TRAMS OR MOTORS?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19049, 28 June 1924, Page 4

TRAMS OR MOTORS?

As pointed out by a correspondent in the “Chronicle” this week, the civic authorities and ratepayers would both do well to seriously consider whether further money should be invested in extensions of the present tramways service, irrespective of any particular route or portion of the borough yet unserved by that method of transit. What has occurred in Auckland has been referred to, where, not only is the motor ’bus acting as a feeder to tram termini, but is also actively competing with the trams on the established tram routes. The experience of Auckland is merely the same experience of larger centres, and the fact is generally recognised that the motor vehicle for carrying passengers has come to stay. The modern motor ’bus is reliable, and often luxurious in the matter of comfort, is bound to no fixed route, and it can pass another motor ’bus without the necessity of a loop line. The citizens of Wanganui, as in other places, merely require a cheap and effective method of transit, aud whether the conveyance is a tramcar or a naotor ! ’bus or an electrically-propelled vehicle, matters but little. The chief consideration.is the amount of the fare charged. The time has arrived in Wanganui to consider seriously whether it would not be wise for the municipality to use the motor 'bus or other trackless vehicle as part of the municipal transit system as feeder to the present tramway service, instead of further heavy expenditure in laying down rails and erecting overhead gear. Possibly the point might be raised that with the advent of the motor it would be no more profitable than fhe present electric tramear. The answer is that municipally-controlled transit is a facility necessary for the citizens, an incentive to suburban life instead of congested areas, a service which, provided it can be operated without undue loss, is nevertheless a good investment.