IN A GLASGOW TRAM.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13742, 25 May 1910, Page 4

IN A GLASGOW TRAM.

SOME SIMPLE EFFICIENCIES. (FROM OtriS OWN CORKKSroXDKNT.) LONDON, April ].">. As jjomilnti.m is generally the basis of commercial profit, our New Zealand cities can scarcely hone lor such result* as the Glasgow Corporation lias obtained from it* wondcrtul system 01 electric cars. To carry the public at fares which amount to little more than a half-penny a mile, mid to end the yonr by paying a sum ot .O'iU.l.sOO "to the public good in reduction of rates is, nevertheless, an achievement thai bet peaks economics in working that way give a lew tips for some ol our New Zealand swsteius. '

The conformation of Glasgow is m itself invourable to the proiitable running of cars. The city is- compact, and generally speaking there are no lengths ul "dead" line even in the routes which yo out to the residential suburbs. With a brisk industrial,and commercial population to cater for. the .system has been extended in every direction. tapping tho whole of the adjacent country wit.'i lilies.

The system of traction is tlio overhead trolley: ami tlio truck, I'von on tho extreme suburban mutes, is.a double one substantially laid in .stone setts. The oars are all smallish double-di'di-ers (about the size: of those in Wellington), most of the m>llol , decks beniii roofed. Yellow is tho dominant colour in the pnintin.-r, but a wide band of another colour round tin , upper part of tlio ear indicates tin , route upon which it is running. .Stopping places on the track are indicated uy naiuks or colour painted on the trolley polos nino or ten icet lrom the ground, and a very us>eiHl institution is the marking oft of the half-penny Mvtioiw. AH alon.j; the routes Miiuii plates aiv .suspended from the trolley i*jlw> with the "inscription "-id car (station." so that the public knows perfectly well that it may travel lrom there to the nest plate for its halfpenny. The Corporation lias about (XX) cars running at normal times, but there are one hundred more in reserve for Saturdays and rush hours, so that it is possible to keep the rolling-stock iv a state of thorough repair. That, indeed, is one of tlio secrets of .success. For tho slightest delect a car is immediately laid up, and those that are running arc* always in excellent condition, clean, bright, and neat. At present the Corporation car shops are putting a new car into service every Alondav morning. So thorough is the maintenance of tlio rolling-stork that there mc .still in .service a number of the cars which were taken over and converted at the termination of the- hrrso system in 1895.

The appearance- of the cars is greatly improved by the absence opadvertiting, which Ls an undoubted, though remunerative. dNiguremcnt of many systems. Another circumstance that struck mc very much was the absence of tickets on the floors of the cars. On some, of our Now Zealand sy.stems passengers are requested to destroy their tickets before leaving the car. On most of the Knglish systcnui there is no solicitude for the ticket at nil. In both cases tho cars and the streets at section endings and stopping-places are invariably littered with useu tickets. There is none of this in Glasgow. Unlike tho English systems, the Glasgow trams aro not dis-fiijured by tho painting up of lengthy by-law's in legal phraseology. Yoiuare not every told to wait ior tiio car to stop before alighting. Simply you must not spit, and—on a tiny red ticket posted on the windows— .

In order to keen tho cars and streets clean and tidy, passengers might kindly drop their tickets into the ticket-box. Tin's should only bo done on leaving the car. An<l they do it. One after another, na.ssing out on to the platform, they drop their tickets into the box, which is fixed below tho handrail. In about a dozen cars in which V travelled in Glasgow, 1 saw less than half-a-dozen tickets on the floor. 1 expressed surprise that this mild tti-.d kindly request was so much respected. "(ilesca people's "aye u>> to date," said the conductor. 'Just at first they didna notice the box, but they soon learned." Spitting on cars was nut down almost as easily. Half-a-<lozen prosecutions ended the nuisance comwletelv.

The- employees wear neat olive-green uniforms, with red piping and staff cap There are altogether four thousand of them engaged on the tramways. On a system with many junctions and intersections, a considerable saving in pointsmen is effected by the motormen doing the work themselves. Pulling the oar uj> neatly at the ■ points, they reach over the front with an iron lever. and shift the rails without any aj> parent inconvenience. The car is usually ready to proceed as soon as the bell rings. These are only superficial reflections. Undoubtedly the (Jlasgow system holds many valuable hints in its inner working.