Evening Post. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1906.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 66, 15 September 1906, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1906.

TRAMWAY SECTIONS. «»» The question of the readjustment of tho penny sectional divisions of the electrical tramway lines of the city has aroused considerable interest locally, and quite a number of schemes have been put forward} both by private citizons and councillors. The ostensiblo aim of tho originators of these varying proposals has been to afford an equitable penny rido and afc tho same time to eliminate the supposed existing anomalies in tho presont divisions. It is hot, however, likely that tho satisfactory solution of tho problem will be found purely in tho approximation of the lineal measurement of the various sectional divisions ; there are several factors of perhaps greater importance which demand consideration, and it is desirable that these should bo emphasised. As tho electrical tramways undertaking is a trading department and should be governed by commercial principles, it must bo conceded that the payable character of any measure should pc considered in the determination of its adoption or rejection. It will be further allowed that any course pursued by the management of a business Uuch as the tramways should be capable of justification by sound reasoning and reliable statistics. In othor words, tho determination of the sections should be tho outcome of 'the combination of knowledge born of experience and common sonso, which may be presumed to embrace ordinary business acumen and discrimination. It will bo a dangerous state of affairs if the internal management of the trading concerns of the City Corporation is allowed to bo unduly influenced by extraneous interests or parochial agitation. The administration of tho public utilities, should be so well grounded on scientific manageI mant as to be able to effectively answer I«SX criticism,- and dea,l imjjartinUx. with

the residents in all tho areas served, without reference tp any demonstration by any particular section. There are two essential features which must be kept in view in considering the question of readjustment of the sectional division of the lines — namely, the necessity of securing a payable return and meeting the public convenience. The configuration of the city renders it impracticable to suit the needs of the travelling public by the division of the lines into sections of equal length, and it is certain that such a course would seriously impair the revenue-producing power of the undertaking. On the other hand, the existing irregularity and disparity between the length of tho sections of different routes may also be a 6erious drawback in these respects. The fact that the greatest stream of traffic flows in a certain channel does not, by itself, prove that particular tributary to bo the raofil Erolific in net results. As was pointed put y one of our correspondents, the test depends very largely on the relation of the revenue to tho cost of operation. On tho long sections the mileage pel passenger is presumably greater than on the shorter divisions, and, though the revenue may be considerable, the apparent advantage therefrom may bb dissipated by tho correspondingly heavier running expense. It would therefore be foolish to arbitrarily con elude what divisional scheme is most worthy of adoption without first carefully weighing all the available and essential information affecting the question. If proper records, such as wt> have consistently advocated, havo been kept by the tramways department of the_ Corporation, there aro, by this time, solid facts and figures relative to traffic on existing sections from which to mould a formativo opinion. We do not suggest that past experience is to bb taken aa a blind guido for futurb policy; but, considered relatively, the statistics of the individral sections of the x various routes should provide excellent material for any discerning person to form a reasonable hypothesis upon. From tho fact that some councillors have pet schemes of their own for which no such basis is claimed, it is evident that such 'a prosaic and businesslike method of settling this , ques* tion has not been forced upon them. It is not practicable from the branch analyses of traffic hitherto published to arrive at any definite conclusion on the comparative payableness of the individual subdivisions It is quite pos sible that South Wellington results may bo superior, but it would be rash to hasten to that conclusion simply from tho volume of traffip described as "New. town." The several routes are designated by tho titles of their southern termmi,_ consequently it is impossible to distinguish the purely city traffic from the suburban, while the northern traffic is likewise merged completely under some of the general titles. It Would therefore be fallacious to take such figures as a guide for the payable character, or oven as a complete index of the volume, of the traffic of thfi present penny sections. How many passengers, for instance, are carried on the Gqvernment Station - Clyde - quay, Cuba-street, Manners-street sections, or Tinakori-road and Thorndon-quay? What is the revenue and car. mileage of these soctions specifically? From the statistics published it would seem that a passenger travelling from any point to any point between any of these termini aro credited to "Island Bay," "Aro street," or whatever tho southern des. tmation of the car may be. It would be useful to know what proportion of the traffic pertains to each "penny" section, irrespective of the ultimato destination of the car which earns the revenue ; though the mileage cost of ovory car passing over those divisions should be debited accordingly. The question of providing overlapping sections so that overy po'ssißlo passenger may be captured and the present congregation of "farc3" at tlio penny tormina] points may bo obviated, is also one demanding the careful deliberation ot the management. It is axiomatic to say that the "short tripper" provides the most profitable traffic. This is strikingly exemplified in a recent statement attributed to the president of the M 6W J°5 k Clt y Company, to the effect that it would 'be mow profit. * ?? r 1 . tt x at com P a ny- to pay the -fares 01 lull-distance passengers, between certain busy points to travel by the elevated road than to allow them to pay for and occupy the seats in surface cars which would otherwise be sold £T . an l over again to "short trippers." r^m m tv he ? aSe °£ Woll *ngt°n the profit T AISA 1S Class of business may bo abdt^tS T y TT * mileag6 wSthin the aty area. Complete statistics would demonstrate whether or not this is the