TRANSPORT SYSTEMS.

Auckland Star, Issue 38, 14 February 1929, Page 13

TRANSPORT SYSTEMS.

ENGLISH CAR SERVICES LOWER RATES THAN BUSES. (By J. W. SHACKELFORD.) The people of Greater Auckland have a right to expect the newly-formed Transport Board to function with success and satisfaction, equal to that attained by the Electric Power Board. It is unfortunate there should be at so early a stage any question raised of City and Suburbs, or that the delibprations of the board should be in committee. At this early stage I question if the board is wise in putting.into force any regulations which may embarrass subsequent boards, more especially if these regulations are discussed in committee and carried by the board at subsequent meetings. I hope full discussion will be published of all points affecting the future policy of the board.

Whilst in England recently I made special inquiries into the question of transport, and met with several interesting experiences. London, with its teeming population, has great difficulties to deal with. It is often said that there are no trams in the City of London but they operate in City Road from Moorgate Street, also from Aldgate and Aldersgate Streets (they do not run in the narrow streets around the Exchange or in Holburn, Oxford Street and St. Paul's Churchyard, Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, and Strand), and from these extend far and wide on the northern side of the Thames. The connection between north and south is only from Southampton Row (where they dive under the ground) to Westminster Bridge. From the Thames to various parts south of the Thames and from Westminster and London Bridges services extend for many miles through some of the most densely populated southern areas. The tubes serve the central London districts named where the trams do not run and buses traverse the streets. The congestion in these streets beggars description all day long, but particularly in the busy hours. It was easily seen that the London trams were heavily handicapped by the underground system of conduit, which is the only system permitted in the nearer parts of Greater London. Notwithstanding this, trams are the cheaper means of travel. Buses which do not run on tram routes all charge higher fares than trams. For instance, from Westminster to Southampton Row, the tram fare is Id and the bus fare 2d, and in everv other instance I experienced the bus was the dearer. I was particularly interested in the Leeds tram service which I found t-neaper than most of those I bad used. I got into touch w-ith the officials and was given what I considered to be valuable information as showing how successful a well-managed tram service has proved, and, further,

that the best paying services are those that have the lowest fares. Leeds city nas a population of about SOO.OOO, but as so many live in congested areas around the factories, they travel very little and obviously the percentage ot travelling t*> population is much smaller than Auckland, where money is more freely spent amount the workers and others. The number of cars is 475. Of these -00 are new. I was there in July, 1928, and was informed on good authority that last year £t>ti,ooo wae spent on renewals, improvements, etc., and £00,000 transferred for relief of rates. More recently, after mature consideration, it was resolved to make a uniform rate reducing all fares to Id, lid and 2d, the 2d fare carrying up to a distance of five miles. Buses on tram routes had t'> charge 2d extra. The cars opened up a number of new routes. During the first month of reduced fares, the result was £1000 extra profit on the whole transaction over that of a corresponding month of the previous year. I noted recently a publication on the value of "trackless trams" for city transport. 1 had a personal experience of tnese in Hastings, Sussex, where they have some very steep hills, as in Auckland. Having tried them for some time, the corporation wae taking up the lines or tracks with a view to putting the whole service under this system. The system worked well for this town, which" is a popular seaside holiday resort, and may prove satisfactory for full service, but in my opinion it is too slow and could not cope witn the transport of a busy city like Auckland. They might, however, be used with advantage to connect certain areas and cross roads sections.