TRAINS TO THE SUBURBS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14209, 4 November 1909, Page 6

TRAINS TO THE SUBURBS.

INADEQUATE ARRANGEMENTS

ENORMOUS WASTE OF TIME.

A well-known official estimates the population residing within a 10-mile radius of the Auckland Post Office at 136,000, and population is moderately dense in places beyond the 10-mile limit.

Already the Auckland isthmus is the most thickly peopled portion of the Dominion, and the monthly report of our vital statistics shows that population is increasing in this locality more rapidly' than in any other part of the two islands.

What is being done to give this expanding population quick means of transit We have already established some of the modern methods of communication —railways, electric tramways, steamers. Ave we utilising them as they ought to be utilised ? At present the railways are the only means of transit owned and run by the State the tramways and steamers are run by private companies purely on commercial lines. • Auckland has two main lines and one branch line which may be used for suburban purposesthe Main South,, the Main North, and the Onehunga branch. Under present arrangements the suburban services extend to the south as far as Otahuhu, a distance of nine miles; to Onehunga, a distance of eight miles; and to Henderson, on the North line, a distance of 14 miles. It should be explained in regard to Henderson that in actual fact it is like the other railway suburbs, well within the 10-mile radius of Auckland. It is only the very extensive detour round by Newmarket, and the circuitous route of the railway, which makes the distance 14 miles. Accepting things as they are, however, are these railways used to the best advantage for the conveyance of passengers

Considering that the bulk of the population within the 10-mile radius around Auckland is engaged during the daytime at some form of occupation in the city, the main problem is to get them into the city as quickly as possible during the morning, and out as quickly as possible at five o'clock and six o'clock in the evening. A train leaves Otahuhu, according to the Government time-table, at 7.5 a.m., and reaches Auckland at 7.45, Liking 40 miputes to do nine miles; another train leaves Otahuhu at 8.10 and reaches Auckland at 8.48. For those who commence work at eight o'clock or nine o'clock, the service is not unsuitable, but imagine the waste of time each day, and every day, to those workers from whom the Government require 40 minutes each morning and evening, when the journey could be done in 20 minutes. The evening trains from Auckland to Otahuhu are by no means so conveniently arranged. One train leaves at 5.20, and there is not another until 6.20.

The Onehunga suburban service need only be quoted to show the contrast between the method of the railway officials in not working for the convenience of the public, and the methods of the Auckland Electric Tramways Company. The railway authorities actually rim fewer trains durhr* the rush hours in the morning and the evening, and require 35 minutes to run a distance of eight miles. The Tramways Company run frequent and special cars at the rush hours both morning and evening; they do the journey in little more than the time allowed on the railway, and charge a third less in fares.

'Hie Henderson service seems to be about the worst of the three. Although the Government have purchased large blocks of land on each side of the railway for suburban settlements, they do not run trains that are really convenient for these suburban residents. . The first train leaves Henderson at 6.35, and reaches Auckland at 7.35; the next train leaves at 7.38, and arrives at 8.38; then there is not another train leaving until 9.8, and it takes an hour and 10 minutes to reach Auckland. It is the evening service, however, which is so iniquitous. A train leaves Auckland at 5.10. but it is side-tracked at Newmarket, and does not reach even Mount Eden until 5.40, doing the journey of four miles in 30 minutes, and requiring one hour 13 minutes to do 14 miles. The next train does not leave until 6.10. and does not reach Henderson until 7.20. A,workman living on one of the Government hamlets, established specially for his convenience, has to give an average of two hours and 20 minutes per day to railway travelling, for the privilege of living out of the city. If he seeks to economise time by using the train as far as Kingsland, and then taking to a tramcar, he is fined, because unless he has a worker's ticket he has to nay 5d more for a return ticket between Henderson and Kingsland than between Henderson and Auckland, or 5d more for travelling 10 miles less.

Details like those just mentioned are annoying, but they scarcely count when compared with the enormous waste of time caused by our railway authorities running trains at about half the speed which could be accomplished with the same plant. According to the New Zealand Railways Statement for 1909, 24,949 ordinary tickets are issued to Otahuhu in the year, and as most of them are returns the number of journeys made is about 40,000. There are also 3971 season tickets, and each of these season tickets should represent at least 200 journeys during the year, making a total of 784,200 journeys on this suburban line. Let our railwav officials figure out what it would mean if 10 minutes were saved on each journey. On the Henderson section there arc 35,617 ordinary tickets issued for the year, most of them returns, and there are 3382 season tickets, which should represent at least 140.000 journeys. It should be quite easy to do this journey in half-an-hour less than the present time, which would only require the train to run 14 miles in 40 minutes.

This saving of time means money. To the 10 million odd passengers carried on our railways through the year it would total a sum that would go far towards paying for new rolling stock and increased accommodation; but, perhaps, our railway officials do not realise that time lost by the travelling public is money lost by the State.