CROWDED OUT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 70, 16 December 1907, Page 8

CROWDED OUT.

NEW CAR-SHED TO BE PROVIDED,

THB QTJESTION OF SITE.

If anyone's business takes him in the direction of tho main approach to Newtown Park between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. he will see. a lino of cars. "slooping-out" on the track between the shed and tho waitingroom' opposite the -Newtowii terminus of the system. Like most other things, it- does not improve electric tram-cars to be oxposed to tho weather moro than is necessary, and the most simple-minded will judge that this is not done "for fun." As a matter of fact, the great car-shed at Nowtown is not largo enough to stable the whole of the,cars now possessed by the city, so a, number—. perhaps four or five—have perforce to take the night. air during those .hours when no car runneth. > ■■ ■■ Of course, the situation can only be met inonoway—more "stabling" accommodation will have to bo-provided, and that'at tho earliest possible date, becauso the- twenty cars now on order are being delivered in batches, and if they cannot be housed they will soon bo encroaching on the public street. Although the present car-sbed was thought. quite adequate for the service three years ago, tho development of the city and system has been so marked that although a large sum of money had to bo expended last year in extending the under-pits, the shed itself is. now found to be all ; too small for present needs. It might be 'possible to enlarge the shed to provide sufficient accommodation for the needs of the immediate future, but what of five or ten years hence. SECOND CAR-SHED WANTED. 'J'horo is no doubt in anyone's mjnd.that a second car-shed is needed, and, to go a step further, there is no doubt wbero that shod .should be. Since our last article on this important subject, various sites have been suggested, but without any question,' tho ideal site for , a second car-shed is as noar as possible to the Thorndon torminuB — at- the opposite end of the main system to JNowtown. The reasons for such a site are many. One of tho many difficulties tho tramway management has to cope with at present is the economical working of brokenshift time, which moans the time when extra cars and men have to be put on to moot the demands of the rush hours —7.30 a.m. to 9 a.m., noon to 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tho mon that work on these shifts have to be allowed fifteon minutes to sign . otf at the Newtown. car-shed; so that if a man is on the broken shifts, he has to bo allowed an hour anil a half a day on which ho is doing nothing that brings nny return. This could be cut down considor ? ably by the provision of another car-shed for, the rush car that he was to join, would bo able to start from the terminus noarcst the point whoro it was most needed. LOSS ON EMPTIES. It is not an uncommon sight to see a car travelling rapidly through tho section from JNowtowil empty, or practically empty. ; This is an express told off to take up duty at a certain, point on a certain route to relieve a reported pressure. Its services are not needed the one way, and it has to travel all the way from Newtown to, say, Lambton Quay to pick up a load, which expenditure in time, wages, .etc., .nullifies; the business it may do when.on the passenger route. To illustrate this clearly, it.can bo pointed out that it would bo quito reasonable to send half-a-dozen .cars out from the carshed to take up a .running from Newtown Park when there is a huge crowd to handle, but it. would bo economically unwise to send them all the way from a car-shed at Thorndon, and vice versa. . If there is '.'heavy going" in Lambton Quay, the extra .cars woufi, of courso, be dispatched from Thorndon, not from the Newtown end (when they would have to run empty for nearly the whole length of the track). QUESTION OF A SITE. It is, therefore, expedient that the second car-shed should bo at Thorndon, but land is a very scarce commodity in this city. The ideal site for a car-shed woukl be on Mrs. Kliodes's land, between the Thorndon Esplanade and Kaiwarra, where tho keroseno stores are located. This is to bo sold-at auction early next year, and if a suitable section could be secured at a reasonable cost tlie trouble would. be at an end. There are, however, two alternatives in tho neighbourhood —either to utilise the western end of the Thorndon Esplanade, which will be shut off from the harbour front,by the re-claim-ing to be done in . connection with the straightening of the Hutt line, or come to some arrangement with-the Government (as prospective owners of the Wellington and iManawatu Railway Company's/property) for a few acres of the railway reserve opposite the foot of the Tinakori Road. .Kilbirnie has been mentioned as the situation of tlie iiow car-sher], biit the.suggestion does-not deserve serious consideration. A shed in such a locality would be no good,for emergency calls. It is riot nt a sectional terminus, and—what should put it out of the question at once—the tunnel through the hill will, only take single-decked cars. Tho question .of providing a new car-shed will probably be discussed at the City Council meeting 'on Thursday.