OVERCROWDING ON TRAMS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 171, 16 April 1942, Page 6

OVERCROWDING ON TRAMS

Proposals For Remedy QUESTION OF EMPLOYING WOMEN Proposals for relieving overcrowding on trams were made by the general nmnager of the tramways department of the Wellington City Corporation, Mr. 1.. B. Hutton, in ti report submitted to the city council last night. Mr. Hutton reported that the overcrowding was brought about by congestion between 4.30 aril 6 p.m. lhe number of regular passengers on all routes was increasing. In some weeks trams bad carried ns many as 200,000 more passengers than in the curiesponding week of tlie previous yeai. The excess was nearly all on the six weekdays, so that it amounted to between 20.000 and 30,000 extra pusseu•mrs a day. Also there was a tendency for people to attend afternoon in preference to evening entertainments, and they swelled the number wishing to travel home at about 5 p.m. Again, more and more people were being forced to collect their own supplies In the City. If all available trainears were on the rails, as they were, and overcrowding continued, several steps could be taken: — .. Display notices in trains asking people to travel home before 4 p.m. if possible. Ask theatre proprietors to begin afternoon entertainments half an hour earlier. . Remove some. of the setits m all cars, leaving more standing room. Try to speed up traffic on all routes by cutting out some of the tram stops, particularly on trips that would bling ears back to the city between 4.30 and 6 p.m. Try to induce the union to vary the present agreement with the object of permitting the use of more men at peak hours. Continue the overhaul of tlie timetable. Women Conductors. The proposal to employ women conductors was first mooted about six months ago. and a number of applications had been received, said Mr. Hutton, but it was only during the week following Easter that applicants had been interviewed, chiefly to discover what type was likely to offer. The union had 'declared that it had no objections, provided the rate of pay was as for men conductors, but the department, had not accepted that view a.s final.

The mayor, -Mr. Hislop, said that ways of easing overcrowding and the question of employing women would be discussed at a meeting of the Public Passengers Transport Association ii> Wellington on Friday. It was important that a uniform agreement about the employment of women should cover all transport authorities.