THE TRAM HABIT

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 71, 22 September 1919, Page 8

THE TRAM HABIT

WELLINGTON'S HIGH AVERAGE.

It would appeal; that with, the Wellington public the tram-riding habit is fully developed. In his annual report, the general manager of the department (Mr. W. H. Morton) states:—"During the year ended 31st March, 1919, the care ran 2,774,379 miles on the city system, and carried 33,965,692 passengers, which, on the assumption that the population of Wellington and suburbs is 85,000, represents an average of 399 rides per capita—a figure about double that usually obtained by tramways in the United Kingdom. The steady growth of traffic, to. which attention has been directed in all the annual reports issued since the outbreak of the war, was fully maintained during the past year, hut owing to the unfortunate epidemic outbreak, the effects of which seriously militated against the servicel for at least two months, the actual increase in pas-, sengers carried did not exceed the figure of the preceding year. On the Brooklyn and Wadestown routes the handling of the heavier traffic has been a difficult problem, particularly on account of the small carrying capacity of the majority of the cars provided for working these routes."