MUNICIPAL TRAMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 145, 21 June 1926, Page 6

MUNICIPAL TRAMS.

CITY SYSTEMS CONTRASTED.

WHERE TRAMS ARE DEAREST.

(By Telegraph. — Special to '•Star.")

WELLINGTON, this day.

One of the features of a valuable survey of municipal government in Ke W Zealand which the eminent Statistician lias published under the title of "The Municipal Hand l >ook." is a surveT of the publicly owned tramway sys»ein» of the Dominion. For the first time aa official comparison has been made between the system?, and one of the most interesting features is a contrast in fare?. Dunedin i= the cheapest system for the passenger, airi Wellington i= the dearest. The method? of charging, the sections, and the concession systems are so dissimiliar that a clear hasis of comparison difficult. Hoivever. tie (Joverninent Statistician has embodied all the factors into a "weighted average" fur ca<-h number of sections according! ti the number of passengers travelling these distances. The result shows the relative fares, in pence, per 100 chains of travel: — Auckland l.iiCd. Wellington 1.367 d, ( hristrhurph 1.31 Id. Dunedin I.KHcL to 13]4. "Wellington ■vrai the chearVst system, and Dunedin the dearest. In lfti" Wellington was the dearer I closely followed by Christchurch . while Dunedin ivas the cheapest, this city being unique in maintain- | ing the only penny fare in the Domi;nion. Over eleven year; covered by this I official survey. "Wellington tram fare* I rose 49 per cent. .Auckland 30 per cent, Christchurch 24 j»er cent, and Dunedin only o per cent. Reasons for Bear Fares. : '"The Municipal Handbook" proceeds te j discuss the factors making for. higher I fares. The hilly country traversed, and I the high cost at which power and labour j are purchased, coupled with the fact i that the narrowness of the street! j necessitates the rolling: stock being I constructed with low seating capacity, lis one of the factors responsible for 1 dear fares in Wellington. ""The comparative clearness of fares ii Christchurch is at first surprising, especially in view of the fact that Christchurch possesses the least hilly system, a circumstance which minimises haulage, wear and tear through braking, and renders the use of trailers possible Dunedin stands next to Christelrarch in j this respect, and the low fares in 'Dunedin are partly ascribed to this, and j partly to the lower wages paid to tramI way employees there. j "Flatness is not altogether an advanI tage. however, since it renders competition of the bicycle with the tramway system a serious possibility If main inlets are through valleys, as in the hillier cities, the people must use those, and are encouraged to use the trams, which necessarily follow the j same route. In flat country, as ii Christchurch, there are no such main routes, and a man can often make quicker time to his work by following % Decline on his bicycle 'there are 40,006 bicycles in Ohristchurch i than by tat- | ins the tram."

It i? pointed oirt that the advantage of trailers in saving; the wages of motonnen are. in part, illusory, unless the use of trailers is confined to peak load hours, for the use of trailers during the day means that a given volume of traffic can be hauled by £ less frequent service, and an infrequent service tends to drive away traffic.

The population per street mile traversed by trams (excluding population of suburbs s-erved solely by steamer or train) is almost half a? great again in both Auckland and Wellington a« in Christ church. This means for the Canterbury city high overhead expense in sinking funds, interest and maintenance per unit of population/ while the traffic on any one route is not dense. The Dtmedin system especially, on the cthaT hand, servee densely populated areas 01 all routes.

There are nine municipally owned tramway systems in New Zealand, anJ their total capital outlay amounts tt £4.T01.G72.