WELLINGTON TRAMS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1908, Page 7

WELLINGTON TRAMS.

FACTS, FIGURES, AND CONCLUSIONS.

"OBJECTS OF MUNICIPAL TRAMWAYS. I. The chief objects of municipal tramways have been well described as three in particular : First, to provide at cheap fares a safe, speedy, and comfortable means of transit. Second, to maintain the undertaking in a sound financial condition by making adequate provision for depreciation and renewals : and, in addition to thac, by paying off the borrowed money by means of sinking funds, so that the next generation will havo handed over to it a fully equipped tramway system, efficiently maintained and free from debt. Third, from the profits of the system to relieve the ratepayers of expenditure for other municipal purposes. HOW FAR ARE THESE OBJECTS ATTAINED ? As to safety and speed, the Wellington trams are satisfactory. For comfort and convenience, they are often unsatisfactory. Some of the cars are designed so badly that it is difficult fpr women and elderly people u> enter or alight., The steps are so high that, for these classes of travellers, there is undue inconvenience and no little risk of personal injury. Thus annoyance is given to hundreds of passengers daily. Between the seats of some cars insufficient space is allowed for passengers, so that persons at the ends of the seats opposite the entrance have to squeeze themselves in or out very awkwardly when there are other passengers in the compartment. Thus annoyance is given to thousands of passengers daily. During the busiest hours the cars are so overcrowded that many persons travel standing. They are earned uncomfortably to themselves, and they cause discomfort to persons seated. Thus annoyance is given to other thousands of passengers daily. / The provision for passengers smoking is insufficient. In cold and wet weather smokers on the decked cars have no shelter, and risk illness by exposure on long journeys. At busy periods of the day complaint may bo made justly by all classes of passengers. On the long-distance routes, homeward passengers boarding the cars at Cuba-street or Courtenay-place, between 5 and 6.30 p.m., have almost invariably to stand for a great portion of the journey. If they travel by decked cars, they are frequently forced to the unprotected roof, whatever the weather. To wait for another car does not improve their situation, for nearly all the | cars, at the time mentioned, and in tho [ winter season, are overcrowded. The decked cars' should really not be used in wet weather — far else the deck shoujd j be covered, as elsewhere. ; ■ PATRONAGE AND PROGRESS. That the fares are sufficiently cheap 'is shown by the number of persons carried last year — more than 20 millions in all. As the population of Wellington and suburbs is set down at 70,000, this is a liberal patronage. Tho average fare paid by each passenger was between Id and l£d ; and it cost in the tramway working expenses, to 1 carry each passenger, less than Id per head. Tho average number of separate journeys made in the year, per head of 70,000 population, was 287. More persons than ever are travelling on the trams, and they are travelling oftener. For every mile run by a car, the average traffic revenue is Is lfd. The average traffic revenue per single mile of track is £4161. The population of 70,000 pays £L 17s Id per head per annum to support the traffic. From these figures it is clear that the Wellington trams should be worked at a good profit, according to current electrical tramway practice* Up to the present, it is doubtful whether, in a strict admeasurement, they have financially paid at all. MUNICIPAL MANAGEMENT. Hero follows the statement of James Dalrymple, as manager of the Glasgow City Tramways (everywhere quoted as a model of successful municipal operation) made to an American journal. It should be repeated twice daily by every Wellington alderman, after he has said his prayers. The Mayor should repeat it not less than nine times daily in the same circumstances : — "The average profit in tho street-car business is one-fifth of a cent per pas- j senger. It is a narrow margin, and ?equires the closest economy in management to maintain it. The least evtrayagance would wipe it out. It is the easiest thing in the world to turn profit into loss at the end of a year. Street railway operation is risky, municipal operation is dangerous ; if any city takes over its lines and does not manage in the most economical way on the soundest, truest business basis, it will fail in every respect." Municipal management is subject to two serious drawbacks. The first is the public pressure for reduced fares or longer journeys for the standard fares — a pressure for greater advantages than the tramway system can give while maintaining its proper profit. The second is the pressure to increase the number of employees, and the pressure of political influence affecting control, with the danger of wasteful or inefficient service. The American Commission which visited England some years ago with tho special object of enquiring into municipal tramways, reported that no municipal operation was likely to be Highly successful that did not provide for, firstly an executive manager with full responsibility, holding his position during good behaviour; and, secondly, the exclusion of political influence and personal favouritism. The first provision is not met in Wellington. Is the second fully met? The gist of the matter is this : Everybody's business is nobody's business; very few people will protect the municipal pocket as they would their own. Municipal management of tramways is profitable and successful in proportion as its conditions approximate to the conditions of private management. It is made profitable by capable and economical operation. It is made successful, not by starving or sweating its employees, but by insisting that their services yield the full value that they would yield to a just private employer according to the current wages and conditions of labour. The conclusions are two : that tho Wellington trams should be placed under tho separate control of a responsible manager, instead of remaining in the charge of the city electrical engineer ; and that the wages and hours of employees should be fixed by the Arbitration Court.