BUSES V. TRAMS

Evening Star, Issue 23175, 26 January 1939, Page 5

BUSES V. TRAMS

ROSLYN PROTEST MEETING SUPPORT FOR PETITION BUSES HEARTILY CONDEMNED The organised opposition to the City Council’s proposal to substitute buses for the Rattray street (lloslyn) cable trams was advanced a further stage last evening when residents of the district held another meeting in the Presbyterian Sunday School Hall. Petitions which have been circulating in the district protesting against the change and to which ratepayers and residents generally have been invited to append their signatures, were handed in at the meeting, at which some 100 people attended. The chairman (Mr R. T. Stewart), at the outset, paid a tribute to the work* in organising the protest which bad been curried out by the late Mr R. S. Black, and a motion of sympathy which he moved be extended to Mrs Black and family was carried in silence. Mr Stewart stated that 34 petition forms had been returned to the committee. They contained 2,256 isigna-tnres—-(applause)—and there were still 12 forms to come in. This gave very definite proof that the residents of the district did not want the buses. It was proposed that further meetings be held in the Kaikorai and Mornington districts before the petitions were presented to the City Council, so that residents of those localities would have an opportunity of supporting them, . . The Chairman referred to the trial now being conducted by the authorities with the bilges, and to the smell and noise they created. It would be a sorry day for the district if the buses became a permanent mode of transport. They wore not to bo compared with the cable cars for safety and economy of running. A serious question which must bo considered by the council was the carrying capacity of the buses a.s against the cable cars. The cars could handle ] ,400 passengers an hour as against 132 for a bus, so it would take nine buses to do the same amount of work. The cost, he submitted, would be infinitely greater, too. FOR GOOD OF DISTRICT. No political or financial motive could be imputed to them in protesting against the proposed change-over, said Mr J. E. Straek, the next speaker. Residents had a very reliable and safe service without any great cost to the ratepayers, and to substitute for it a bus service would show a grave lack of judgment. If the trams did show a loss, this should be allowed for, continued Mr Straek, for they brought progress to the hill suburbs, and meant a greatly increased revenue to the council in rates, lighting, and gas charges. The cable cars had been in operation over 42 years, and during all that time there had only been three fatal accidents. This was a fine record. The service could bo improved at the present time. They all know that, but with the expenditure of, say, £lO,000 they would have a transport system of great efficiency for many years to come. It would be infinitely better to spend this sum in modernising the line than to spend £35,000 on a fleet of Diesel buses which would be costly in upkeep. Such an expenditure, the speaker said, would be tantamount to exporting our capital when it could be used here in the foundries and in the employment of labour. • Mr Straek moved that a meeting he held in Kaikorai and one at Mornington, the dates to be fixed by the committee, so that residents there would have an opportunity of swelling the protest. The motion was carried. At this juncture Mr J. E. MacManus said the council was making a progressive move in trying to find out if the buses were a success on the hill. Buses were a symbol of progress, and the fallacy that they could not negotiate hill roads in bad weather had been exploded. He instanced the buses which for a number of years came into town over the Chain Hills. BUSES UNHEALTHY. Mr S. de Beer, speaking on the technical side of Diesel buses, said that 95 per cent, of the fumes' thrown from the exhausts of these machines in the form of black smoke was carbon monoxide gas, a poison. Buses on the proposed route could never be a success, and their cost of operation and maintenance would be excessive, - the speaker added. So far as the present part-time trial of buses was concerned, said Mr de Beer, he challenged Mr M'Kenzie to deny that the money collected on the Fairfield route was being credited the money collected on the Roslyn bus route. Safety, he said, was the first consideration, and they had that with the cars. On the Stuart street line, where the council had put on a partial Sunday service, there had been four accidents in 100 days with the buses. Mr E. Sincock told the audience the Roslyn line of cars was commenced over 50 years ago, the first terminus being at the junction. _ It was later, extended to the Kaikorai Valley. Safety from the travelling public point of view must be the first consideration, ho said. Secondly, could those in favour of the buses guarantee they could do the work all the year round. In .this trial, of the buses the tramway department would have the benefit of the best six months of the year, but what of the winter? Would they bo able to climb and descend in snow and hard frostv weather? He doubted it. The Maori’ Hill service had had trouble during the winter period. STUDIED NEGLECT, “ I have yet to learn that there are buses operating successfully in any part of the world where the routes are as steep as Rattray street and Robin Hood.” The graces were steeper than one in six and seven. They were one in five. The care at the moment might bo a little out of dirte, but there had been studied neglect in the past. There had been no attempt to keep the line in proper condition. Some years ago he had been criticised in open Council for having the audacity to say the Reslyn Hue was getting into a state or disrepair, continued Mr Sincock, but his statements were justified by the facts. They could have cars that would provide greater comfort and shelter than those at present operating. COSTLY DEBT CHARGES. The unpaid debt on the line, the speaker said, was approximately £26,000, with other minor charges bringing it up to £28,000. The people would still have this to pay for a dead concern, and they would also be saddled with a further liability of £35,000 tor the buses, a total indebtedness of £60,000. The sinking and renewal Fund necessary to meet this would be a burden they could not carry. Cost of fares would increase, people would leave the hill, and values would depreciate. The speaker also referred to the peak

loading periods when the problem of a line of buses crossing Princes street into Rattray street would have to he considered. They had got to be fair to the Council, said Mr J. L. Calder, the next speaker, for that body had found itself in difficulties. He knew there was plenty of room for improvement in the present system. They had all growled about the overcrowding and this also was a factor the Council had to deal with, and then someone said, “ Oh, well, scrap the lot!” The time was ripe, ho said, for a thorough inquiry into the whole system of transport from an engineering and accountancy point of view. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman.