WHERE ARE WE?

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 300, 19 December 1922, Page 5

WHERE ARE WE?

— »■■ ... TRAMWAY PROGRESS INDICATOR. Though most people know the car route they travel night and morning, a very large proportion of them are at fault if they take a tram run outside of their own little suburb, and on a dark or rainy night many a citizen mutters darkly as he vainly attempts to spier the gloom for hie whereabouts. A device which has been installed on the trams of the London Metropolitan Company for" indicating to passengers the exact position of the car as it travels is one which would, therefore, appeal to most laymen as an excellent contrivance. It amounts to an automatic road guide, showing by a pointer and a slowly revolving map just where the car is located on its run. Stopping places are shown, and when the car stops the map ceases to revolve. The map is run on a couple of spools, which wind from one to the other, and are operated through a flexible shaft geared to the tram wheels, and similar to that used in the drive of a motor car speedometer. The dial of the instrument measures about three feet by one foot, and a red arrow shows the precise topographical position as the tram moves along. The section of the map visible at one time represents a mile of the route, so that the passenger can see by watching the red arrow how near he is to his destination. When the attention of the Auckland general manager, Mr. A. E. Ford, was drawn to the subject this morning, he explained that already similar devices had been under his notice. Although it appeared simple, there were a good many points, including satisfactory gearing, wear and tear, and general practicability.. to be decided before such a device could be adopted. However, anything likely to be of benefit to the public would receive favourable attention, and a careful watch would be ; kept on this and other ingenuities calculated to make for improvement in the service. A matter that is at present exercising the management, remarked Mr. Ford, was a satisfactory system of destination sign* for the cars, and he hoped before long to introduce a method of displaying the destinations on the cars which would meet the needs of tie tram twilling publia.