ROSLYN TRAMS AND BUSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23016, 20 October 1936, Page 4

ROSLYN TRAMS AND BUSES

TO CHE EDITOR Sir, —Last week some letters were written to your paper airing various complaints about the present service, and it seenis they were mostly justified. One of the main causes of the unsatisfactory state of affairs appears to lie in the fact that the worn-out plant cannot meet the demands of the two suburbs which it is supposed to serve. At the busiest tynes of the day and night, which seem to haVe expanded since the 40-hour week came into operation, the Rattray street cable cars are dangerously overloaded. It appears, from what we hear, that the Tramways Committee has under consideration a plan to improve the transport of residents on the high levels. Whether the cable system is retained or superseded by buses, another and easy route is open to be tried out, in addition to, and to relieve at, rush hours, that now used. The route suggested, which would be used by people in Kenmure road and Belleknowes, is as follows: —Buses to leave Rattray street and travel by way of Serpentine and Hawthorn avenues to Kenmure road, thence north to Bellevue street, thence down Bellevue street to Michie street, thence through Belleknowes to Hawthorn avenue and the city. This would relieve the present Belleknowes bus from the Mornington tram terminus and allow for a more frequent service along Elgin road at the busy times, when it is badly needed. I am not aware of the names of those who have already written on this matter.—l am, etc., Belleknowes. Dunedin, October 18, , to THE EDITOR Sir,—The well-conceived letter of your correspondent, “ One of the Victims,’L#i Saturday’s issue must surely provide much food for thought for the residents of our fair city in general. and of the hill suburbs in particular. While not a constant traveller, 1 am nevertheless frequently obliged to patronise this service, and have already on several occasions been a victim of the inconvenience caused through the operation of the Maori Hill extension per medium of omnibuses. I therefore hasten to add my small contribution in support of the contentions raised by your recent correspondents. Rumour may be a lying jade, but the rumours m this connection have been too persistent to be ignored. Where there is smoke there is fire, and the substitution of buses for the cable trams is apparently almost an accomplished fact. This surely is beyond all comprehension, as no person in full possession of his faculties can even imagine a satisfactory service being conducted up the hill by buses, particularly, as “One of the Victims” points out, during the winter months. Admittedly, we must move with the times, and for certain routes all will agree that buses are far superior, hut at the same time our judgment must be supported by sound reason. Presumably, however, we are to be accorded the same treatment as was meted out when the substitution was effected on the Maori Hill route. The service was to be conducted by the buses “ on trial,’’ yet steps were almost immediately taken to remove the permanent way, and we were given no opportunity of expressing our approval or otherwise.

Such arbitrary measures cannot be too strongly condemned, placing us, as they do, in the invidious position of accepting like children what Is given us, with no alternative but to leave the district where in most cases our life savings are invested in our homes. “ One of the Victims ” has covered all too fully the disadvantages likely to accrue, and there is no necessity for me to enlarge further on these, but I cannot protest strongly enough against those under which we are already suffering. The dust nuisance alone would try the patience of a Job, while the excessive speed of the vehicles is a potential danger to life and limb. Already there have been minor accidents since the inauguration of the service, and I tremble to think of what may occur in the future. As for the timetable, this simply does not exist. It is a mere trifle, I suppose, that on occasions both buses are proceeding in the same direction, with the consequent complete dislocation of the attempted time table. Surely in matters of such vital importance the affected parties should be given a voice in the decision. Do the members of our City Council, the majority of whom owe their election

to the working man, not consider his interests worthy of better treatment? Why, even the previous council, so frequently sneered at as “ Tory,” did not adopt such a Mussolini-like attitude on similar questions, but submitted the issue to the ratepayers, who, after all, will have to “foot the bill.” It. would be a simple matter to conduct a referendum of those interested in this matter, and the expense would be amply justified. Far better for our city fathers to incur this expense rather than risk the safety of their seats at the next election.

Perhaps some person with more time on his hands than the writer would, before it is too late, inaugurate a petition on this subject. I feel sure that our “ democratic ” City Council would get the surprise of its existence at the result.—l am, etc., Another Victim. Bishopscourt. October 18. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —1 must whole-heartedly endorse the remarks of the previous writers on this subject, and thank Cr Cameron for bringing the matter up in the open council. There has been too much hush-hush business about the buses.' Buses were introduced to this city as feeders to the trams, but not to act in place of them. Cr Mitchell says the Roslyn plant is in a bad state, but tells us nothing of what this bad state is. Now the Leyland bus expert has been here, and it would be interesting to know what his report was on supplying a bus to take the Roslyn grades. And was he brought here at his company’s expense or at that of the ratepayers of Dunedin? The cost of the present Maori Hill buses was £3OOO each, and so I consider the price of one bus would go a long way towards putting the Roslyn plant in good repair. I have timed both cable car and bus from Rattray street to Kaikorai Valley, and find the cable car seven minutes faster. So much for our modern transport—the bus.—l am, etc.. Roslyn Ratepayer.