TRAMCAR MUST GO

Evening Star, Issue 22542, 9 January 1937, Page 9

TRAMCAR MUST GO

TROLLEY-BUS FAVOURED TREND IN ENGLAND The electric tramcar must make way for the electric trackless trolley-bus. That is the firm conviction of Mr F. S. Morton, a former member of the Auckland Transport Board, who arrived in Wellington on Tuesday from Southampton, accompanied by Mrs Morton. Mr Morton has been in England for. a period of about seven years, and during that time he has been able to witness the great change that has been taking place in the municipal .transport systems of London and other leading cities of the United Kingdom. “ The trackless trolley-bus is replacing the tram, throughout England,” Bald Mr Morton, “the only place that has continued with the trams being Liverpool. The Royal Commission, .which brought down its finding about six and a-half years ago, in its repo.rt on the transport problem, suggested . the scrapping of the trams as early as possible, and replacing them with the .trackless trolley-buses. They expect to replace all the trams in the metropolitan., area in London within the next three years. They have between three and five hundred trolley-buses on the road now, and they are taking off the tram* wherever they-can. There is every possibility that the trolley-buses will eventually work the-whole of the London thoroughfares. ' “ One of the great advantages of the trolley-buses is tnat they can manoeuvre in very narrow thoroughfares. The streets in Ipswich are narrower than in Wellington, and . the trolley-buses manoeuvre there without any difficulty whatever, just the same as an ordinary motor vehicle. NO NOISE OR SMELL. u The day of the tramcar is gone. The trackless bus has the advantages of. both motor car and tram. It does away with the weaknesses of both. There is no jolting, no smell, and no noise. It is safe in every respect, and on© of the principal points about the trackless trolley-bus is that everything so far as the propelling power is concerned is manufactured in the country, no money going into foreign countries for petrol. All that would be necessary out here would be the motor units and the tyres—the rest could be built out here just as satisfactorily as it could be manufactured overseas.”

The trackless trolley-buses would be eminently successful in Wellington, said Mr Morton. They would be very suitable for hilly work, as the rubber tyres .had a firmer grip for starting than had metal wheels on a metal track. One of the most outstanding advantages of the system was that the buses could _ draw into the kerb to deposit and pick up passengers, and, therefore, it would not be necessary for shoppers and others to walk halfway across the Streets on a rainy day to get into the vehicles. The buses, upholstered in a standard comparable to that of a private motor vehicle, would be anainducement to people to travel on the municipal services, and thus revenue ;would be increased.

Questioned as to the competition of Diesel buses with trolley-buses in London, Mr Morton said that it was only a matter of time before the Diesel bus would have to make way for the trolleybus on account of the unpleasant fumes .which were generated by the Diesel engine. *