TRAMS, BUSES, FARES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 565, 18 January 1929, Page 12

TRAMS, BUSES, FARES

All in Melting Pot

ANOTHER £600,000 LOAN

No Flat-Rate Fares

THOUGH the Auckland Transport Board spent there hours last evening discussing trams, buses, trackless trams, fares and extensions, it made very little progress and the air was by no means cleared. Entirely unsupported in two directions, Mr. t. b. Morton hinted that as he could not see eye to eye with the rest of the board he would continue to oppose the board through the ratepayers.

"YTOST of the discussion hinged round loan proposals totalling well over £ GOO,OOO, though a large part of it was confined to preliminaries such as trackless tram development and fares. Mr. A. E. Ford, tramways manager, recommended several tramway extensions. The list included the following:—

Mr. Ford said the programme differed from the original loan proposals, but the conditions had considerably altered. He considered that the Point Chevalier service would pay within the first year, Remuera within two years, Mount Eden within a year, Dominion Road immediately, Edendale within a year, Avondale immediately, and Richmond Road immediately. The chairman, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, said he thought the class of vehicle to be used, and the incidence of fares, should preceed any discussion on extensions. otherwise they would be putting the cart before the horse. TRACKLESS TRAMS Two reports were then submitted, Mr. A. E. Ford, manager, discussing electric trackless buses, and Mr. De Guerrier, engineer, reporting on the question of converting petrol to electric trackless buses. Mr. Ford pointed out advantages of the trackless as simplicity, reliability, elimination of gear changing, low maintenance compared with petrol buses, and use of power produced in the country. The disadvantages were that they must have fixed routes, had to have trolley equipment, could not be used to relieve other routes. On the extensions he considered trackless unsuited to Dominion Road, Mount Eden Road, Edendale Road and Remuera Road. Richmond Road was admirably suited to trams, and it was an open question whether there should be trackless to Point Chevalier and Avondale. However, he favoured trams owing to the thick population and l'outing, and considered that the more western areas were not sufficiently populated to justify the capital expenditure. The engineer - considered that the conversion of present petrol buses to electric buses would be a patch-work and unsatisfactory procedure, the only possibility of success being to import the latest and most up-to-date trackless trams, designed for the purpose.

Mr. E. H. Potter said that before they did anything they had to see that they were not overloading their overhead with capital to such an extent that they could not meet competition, even from private motors, which seriously affected the position. The present system was showing a heavy loss, and he considered they could cut out much of their bus loss by calling for applications to run suburban services such as those to the west.

Mr. L. E. Rhodes said he could agree with Mr. Ford about several extensions, but he thought the board should consider where trams were going to end, and feeders with trackless or petrol buses commence. He thought a linking up along Mount Albert Road of the Mount Eden, Dominion and Mount Eden Roads trams would prove the end of tram tracks, and that other areas would be served with .buses or ‘trackless. “I say proceed cautiously with extensions, but let us come to some common understanding, as to the extent we should run trams and get on with that job,” remarked Mr. G. T. Phelan. Mr. F. S. Morton said the average loss on Point Chevalier buses now was £225 weekly. Extensions of tracks would take considerable time, even if a loan was authorised. He suggested that the trackless system could come to the city via areas at present halfserved, such as Williamson Avenue. Mr. Coyle: No landing us at the back door. Mr. Morton said trackless trams would cost considerably less and this was a case for an experiment. > EVERY PHASE STUDIED The chairman said it was only two years since Mr. Ford had returned from a trip abroad, where he made a close study of every phase of passenger transport, and had since kept his knowledge up-to-date by correspondence, and through prominent visitors. Mr. Allum pointed out that the Auckland difficulty was that it had tramways. It was not practicable to run trackless over tram lines, and the difficulty was to find alternative routes. Parallel routes were a necessity. The question of bringing Point

Chevalier traffic via Williamson Avenue and Franklin Road had- been considered. but turned down for several reasons, the greatest of which was that it landed passengers at the foot of Queen Street, whereas most of the people wanted to get off somewhere else. FLAT-RATE FARES OUT The board then embarked on a discussion on fares, Mr. Allum remarking that all the extensions were estimated on the present system of charges. As was anticipated the gauntlet was taken up by Mr. Morton, x who pointed out that the average fares paid in Auckland were 2.44 d on trams and 3.4 d on buses, trams bringing in a yearly sum of ,£>616,215, and buses £93,681. He proposed to suggest that the board should adopt a flat rate of 3d, which ■would put everyone on the same footing. Mr. Phelan: What about the man on a short run? Mr. Morton argued in favour of the flat rate that the service would be speeded up, people who avoided paying could be stopped, accidents would be decreased in number; savings would be made in the use of extra hands, and printing and commissions would be reduced. He produced figures to indicate that the increased income ■would be between £150,000 and £107,4)00. BASED ON FALLACY ‘‘The argument would be all right if it was not based on a fallacy,” remarked Mr. A. J. Entrican. “I don’t think anyone uses the trams for fun, and a change in fares is not going to increase use.” He also asserted that the board could not now penalise the city user paying lid or 2 l-6d to provide cheaper fares for suburbs. ‘‘l understand that cash fares form 72 per cent, of the income on trams,” remarked Mr. Potter. Mr. Allum: Yes. Mr. Potter: Well, that kills Mr. Entrican’s argument. It is the '3d fare in cash that is providing most of the income. A LATE START *'l have a certain amount of sympathy for Mr. Morton,” remarked Mr. Phelan. "He is now starting where we were three years ago. I believe that the scheme would penalise 60 to 70 per cent, of the tram users.” He was perfectly satisfied that the first section people would walk, and they would lose more money. He believed they should get the system on its feet and in the meantime seriously consider suggested reforms. Mr. L. E. Rhodes believed that they had first to give the service. Any fare reforms could come at any later time. The chairman said he could not advocate the extensions unless he knew that the necessary extra income on the present scale was available to meet the cost of the extensions. He pointed out that a fare of 3d or under was available to 89 per cent, of those who used the trams at present, and of all the users 28 per cent, paid either 2d or lid on one section, and 32 per cent, paid 3d or 2 l-6d on the second section. In other words. 60 per cent, of tram users paid a limit of 3d, and most of them round about 2d. On a motion by Mr. Morton, Mr. Ford expressed his impressions of flat rate fares and pointed out the difference in Auckland and American conditions. He doubted whether the same number would use the cars. BOARD S FIRST DUTY Mr. G. Ashley then moved ‘ That this board affirms that its first dutj- is to provide additional and up-to-date rolling stock and to extend urgent routes before there is any suggestion to adjust fares.” As an amendment Mr. Morton moved that the principle of a universal fare of 3d be affirmed. Mr. Morton was the only voter for his amendment and against Mr. Ashley’s motion, which was carried. POINT CHEVALIER TRAMS The board then proceeded to deal seriatum with Mr. Ford’s recommended extensions, the proposal being that the extensions should be spread over three years. Point Chevalier, and the use of track or trackless trams on this route, caused a long discussion. The tramway manager pointed out that the usual service would require eight to ten vehicles, but they could not conceivably carry the holiday traffic. He anticipated the day when he would require 50 to 60 tramcars for the Point. If there were a separate service, different from the general system, where was he to get rolling stock? He would have to use petrol buses while dozens of tramcars lay idle. Mr. Coyle objected to the route necessary for trackless, and pointed out a great majority of them would have to change over at Surrey Crescent. To use Williamson Avenue and Franklin Road would entail huge sums for road construction.

Finally the extension to Point Chevalier was agreed to, and will be recommended to the board. Last evening the board was meeting as a committee. The discussions will be continued next week.

Area. Chains. Cost. Point Chevalier i>00 j;92,050 Remuera extension .. .. 140 Mount Eden extension . . 242 Dominion Road extension 190 Edendale extension . . . . On Quay Street loop 2<> Stanley Street parking . . 22 2,500 Onehunga duplication .. 14 Avondale extension . . . . 2.20 Richmond Road 290 New plant 13,000 Workshops Fifty new cars Twenty buses 10,000 Additional cables 7,250 Cost of loan 37,840 Total £, 638,000