TRACKLESS TRAMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 31 March 1923, Page 7

TRACKLESS TRAMS

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS A VETOED EXPERIMENT IN LONDON The new trackless tramway system which has been tried in Birmingham with success is not likely to be adopted in London for some time to come. The London County Council, -however, has had the matter_under consideration, and in 1921 approved a scheme for a line about eight miles long between West Norwood and Lee Green, via the Crystal Palace. But local authorities have the same veto over railless traction as they have over tramway schemes, and in this case the Lewisham Borough Council raised objections and the proposal was withdrawn. Lewisham considered the proposed route, which in parts is narrow and winding, as unsuitable for railless cars. And, moreover, it objected to overhead wires The new system has been running in Birmingham on what is known as the Nechells route—the route on which, by the way, the horse trams lingered long est. The trackless trams have only been running for two months, it is true, but they have demonstrated their value and convenience in an emphatic manner. There was considerable speculatioa prior to the experiment being out as to whether the 'bus—for it is a 'bus rather than a tram that is used—would tend to become dissociated from its overhead wire. Some critics held that that was sure to happen : that the rod would constantly become disconnected, and that the 'bus would skid and render this more than a mere possibility. But in practice it has been proved that the vehicle can keep a very straight, courso. It has no monopoly of direction, it is true; it has to give and take with the rest of the traffic; although it may be said that drivers of other vehicles, finding the municipal drivers considerate in every way—as they are urged to be; —are far more disposed to give way to a railless tram than it was originally considered "they might be. The 'bus, as a matter of sheer fact, finds it very easy to thread its way through the traffic without being called upon to make sudden swerves and dashes to the side of the road other than that on which it is supposed to ply. The system is a very simple one: the car simply uses the overhead wire as it would if it were running on rails, and can obtain practically the same speed as a tram running on a track. There is no disadvantage in regard to the vehicle except indeed that its holding capacity if not equal to that of a tram; but then it is a much more mobile vehicle, and the absence of rail-laying and renewal in con nection with its running are very important matters. Mr Alfred Baker, the manager of the Birmingham Tramway undertaking, states that the actual figures of the running costs have not yet been made out, but assuredly, ho says, they are not more than those of running the ordinary trams, and very much less than those incidental to the' running of motor 'buses. The' receipts of the trams for the eight weeks that they have been running under the trackless system are 50 per cent, higher than, those of the last eight weeks under the origina]~system. During^those ,last eight weeks the mileage covered on the Nechells route under the old system was 32,854, with receipts £2589, and receipts per car mile 18.9 d. Under the trackless system the figures have been: Mileage, eight weeks, 45,726; receipts, £3914; receipts per car mile increased by 1.7 per cent. Then, again, a five-minute service only could be given on the route. Now the service is a four-minute one; and it could be made a one-minute one if desired. Railless cars have also been running in Leeds, Bradford, York and Middlesbrough for some years past. —London Observer.