What you see here is a test to see how much a double-decker bus in London can tilt before it overturns. You might be thinking at once that the bus can tilt so much because there are no passengers inside.
Passengers are not here. But each seat of the car has a sandbag placed in such a way that one bag is almost equal to the weight of an average passenger. The reason for doing this research was that when exporting this bus to other countries, it was believed that this vehicle cannot be tilted that much. It is natural for someone who has been on the top floor to have that idea.
As children, we loved to go on the upper deck of these types of buses. It was a strange experience to ride in the front row there too, as it was right above the driver's seat and there was quite a bit of swing. At that time we felt like traveling in the sky. Meanwhile, the seat at the very back of the upper deck of the bus was called "love corner". Lovers and girlfriends were very fond of that seat.
Another special feature of the bus was the comfort of its seats. The seats were made of "velvet" or "willuda cloth" made in England. The strange patterns in them were beautiful. But there were scoundrels then as now. Just like today's trains are carried with feet on the seats, in this bus there are people who carry their feet on the seats. There were times when a pedant who went to the extremes of selfishness without thinking about the country, cut those lakes and cloths.
Today as well as then, there are such misconceptions. It was said in the news today that a railway guard died after being pushed out of the train. The reason was because he was against drinking alcohol on the train. It was said that one of the two accused was in the railway service and the other was in the state security service like the army. Due to these types of accidents, public services such as buses and trains cannot operate accurately. Back to double deckers;
Another special feature of the bus was the semi-automatic gearbox which was specialized for gear shifting. It was possible to drive in one gear while in another. It only engages after depressing the clutch. If you google “oil jacket method” you can find technical data here. Its content deviates from the goal of the article.
I have heard that in the early days, these buses were "manual steering" i.e. turning the steering wheel was done by hand strength only. It was a 12-ton vehicle. The more modernized 18 ton buses that came later are said to have been able to turn the bus very easily as the power was supplied from the engine. Later, in "Routemaster" buses used in London, in addition to inline 6 cylinder Leyland engines, "Iveco", "Cummins", "DAF" and "Scania" engines could be installed.
It is clear why this car has two floors.
That is, in a busy road, in a city, this type of bus can carry many people. At that time, many people boarded the buses we saw even in the morning. Of course, building a bus to carry so many people was not a new idea. In the early days, large chariots carrying passengers also had two floors of this type. This double decker car is an idea that came from those chariots.
But I heard that there was another strange reason for this. People on the second floor of flats in London at that time could not see a bus going by. Therefore, it is described in some places on the internet that this was created.
Unfortunately, there are very few buses of this type in Sri Lanka today. Countries that have these buses still use them as sightseeing vehicles for foreigners, with the roof removed. Those buses are used in different countries by the famous "The big bus company".
Did you know that there were three-decker buses, although they were not used in Sri Lanka? In 1932, there were such buses in Italy. It had a seating capacity of 88 people. These cars were in Berlin, Germany and New Zealand. However, the third floor was more of a place for animals like dogs and belongings. Even today these are popular means of transportation.
Nowadays, it appears that these buses are also being electrified rapidly. Their use is slowly increasing in developed countries. But still, an electric bus costs about one and a half times more than a regular diesel bus. Therefore, it is not possible to think that such vehicles are still suitable for a country like Sri Lanka.
It is a reality that three wheels in Sri Lanka are slowly going off the road due to the increase in the cost to the consumer. It appears that it is not useful for the transportation needs of the people and they are subject to the displeasure of the public. But because of that, it is clear that there will be a vacuum in public transport.
Double decker buses can be useful to fill that gap. Applying these types of double-decker buses, albeit diesel, to the crowded roads of cities like Colombo, may be a very good alternative to the defunct "Triloka Poottu".
#blurt #blurtstory #sad #bus #socity #love #suffering #world