TRAMS COMING BACK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22720, 5 November 1935, Page 15

TRAMS COMING BACK

RECENT TRENDS OVERSEAS REVIEW OF SITUATION During recent months there has been ample evidence coming to hand from overseas through 1 the medium of correspondence and technical journals indicating that the movement to replace tramways, so pronounced in recent years, has been checked, and that in many instances tramway operation is regaining favour and realising enhanced financial returns, writes Mr M. ’ Cable, Wellington tramways manager, in the Tramways Journal. A particularly valuable review of the present-day position of tramways appears in the September issue of the Electric Times (Melbourne), contributed by Mr A. Cameron, chairman of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board. As Mr Cameron recently had an opportunity of studing the activities of city transport undertakings overseas, his statement is authorative and deserving of public attention, and I take the liberty of quoting at-length from the article. “ Unquestionably,” says Mr Cameron, “ the outstanding feature of recent years has been the recognition by electric tramway operators that if they wish _ their undertakings to retain their pre-eminence in street surface transport they must provide fast, comfortable, and smoothriding vehicles, running on well-con-structed and well-maintained tracks. The realisation of the fact was followed at once by the necessary action, with the result that to-day the electric tramcar has regained much of its former popularity, and is now, and will be for many years to come, the most economical vehicle for the street surface transport where the problem of 1 mass transportation has to be met, . c “This is not merely the expression ot my own personal belief; it is the considered opinion of the men who are recognised the world oyer as experts and who are acting ,on this view. In Great Britain after the war, tramway track and equipment lost, because of the *nability of the officials to secure the necessary renewels, much of their efficiency, while replacements of rolling stock were impossible, although many of the trams in use had been on the streets since the early years of the century. > “In many' cases, particularly in the older towns, the tramway routes ran through narrow and tortuous streets m which only single track operation was practicable. On such routes the trams could not maintain a regular service, as they were subjected to frequent delays by other vehicles and by the waits necessary at the passing loops. No tramway system operating under these conditions could be expected to compete in public favour with modern buses. Most of the large systems in Great Britain have during the last few years replaced the older vehicles , with trams which satisfy modern requirements. Examples of this trend are to be found in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Sunderland, Blackpool, Liverpool, and Birmingham, nil of which have during the last five or six years produced trams which have been favourably received by the public. “ In the United States up to 10 years ago most tramway systems were operating cars which, if not so antiquated as those in Great Britain, had been designed with little regard to weight, and were not equipped for high schedule speed. These cars, in the larger cities, are being replaced as rapidly as finances permit. Some four years ago the leading operators in the States, acting through their association, appointed a committee to conduct experiments and design a tram on which those innovations which, as a result of the experiments, appeared worthy of a practical trial,’ should be incorporated. “After some three years of intensive tests the ■ committee prepared outline specifications which were passed on to two of the leading manufacturers of rolling stock, each of whom, after considerable delay, turned out a tram which is said to be far in advance of anything previously produced in the way of rapid acceleration, easy riding, and comfort. Chicago has just called for tenders for 100 of these trams.” . After referring to the steps taken to improve the rolling stock in Melbourne and mentioning that trial equipment has been imported from overseas at considerable expense, Mr Cameron concludes: “ No city in the world with a population of 140,000 or more has yet abandoned its tramways.” The August issue of the American publication “Transit Journal” points out in the following statement that the street ear service ot Chicago in face of competing forms of transport has increased its patronage:—“Street car service _ has always been the backbone of transit in Chicago. Scarcely anyone in the city lives more than three blocks away from some one of the many car lines. Ten years ago the surface lines carried 75 per cent, of the total traffic of the city, the remainder being divided between rapid transit lines and the motor bus lines. To-day the surlace lines carry 80 per cent, of the total transit riders. Evidently the street cars are rendering a service that is appreciated by the public.” The same journal mentions that the Baltimore Transit Company has under: taken a programme of rehabilitation by ordering 25 cars and proceeding with the if construction of seven sections of track