway as tho (lawn of a '■ new era. Other cities and even outer suburbs had had it long before, but at last the heart of tho metropolis i was to be given the revolu (.ioniser of street .traffic, rates wore to 4)e relieved, and distances annihilated. That was only two years ago. nut wo move so fast nowadays that men are already beginning to ask if the electric tramway will not isoou be , come as much a relic of the past the old-fashioned omnibus. Those who travel in some of the outer suburbs can at times seo a 1W-

r tls motor-omnibus draw up on tli roadside, not far from the splendii l electric cans there. The motor fill ( r and while the groat tramway-car i yr Slowly progressing, checked by othe e street traffic, the motor, able 1< dodge in and out as it will, swwspi . by and leaves it hopelessly behind, i What the motor-omnibus is now do j ing in some suburbs other motor omnibusses will soon bo doing al ; over the metropolis. Tho two chto . miisibus companies in tho metropolii i have now building over a hundret 1 motor-omnibusses, all of which ,wil ' bo running before the summer. ' \V< aro on tho eve of a new era in London traffic, an era whose main fea • tures will be the abolition of steam on the railways within tho metropolitan radius, the limitation of the electric tramway, the substitution ol motor-omnibuses for horstMlrawn vehicles, and the,elaboration of tube svs* teuiß. Tho electric tramway is now losing tralllc because it can now only legally travel at eight miles an hour, while tho motor-omnibus can travel 1 up to twenty miles an hour. This is a legal absurdity, but legal absurdities live long, and every attempt to remedy this on© has so far failed. The motor-omnibus requires no parliamentary [>owcrs to begin. *nicre can be no monopoly in it as in electric traction, for any man who buys cars is as freo to run Ihem on the streets as the ordinary omnibus owner is ro run an omnibus. Tht'.v can go where they will, and their owners cannot In) saddled with the co.s't of street improvements. If a service ix not found to jjay in one direction it can quickly be transferred to another. The problem for some time has been to find a suitable form of motor. There are several makes on tho market now which promise very wll, and people can see some of thenu running in the central parts of London day by day.. They are beginning lo fight the tramways everywbei-e. The motor omnibus will drive the horso-tlrawn omnibus out of the market, because it costs less to run. The motor has already proved its undoubted economic advantages for the cartage al heavy loads, effecting n s it does a saving in many businesses of from 25 to .'ls per cent, over horse carriage. The same result will come out for carrying^human loads in street omnibus service, and while a few in-> tc-resting survivals may continue, the proper placo for the horso omnibus will soon be the museum. As will be seen by the following delailsl, the superiority of the motor hua been proved beyond Question. l'\>r instart#, a horso vehicle cost a j'bus owner JClfiO, the twelve horsus required to work it £4O each, while the harness averaged £2O, and the I stabling cost close on £<iOO. Ill's expenditure for one omnibus. limelore, totalled alu>ut £I2BO. <>» Hie

oilier hand, o motor omnibus cost lum £BSO, and hccessitntod £2<Ki for stabling, thus leaving tfi-j totul mit'ay lit £IOSO, or an advantage on the side of the motor £18(1. Sultxe'fluent ligui-es were found to i:.ill further emphuHise the motor's superiority. The average earnings jht wecß were £42, against £l2 (is on the horse-drawn typo. The mileage was 115, an against TO, the earning capacity lit passicnßvrs, iimiinnl of 20 ill the older type of voiiii<<. ■ and the prolit.s on the motor totalled £350 lor one \ par's w o r|< : ti,r compuixsd with £52 fcr the oiiHiibus. It may lit- added (hut these iigiires were based on nn experience of three month*' runningi, U n;l ilrm who experimented were so convinced of lhe utility an(] jol , ftdvantages of the ~,„tor system tint they have sinco given orders to have all their horss-drawn vehicles replaced liy the more modem i H >- troHlriven buses,. The motor omnibus will not drive the electric trannvay ofT tho streets for in the gloat cities traffic is now so hoavy that every method uhikl be used) to cope with it. Hut it wi'l , beforo very long prevent electric tramway extensions, and it will so I job electric tramways oj profit-sav-ing hufjjiiesses as to make their returns doubtful. It thus becomes a i very serious outlook how far either unmioipolities or Private eomixuikrt j»ul Soon be justified | n m ß kln R fur- I fchw giwt outtoy» Ju yiis j