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I MOTOR-OMNIBUSES.

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I MOTOR-OMNIBUSES. The rival claims of motor-omnibuses and electric trams are commanding much public attention, nowhere more than in our own city, in view of the projected extension of the tramway system to Boughton. During the past few days two expert writers have made weighty contributions to the question in the Press. An Engineering Correspondent, writing in the Times" on "Passenger Trans port on Public Roads," takes a judicially impartial view, but makes certain important concessions which are peculiarly apposite to the case of Chester. Given that a busy street is the right place for either vehicle, he says the tramcar, with its undeviating line of travel must cause more obstruction to the ordinary pre-existing traffic than the omnibus. This is patent, and leads us to the con- clusion that omnibuses are much better suited to narrow roads than are trams--and we have not to go far to find instances to prove this. Ipswich has lately started an electric tram service. Anyone acquainted with its narrow streets and sharp turnings will understand the difficulty which has been since felt. There are places where a horse- drawn vehicle cannot pass the trams, and there is, in consequence much halting and waiting of traffic." For the rapid transport of large crowds of people along broad thoroughfares the electric tram, with its greater capacity and power, is admittedly superior, but is this not an argu- ment in favour of the motor omnibus, where the streets are narrow and the traffic moderate as in Chester 1 Above and beyond these considerations there is the paramount question of cost, which cannot be ignored at a period when municipal rates have become a serious factor in every-day life. The capital cost of providing a track for the electric tram constitutes an insuperable stumbling-block. This expense is roughly computed at £10,000 per mile of single-track. The projected extension into Boughton, with a double line, has been set down at 220,000. In addition, there comes the cost of the cars themselves, estimated by this engineering correspondent at zC600 to £ 750 each. Motor-buses, on the other hand, can be purchased at from z6700 to 2900 each, so that, broadly considered, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the capital expenditure upon the track and electrical equipment represents the difference between the prices of the two installations. As to the working cost of the rival systems much reliable data is not obtainable, for the simple reason that motor-omnibuses are only in their infancy, although a robust and pro- mising infancy at that. The expert whose opinion we have already quoted puts the cost of runn ng, including all running charges, wages, salaries and all working expenses, at sixp nee per tram mile for electric cars and the gross receipts at tenpence. The average working cost of motor-buses he calculates at ninepence per mile and the receipts at Is. 2d. for the double-decked buses, and lOd. and Is. Id. respectively for the single-decked vehicles. The estimates must be taken necessarily with some reserve, on account of the limited experience of public motor-bus services. It is a curious circumstance that the average receipts per mile of motor buses should be greater than those from electric cars, but the fact may be explained by the comparative novelty and popularity of the former vehicle. Depreciation is another factor in the case that cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty upon existing records, but, granting that depreciation is a much heavier iteaa with the motor vehicles, there would still be an enormous economy in that service, when allowance is made for the huge capital outlay upon electric tram track and overhead trolleys. The engineering correspondent," while evidently favourably impressed with electric trams for large populations and heavy traffic, is con- strained to admit that the results so far warrant the belief that for suburban districts, for sparse populations and for narrow streets motor omnibuses are better than trams." He also adds it is more than likely that many of the smaller Provincial towns which have so boldly I embarked on tramways will bitterly regret their precipitation." Another writer on the same subject in the Times," Mr. C. W. S Little, Assoc. Inst. E.E., displays considerable bias in favour of electric trams, but some of his arguments seem rather strained. He complains, for example, ot the insensate speed limit of ten miles an hour for electric cars, against a twenty miles limit for motor-buses, and argues that if the cars were allowed to run taster the working expenses would be reduced. This may be true to a limited extent, but when the argument is pushed, to extremes, as the writer does, the result is an absurdity, as can easily be shewn on a detailed analysis.

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