REQUEST FOR TRAMS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 172, 18 April 1939, Page 3

REQUEST FOR TRAMS

Melrose Deputation To Council Committee HEAVY LOSS ON BUSES In 1920 the ratepayers of Wellington sanctioned a loan for the extension of the city tramway system to Melrose. This was mentioned by a: deputation from the Melrose Municipal Electors’ Association, which waited upon the tramway committee of the Wellington City Council yesterday morning, to air several matters concerned with transport between the city and rheir district. Mr. E. F. Bull said that though the bus service to Melrose was running at a loss, he thought that the committee .might consider extending the tramways to Melrose and establishing a through service from that suburb to Thorndon. The only cost would Ibe that of constructing a line, as no further plant or wages would be required to provide such a service. Mr. ,R. R. Hayman said that the extension of the tramways which had met the approval of ratepayers before could be urged again with equal emphasis. The buses, though they were said to be losing money, were crowded at rush hours, so that people who took the trams to the terminus had to walk to the top of the hill in all weathers, as it was futile to wait for a bus. He had been asked by the ratepayers to ask for a Wednesday night bus and a Sunday bus. He also asked that the school age for the tramways concession be raised from 12 to 15, as parents had now to keep their children at school longer than before, and could not afford to pay full fares. As it was, these children were kept locked up in the district, as the fares were too solid for their parents to pay. “I hope they are not locked up,” said the Mayor, Mr. Hislop. “Well, in the sense that they cannot pay the fares to go to other places of recreation,” Mr. Hayman replied. Mention was also made of the position of a waiting-sbed, and the desire that it should be changed, as on occasions people in the shed around the corner were unaware that the bus had arrived and left. Mr. P. F. Masters, secretary of the association, mentioned that some of the buses had been observed standing for as long as 10 minutes and a quarter of an hour at city termini. He thought that there were bigger chances of making them pay if the wheels were hept turning, and suggested consideration of circular loop routes which had been adopted in some cities. The buses, could run from Courteney Place to Melrose, then out to Houghton and Island Bays, up to Brooklyn, and so back to the city.' Mr, Hayman said he thought the best idea was trams to the top of the hill and a light bus service through to Houghton and Island Bays; that would save the cost of running the buses up the hill. The committee chairman (Mr. Hislop) said that the loss on the Melrose buses for last year was £llB9/5/4, or I.OSd. for every passenger carried However, the matters brought forward would be gone into carefully to see if anything could be done.