THE TRAMWAY SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16876, 14 June 1918, Page 6

THE TRAMWAY SERVICE

CONGESTION OF TRAFFIC.

CITY COUNCIL'S COMPLAINTS.

COMPANY'S POINT OF VIEW

Complaints regarding the inadequacy of the tram service between the city and suburbs, which were made at meetings of the City Council last month, led to the attendance at last night's council meeting of. Mr. J. J. Walklate, manager of the Tramways Company, for the purpose of explaining the position of the company in regard to the congestion of traffic at certain hours. The Mayor stated that the Public .Services Committee had discussed with the company three questions in relation to the traffic—the day service, the five o'clock congestion, and noisy cars. He invited Mr. Walklate to place the matter from the company's standpoint! before the council. Mr. Walklate reviewed the difficulties under -which the company was working \ owing to the war, including the loss of many trained men, frrquent changes in the traffic manager, and the difficulty of obtaining supplies of material. He pro- I duced a chart with a diagram showing the fluctuation of traffic during the day, the morning traffic from seven till nine o'clock showing a considerable peak, but the evening traffic from rive to six o'clock showed an abnormally high peak. Mr. WaLklate said the difficulty of coping with the peak traffic in the evening was accentuated by the shortness cf the period during which the people had to be transported. The morning rush was not so difficult, as it was spread over a longer period. Extra Oars Provided. in response to representations of the Public Services Committee the company had placed three extra cars on the day service and eleven extra cars on the evening peak service, during which period cars were now leaving the Queen Street terminus at the rate of three a minute. The < company couid not place any more cars in commission during the rush hours as it would mean employing a certain number of men for about two hours a day. The congestion in Queen Street between file, and six p.m.. had been accentuated by the fact that many large shops had altered their closing time to an earlier hour. In regard to noisy cars, he said the trouble was caused by the difficulty- of obtaining supplies. Mr. Walklate 'concluded bystating that the company realised the position and had faced it. " He considered the extra cars placed on the various services during, the past two or three weeks had made a noticeable difference to the congestion. Mr. A. J. Entrican suggested that more cars should be started from Welles-ley Street, and that a circuit service should be run between the eastern and western suburbs, cutting out the run down Queen Street from Wellesley Street. Mr W. J. Holdsworth said there was a feeling that the companv was not doing enough to meet the public'demand. A tally of the care running at the busiest time showed 102 to be in commission, whereas there were 160 cars available. Mr. P. J. Xerheny referred to the company's activity en race days and claimed that the people had as much right to be carried home in the evenings as they had to be carried to the racecourse. In "order to get a seat in a car within a reasonable time, people had to take a car down Queen Street and pay an extra penny. Mr. Ernest Davis said that the congestion was due to there being only one terminus, and that it was impossible to despatch more cars from Queen Street at rush hours. Coping With "Rush" Hours. Mr. F. W. Brindsden said he had come to the conclusion that the company was taking an unfair advantage of a monopoly. There ' was a contract to carry the people, and it should be reasonably kept. Other speakers agreed that the starting of cars from different points might be an improvement, and that a greater number of passengers should be carried in cars during rush hours. It was also suggested that trailers should be used. Mr. Walklate, in reply, stated that the. circuit, system was not a success in other ! places, and people would object to being i dropped at Wellesley Street instead of' being carried to the wharf. Referring to ! the cars in service, he said the company i had 160 cars, but worked only 110, with j a reserve of nine cars available for traffic. j It was impossible to give a continuous service like that .provided on race days. Thai: service was given by the same number of; men and cars as on other days. j Mr. Xerheny: "Is it not a "fact that on last race day there were 150 cars on the i road ''" ! Mr. Walklate : " Xo. There were possibly 120." Continuing. Mr. Walklate said that no extra fare down Queen Street was charged from Shortland Street. Trailers were not allowed to be used, the nearest approach to them being the coupled cars that were used in the rush hours. In reply to questions by the Mayor. Mr. Walklate said there were now 110 cars being run, as compared with 120 in Julv, 1914. Before the war the traffic was steadily going up. When the war started it dropped considerably for a time, but recently it had been increasing. The Mayor said the council had no desire to harass the company, but it had to see that the citizens had reasonable facilities. The council now suggested to Mr. Walklate that the increase of eight cars had not sufficiently met the position at given hour*. He suggested that four extra penny section cars should he run during the rush hours. Mr. Walklate said he would not undertake that this would he done, but promised that the suggestion would be considered.

On the motion of the Mayor the matter was referred back to the Public Services Committee with power to act.