AMERICAN TRAMWAY SYSTEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 236, 3 October 1894, Page 2

AMERICAN TRAMWAY SYSTEMS.

Cable asd Electeio Tractio^".

A SPECiAii correspondent of the Sydney "Telegraph" writes:—"lb is impossibte to "drop"into "an* Ainorican cifcy without being struck at the enormous facilities which are provided for the comforb and convenience of the ■people.-;-In streeb traaßportation',' in railway travelling, rand in telegraphic and telephonic communication there is everything ab hand which.human ingenuity and "* inventiveness can supply^ Take the tramways for exatnple. "America is full "of them. There is not a city, there is not a town, \there is nob even a little hamleb with its 200 or 300 people, which cannob boast a "really admirable street car sytem. In the large;citiea cars chise each other; up • the thoroughfares every few minutes. > The Broadway in Mew York is almost like two strings of cars. Go up Market-street in. San Francisco, a thoroughfare a trifle wider than- Bourkestreet, Melbourne, and you .will see four line*—two cables, and two horse—with trams at such frequent intervals that you can scarcely walk a single block before a car for almost anywhere can overtake you. Such a thing as a tramway waiting-room is utterly unknown. Even away down at places like Monterey and San Diego, little seaside resorts, a waiting-room would be regarded as an anachronism too absurd evea to be derided. . If you are at a terminus, no matter where ib is, no matter how Bniali the city may be, and no matter where you may have to go; you are scarcely alongside the line before a tram is ready fiotake you, and you have scarcely time to jump into your seat before the car is off. ;

Cabs Unnecessary,

The general adoption of tramways has, by consequence, practically stripped the streets of cab—or carriage—traffic. Cabs are no longer a necessity. There is not a respectably large cabstand in the whole of San Francisco. If you want a hack in Chicago you have bo bake a quarter of an hour's walk to find one. In New York the proportion of cabs to the population is greater than It is in perhaps any other American town, but still it is so small thab ib takes ' quite a long time' to discover any other in bhe city. When you do find one, and use ib, you wish you had never made the discovery. Tho cab cabman.in every part of the world is sui genet is. But throughout the United States he is an'ex* tortiopietof bhemostviriilonbtype outofgaol A ride from a wharf bo an hotel., or from an hotel to a railway station becomes the most expensive luxury on earth when you once fall into tho hands of the man who allures you with the cry of' Kerr'dge.' If you are conveyed three-quarters of a mile and can escape with a 6s fare, you can afford to chuckle over the experience. A case came under the writer's, notice where a traveller^ anxious to catch a train, took a carriage from his hotel bo the Union Station in New York, a distance of about a mile and an eighth. The fare was 12s 6d. There can be only one result of this Borb of business. Nobody takes a carriage who can travel in a tram, and as it is possible to take a tram ab any time bo any poinb, cabs have been practically driven froui the streets. The few thab are lefb are patronised. by foreigners and millionaires. Millionaires repeat the dose;; the foreigner, unless he is a 'hooaer' of a particularly verdant type, finds one a trifle boo much for him.

The Electric,

Of all the tram systems in America the method which is, coming into niosb general uee is the electric. Ib is commonly charged againsb electric tramways thab ; the over-1' head wires are a disfigurement to the city. They are nob half the disfigurement of telegraph or telephone wires. In any case, to the unaesthetic temperament the balance of the argument will be always on the side of convenience. The firsb cosb of the elecbric'system is infinitely cheaper than the cable—the proportion given is about) one to four—and as a result ib is bhe system favoured, by companies which obtain franchises for streeb transportation purposes. In the west, indeed, and in many citieß in bhe easb, ib is becoming* the standard traction method. The difficulty in the past has been the heavy grades in some of bhe streets. That obstacle has been completely overcome. In San Francisco you can see crowded electric cars negobiabing with ease grades of 10 per cenb. The greaber epeed which can be maintained in the less populous thoroughfares is another argument in their favour. The cars, too, are all lighted by electricity. In Canada the electric system has been adopted everywhere, 'ib is bo be found in Ottawa, in Montreal, in Toronto, and away out in distant townships like Fort Arthur and Fort William. The old horse cars have been discarded everywhere. Canada is nob a wealthy country, and cable traction has been boyond its means. Bub ib has, even in small out-of-the-way places, hardly to be discovered on the map, an electric system which is perfect.

The Fares,

A question of equal importance is the rates of fare. There can be no possible mistake on this poinb. The charge for every variety of tram and for the elevator railways in New York and Chicago is bwopenpe half-penny. No" matter how great the distance travelled, and no matter how many transfers to other lines may be made the fare remains the satae. In New York ib ib.possible to travel continuously for 14 miles for five cents. There is a usaerniScent cable car system in operation in Chicago, where for five c&nts you can journey almost all the morning. In San Francisco, where trams run in nearly every street, a ciKzeu the other day attempted to tesb the extrome to which a five cent fare could be carried. He jumped on a car at 8 o'clock in the morning and rode until 11 o'clock at night. Even then he had nob utilised his opportunity to the utmost. •