ONE-MAN TRAMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 82, 7 April 1933, Page 13

ONE-MAN TRAMS.

RUNNING IN CHRISTCHURCW DRIVER'S FULL-TIME JOB. One-man trams —the most talked-of innovation in public transport in Christchurch—were given their initial try-out under working conditions this week on four lines. The public verdict (reports the "Times") appeared to be indecisive. From the viewpoint of the tramway authorities-it was unfortunate that rain began to fall about 8 a.m., for this had the effect of inducing a sudden increase in the demand for transport without permitting time to enable arrangements to be made to cope with it. But the new cars have padded seats, which the passengers liked.

The circumstances combined to make the early runs ; of the trams slower than they would otherwise have. been. Some passengers declared that they reached the Square five minutes later than under the old two-man system. With later trips, however, when the volume of traffic had dropped and there were no queues, there were no complaints about the delay.

The driver of the one-man car appears to have a full-time job. He collects the fares, punches the tickets, alters the points, makes up the waybill, and in between keeps a watchful supervising eye on the passengers. Periodically the hand of the motorman, on a rainy morning, shoots forward to give a vigorous twirl to the screen wiper, for the mechanical perfections of the new trams do not extend to automatic screen wipers. Thus, the driver was always doing something, a fact that so impressed one passenger that he described the new system as a triumph of manual dexterity. . .