INCREASED-TRAM TARES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1179, 14 July 1911, Page 6

INCREASED-TRAM TARES.

THOSE NEW REGULATIONS. DfrTHEY KAN CABINET CONTROL? CITY ENGINEER'S CRITICISE GREAT "ADDITION' TO WORKING COST

: A report upon the draft tramway regulations, issued by the Governor was pre- . ecnted- td tho City Council last evening ■ by the engineer and manager of the city I tramways (Mr..S. Richardson). Dealing ; with the regulations in general, Mr. Kich- . anUoii, remarks:— 'The.: restrictions proposed with regard '■■ to the carrying capacity and the speeds of ; the cars imposes a most serious disabil--1 ity in '.this city. All the world over it ; is recognised that the seating accommodation of cars nt rush-hours (although regular services aio supplemented. largely by . extra,cars nt these times) is. inadequate ■ to meet the extraordinary demands by the : public, who 'aro anxious to reach their destinations with as. little delay aspbs■«ble. .'; . ' "To reasonably cope with tho.pre-- [' sent traffic..it.would be..necessary un-.. ■ der 'the"proposed regulations to run about -10 more cars at tho busy hours ; of the day. This will mean, with ; extra- carshed accommodation and ■ power-houso plant, an extra outlay of nearly' .£75,000, with ah annual capi- : tal charge of about X 7500. . ■ The average cost ■ of operation per .. : car is now-U-llOO.'per'ann.uuv so. it • would bo fair to.compute the extra, cost to the city under ' tho proposed regulations at something over ,£IO,OOO per. annum. ; . "To meet this extra expenditure, it. : seems to me that us the present earning power would not ho increased, it would be necessary to increase the r fares by about 50 per cent., which . would seriously affect the general public. .. ' "Taking: tho question of risk into con- ; sidoration under the conditions hitherto : prevailing with regard to the tramway ■ traffio in Wellington, the very small percentage of accidents that liave occurred, ■ considering that over 22 million passon- : gers are carried annually, show that tho service has been very safely iuh, and . that the cars and equipment have been ; kept up to a high state of efficiency. ,No Risk to Speak Of. "In my opinion there is no risk to ■ speak of in allowing a reasonab'o amount : o£ overloading, and if the-public are to ■ be debarred from standing on the top 1 decks of cars and platforms whilst tho ; rush.traffic is on, they will be very seri- : ously delayed in getting to business' or. ; their ..homes.' ••...- ■■<.-. : "In the figures quoted as the;, probable extra cost which will be thrust upon the' city under these regulations, I havo not taken into account any expenditure in tho '■ alterations of existing rolling-stock, which might be put down at some ,£SOOO. "The whole of the foregoing expenditure is'quite apart from the-16-now cars now ■ in hand, or to be built next year, required fpv the. natural-growth.of the traffic. In conclusion, I -would ask tho council : to make a most searching investigation : into the merits- of theso proposed regnla- ■ tions, and tako united action with tlio other tramway authorities in the Dominion, with a view to the elimination or modifications of such clauses as will seri- : ously affect the working of tramways in their present form;" Dealing in detail with tho regulatidns, Mr. Richardson states, inter alia, that, accordiuß to the opening clause, it is, intended to bring theso regulations into force on the day of their publication in . tho Gazette.. "As the carrying capacity of the system will be greatly' curtailed," he continues, '"and the construction of additional rolling stock necessitated, it is imperative that sufficient time should be granted before enforcing the regulations to allow of ■new cars being constructed. The clauses ' are framed to give effect to the provision made in the Tramways Amendment Act of l!) 10. Clause:s, Sub-Section b, and. the ; effect is to take away from the local authority the- powers, they havo hitherto enjoyed of : licensing tramcars, and to place thess powers in the hands of the minister." ■'; . . ■ ' ' ;

Clauses 13 tolfl deal with, the carringo of passengers. - These clauses are very ilrastic in their-operation, arid greatly retiuce the jnilub'er. of passengers who. may bo carried on most of ■■the. cars;, Clause 13, Section 2, Sub-Section c, provides that no passengers are allowed to ■ stand on'tho top decks of cars, platforms, ;pr steps. This seriously diminishes the 'currying, capacity of all double-deck cars, and to enforce the regulation so far as the top. decks are concerned will mean an extra conductor on each top-deck car. Standing Passengers. Section 3. —This clause provides that standing passengers may bo allowed on condition that they do not unduly inconvenience other passengers or impede. Ibe conductor in the carrying-oufc of his duty. 'This clause, if strictly administered, may to held t6 block standing passengers on any car, and seemingly gives any conductor arbitrary power, as the standing' of «ven one pai?ei;ser may be held to bo an impedence to his duties boiiig carried out. Clause 15, Section 1, will practically prohibit the corporation continuing to carry children up to 11 years at half rates, Section 2 provides that the frannray authorities must prevent the carriage of passengers over and above the licensed number, and-arrange for the accommodation of intending passengers at .slopping places in order of priority. This will mean that ,nn inspector must bo placed at each important stopping place to attend to the formation of queues, about half.a tlozan of which would bo wanted nt, say, Oftirtcna'y Place, as each -.route wouid require a separate: queue. This system would be cumbersome and irritating to tho public .with, say, a fairly frequent service, and it would probably debar tho residents or. Miramar and Seatoun (where a forty minutes' service prevails) from using tho ears. Strong exception should be - taken liy the council to this section. No Useful Proposal, Clause 19, Section 1, provides for exhibiting on the dash boards of car'j the number of passengers such cars are licensed to carry—lhe lettering to be llin. high, and will be- from its position "expensive to maintain, a disfigurement to the cars, illegible at night, and will servo no useful purpose. In some cases four or five, rows of lettering would bo required. Section 2 provides for a similar notice inside the cars. This clause should be strongly opposed. Clau?e"22, Section (b), provides that cars Rhall have steps so that passengers may easily alight or enter, and a inoveable Rtop placed in position by tho conductor when the ordinary step is over It inches from the ground; this means increased delay at stopmng-plncos, and'will be found impracticable in service. Section (c) provides for a portion of the platform at .each end of n car to bo reserved for the sole usu of -the.motorman and conductor. To carry out th's regulation will necessitate radical alterations to 19 combination cars. 15 small double-deck car.*?, and ■( box cars, and will render them practically valueless for traffic, as tho alterations will bo very costly and the passengers' accommodation diminished. Trolley Poles, etc. Clansc 22, Section (m), provides that trolley poles, be long enough to project over the end of tho carriage, and if necessary for two trolley iioles to be provided on each long car. It is quite, unnecessary that the. trolley pole should project becp'nd the ear, the trolley head can bn Bt-on by the cojiduotor from the .side o{

the car. To have a long Ivolley polo with the head projecting from the car tends to make the trolley head leh've the wire. Section (o) provides for oil, acetylene, or-other lamp being carried inside each car, properly lighted after sunset. This is quite unnecessary, and introduces a possibility of damage through the oil or acetylene. This will also be expensivo to maintain. Section (j) provides thnt'oach car must have a fu.se out out. This would necessitate the rewiring of- more, than half of the city cars at a large expense. Fuses have been found unsatisfactory, and a cause of great .delay to cars; they have long been dispensed with on iiew cars; tho circuit breaker, or breakers-'provided on each car proving amply sufficient to protect the car. Modern practice tends to the discarding of fuses in electric power work generally.

Section (I , ) provides for lightning arrester and. coil to be affixed to each car. All the Wellington cars are provided with lightning nnestei's' placed under the cars, but the.choke coils in many instances are placed behind'the panels in tho end of cars. It would be expensive to inovi) these to the bottoms of tho cars as requested "by the regulations. Section (x) pi'ovides that cars shall be fitted with route and destination indicators, at sides and. ends of'car. This section makes if imperative to provide route and destination indicators,- which have to be lighted at night; on the sides of all the city cars. This means ati outlay of at least ,£IBOO to comply with the regulation.' ■Section (y) provides for appliances and furnishings generally-.used O n tramways. This clause gives unknown power to the Minister. ■ ■ - . Speed on Down Grades. Clause' 23 deals with limit's of speed on down grades. This clause reduces tho maximum speed allowed under our present Order-in-Council very considerably. To run at the speeds stipulated will necessitate an increase in tho number of cars required to run the present service at;tlic reduced.speeds allowed. Anything tendiiifj t'o.make th£ service slower is, in my.opinion, a retrograde step—harassing to.the'public and expensive to the corporation. ' ; - ■ ■ ' ■ The maximum speed allowed in the city is reduced'-from' fifteen miles per hour under the original Order-in-Council, to twelve wiles per hour." Note.—ln view of this it is interesting to observe in tho last number of the "Tramway World" (May, 1911) that the Board-of Trade has.: intimated 'to tho Islington Council (London) that it' does not see' any 'adequate s reason for-reducing the maximum limit-"of'speed of ! 16 miles per hour for cars in Goswell Road. This seciioh also stipulates, that tho speed- on grades stich as Brooklyn, Wadostqwn, and iulbirnie, shall not exceed six miles per hour, although on tho Brooklyn and Wadestown lines 7i mies per hour is now allowed, and no speed restriction has been placed on the lulbiniie hill' grades. Clause 2i provides for reducing the speed limits m narrow streets, and also for reducing tho speed of a car to four miles per-hour on a road that is crowded with pedestrians or , other traffic. The effect of this clause will he that cars can only ran at » walking paco through the mam .streets on a .Saturday evening, and it is questionable irhether this reduced speed might not be insisted upon at 5 oi clock in the evenings. Under such conditions if would be impossible to handle the traffic, and passengers would be greatly delayed in reaching their destinations.

Clauses 2G to 30 (inclusive) deal with tho car report book which is required to be kept for each car. Under theso regulations six reports will be required each day for each straight shift car, making a total of over 300 extra reports a day to be dealt with by this-Department. Clerical assistance will have to be provided nt the car-sheds and head offices for this work, the extent of which is quite. unnecessary.