TRAM AND BUS SERVICES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25547, 15 July 1948, Page 3

TRAM AND BUS SERVICES

BRITISH SYSTEMS DISCUSSED NEW TRAFFIC MANAGER ARRIVES There had been no radical changes in public transport in the United Kingdom in recent years, and it was unlikely that much development would be possible until present shortages were overcome, said Mr H. Pointer, who arrived in Christchurch yesterday to become traffic manager to the Tramway Board. Most British services required heavy renewals after the war and there was a big demand for vehicles from transport authorities overseas. Practically all city and town transport Services had been operated by the municipalities, he said. The Christchurch undertaking would be the first controlled by a separate board with which he had worked. In Britain these services were now under notice of nationalisation, he added. The order made in January this year had not yet

been applied to general road transport services; but this was now only a matter of time. It was expected that the municipally-operated services and the private companies operating between towns ana in the country districts would come under area boards set up by the Government. Mr Pointer is interested in the introduction of ticket machines. One type carried by conductors in many British services has a roll of paper inside, he said. The conductor changed the section stamp as the vehicle entered each area and then dialled the value of the ticket required, which was automatically printed on the plain strip as each was issued. Payment was made by hand. A more recent innovation was a portable set operating on the principle of a totalisator ticket-vending machine. The conductor pressed a button and the ticket required emerged, different colours being used for each denomination. Beth these machines saved the conductor carrying a book with a range of tickets, saved time in selection, and in moving through a crowded vehicle, Mr Pointer said.

Th long-term proposal that the Christchurch Tramway Board should inaugurate services on a roundabout through the suburbs to save passengers travelling in to the city and then out by another route was referred to Mr Pointer. These perimenter services were provided in some English cities where the demand warranted and plant was available, he said. They were popular with visitors wishing to see .most of a town in one trip and persons visiting friends. One circuit, he recalled, took two hours for the complete trip.