TRACKLESS TRAMWAYS.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13845, 30 October 1913, Page 3

TRACKLESS TRAMWAYS.

Electric tramway undertakings, particularly in London, are. parsing through trying timos, owing principally to motor qumibus competition.. d;.dgUIS l*5r tho rapidly-growing traffic returns of the London' General Omni ius Company and the dwindling receipt, of tho London County Council tra.m\.ay system,' it would . certainly seem" that the public prefer to travel by motor omnibus rather than by tram whenever they have Die opportunity of m:-k----ing a selection, through lioiv rtu.T-n ■ longer they may bu ablo to ni.'ik<: a selection is open bo question, in v :mv of tho recently-issued-. ■'London Trr.^flc Report. There are several reasons' that havo. been advanced to account fo* this preference, but probably the most potent is connected with the fact that the motor omnibus can pick up or set down its passengers actually, oil the footpath, whereas the tramcar passenger has to negotiate one or more lines of .traffic before and after ]n's ride. Further, the rail-bound' train is helpless in. the case of obstruction of the roadway.' or power-station failure. Thouglh new to London, tailless electric traction is no novelty elseVvheie. As i long ago as the year 1900 a system of this'kind Ava-s in use iii the neighbourhood Paris, ,and on tho Continent there arc now trackless installations covering some hundreds of mrss. In [Great Britain the raillcss tram is noAv at Avork in several towns,' notably Leeds (which has the pioneer service, dating from 1911), Bradford, Dundee/ Rotherham, Ramsbottom, Stockport, and Keighley. So great'lias-haen the success of^tho trackless trolley that many towns and companies now have Railk-ss Traction Bills before Parliament, including the Corporations of Chesterfield, Derby, Mo.rley, Huddersfield, West Bromwioli, Southport. and Brighton; Mexborough and Swinton TramAvays; Western Valleys, Mon.,. Limited; and the Rhondda I'ramway Company. Other towns have not yet reached the parliamentary stage, but nr-e considering the question of applying, for the necessary poAvers to establish the system Avithin their borders, generally as feeders to the ordinary tranrway system. Cars are now being built for Shanghai and Boxburgh (South Africa), and Bloemfontein has invited tenders for 10 cars, sp the

system is extending to the colonies, where it should have a great vogue. As regards London's initial trolly-bus system, there are only two routes sanctioned, one in Wood Green and the other in Tottenham. Other railless traction installations aro projected or arc under consideration by the corporations and others in many places in the United Kingdom, including Sheffield, Birmingham, Oldham, Manchseter, Hull, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, etc., and in the London district by the L.C.C. at Hackney, Forest Hill, Sydenham, and by other councils in Walthamstow;, Ley ton, llford, Ealing, and Chiswick.