HOLIDAY RECORDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 151, 23 December 1938, Page 11

HOLIDAY RECORDS

THOUSANDS ON THE

MOVE

TRANSPORT FULLY TAXED

New records for holiday travel from and to Wellington will be established today and tomorrow, according to estimates made by operators of road, rail, air, and steamer services. In spite of the fact that tens of thousands will travel in the greatly increased number of private motor vehicles on the roads, all forms of public conveyance are being fully taxed to cope with holiday makers. Today is certain to prove a record for the Railway Department in Wellington. Including suburban travellers some lOj.ooo to 12,000 people are expected to have passed through the new station by tonight. The greatly augmented schedule of trains for today includes eight expresses to Auckland which is the largest number ever to have been dispatched in one day. From inquiries made at the station at noon today it was ascertained that the first half of the day had passed off exceptionally well and that the whole organisation was working smoothly. Some trains are running a few minutes behind schedule, but ,it was pointed out that in running abnormally heavy traffic over routes that were almost entirely single track occasional small delays were inevitable. •* - LIMITED DECAYED. The Limited express from Auckland was an hour late reaching Wellington this morning,, but the delay was due to a hold-up at the Auckland end caused by a fire in an automatic signal box at 7 o'clock last night,. 15 minutes before the Wellington-bound express was due to leave. This delay has affected certain other trains using: the main trunk route. The efficient service rendered by the staff and equipment at the Wellington railway station was clearly shown this morning by the complete absence of any bustle or confusion. Had one not been in possession of. figures showing the numbers travelling it would,have been difficult to believe that there was anything unusual about the day. There were, of course, more people about than usual, but, assisted by plainlydisplayed time-tables and directions given from time to time on the loudspeakers they had no difficulty in finding their trains. AIR SERVICES DOUBLED. The air services will have a busy day tomorrow. * Commercial aeroplanes will be arriving and departing from Rongotai at intervals of not more than 15 minutes throughout the day. In all 58- machines will enter and leave the airport and will transport a total of nearly 400 passengers. This is almost exactly double^the traffic on the busiest day last year, which was also Christmas Eve. Nearly 200 passengers were carried by air then. Extra services have operated to and from Rongotai today and by tonight over 200 passengers will have been carried. Inter-island steamers services between Wellington and Lyttelton,. Wellington and Picton, and Wellington and Nelson are also carrying large passenger lists. An official of the Union Company said, today that, in view of the fact that the company had been subjected to unfair criticism from a section of the public who contended that insufficient provision was being made for holiday transport by sea, it should be pointed out that the public response made to the company's efforts to provide additional daylight trips had not been good. For instance, on the Lyttel* ton-Wellington run the Rangatira made the daylight trip yesterday with only 160 passengers, the Wahine arrived this morning with 900, and the Rangatira had left Lyttelton this morning with only 400 on board. Road passenger service operators said that the holiday bookings had easily created a new record, and that with every available vehicle in use, it had been found impossible to accommodate all who wanted to travel. HEAVY CITY TRAFFIC. In spite of the record exodus of holiday makers which set in in earnest yesterday the principal streets in the business area today have been busier than ever. Motor traffic, too, has been unusually heavy. On several occasions this morning the ordinary stop for pedestrians to cross at intersections resulted in Willis and Manners Streets becoming filled from end to end with waiting vehicles..