TROLLEY BUSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26200, 10 July 1946, Page 4

TROLLEY BUSES

TENDERS BEING CALLED FIRST FOR CENTENNIAL Tenders will be called within the next few days for the first 31 of the 79 trolley buses which are estimated to he required under the City Council’s proposal for conversion of the Dunedin transport system from trams to trolley buses. The chairman of the Transport Committee of the City Council, Cr J. McCrae, stated yesterday that it was hoped to have at least part of the trolley bus service operating before the Centennial celebrations were commenced in March. 1948. “ The tenders will close on November 30," Cr McCrae said, “so that, in the event of the loan proposal being approved by the Local Government Loans Board and then by a poll of ratepayers, the council will be in a position to place its orders immediately. Some difficulty is likely to be' experienced in having bus bodies made in New Zealand, owing to the shortage of suitable timber and the great demand throughout the Dominion, so we are proposing to have the first 10 buses delivered complete so that they will be able to go on to the road straight away.” Referring to complaints that the trolley buses would not carry the number of people at present taken by the trams, Cr McCrae said that the aggregate seating capacity of the present trams, buses, and cable cars was 3994, whereas 79 trolley buses, plus the other buses which would be used as feeders, would seat 4024 people. That, however, was not the whole story, because the trolley buses were approximately one-third faster than the trams, and over a period they would thus seat one-third more people than the trams. “We did not go into this with our eyes shut,” Cr McCrae said. “We worked the whole thing out on tallies before we decided that 79 trolley buses was the'number we required, but if there is an increase in the number of passengers ! we will just have to get more buses." Cr McCrae added that in winter the trolley buses would be electrically heated before leaving the depot, so that passengers would be able to travel in comfort even on the early morning runs.