TRAMWAYS OUTLOOK

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 109, 1 February 1935, Page 6

TRAMWAYS OUTLOOK

General Manager’s Review of Position PRESS CRITICISM In the current issue of the “Tramway Journal,” issued yesterday, Mr. M. Cable, general manager of the Wellington tramways, contributes a review on the outlook for tramways.

Mr. Cable says:—“ln addition to suffering the heavy loss in business during recent years the Wellington tramways department, in common with similar undertakings in the Dominion aud in other parts of the. world, has had to face difficulties arising out of the changing' outlook on public transport brought about by the rapid advances in the design and operation ofcompetitive "transport . vehicles—the motor-bus and trackless , car. . lhe straitened finances of the Wellington undertaking during recent years has made it impracticable to give serious consideration to any major tramway development work, and although there have been requests for extensions in outlying suburbs the latter have not been viewed favourably as sparselysettled districts,can be adequately served by means of the more mobile bus. “On the other hand, the western access proposal, .a work of vital importance for the welfare of the undertaking which would prove of inestimable value to the residents of Karori and Northland, has up to the present been checkmated largely as the result of adverse opinions concerning the advisableness of npikiug provision for additional track facilities in this city. In addition to the criticism of tramways, which emanates from the well-organis-ed automotive industry, a good deal of unfavourable opinion concerning tramway operation is formed by reading Press reports of interviews with residents returning from overseas, who, without making a thorough investigation of all the circumstances relating to the abandonment of tramways in certain towns, express the view that tramways are considered to be obsolete. “Modern Trains Hold Own.” “Although it has to be admitted that quite a number of towns in Great Britain have wholly or partially replaced tramways, the statement that tramways are generally being, abandoned is not warranted when a careful investigation -is; made. Many of the leading undertakings in the Old Land, including those belonging to the Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Sunderland corporations, and the systems now operated by the London Passenger Transport Board, have been carrying out important modernisation programmes, aud the results obtained in practically every instance indicate that modem tramcars can more than hold their own when compared with competing forms of transport. _ “In America during the past lew years a revival of tramway operation has taken place in many of the leading cities, and as the result of an intensive study of all features of rolling stock design by a group-of 25 leading operators, and a like number of manufacturers gathered together to form what is known as the electric railway presidents’ conference committee, a number of odmern ears possessing many radical features have been completed ana placed in service in Chicago. The performance of these cars has exceeded the expectations of the designers, and in a report Issued by the president of the Chicago system, it is stated that the new trams are as quiet as the average automotive vehicle, and so striking in appearance that they elicit from all who see them exclamations ot admiration. "No One Dare Dogmatise.” "The following statement, made by Mr. L. Mackinnon at the recent conference of the Municipal Tramways and Transport ikssociation held in Glasgow, appears to sum up correctly the position of tramways to-day ; —‘Much has been made within recent times, and not always by purely disinterested parties, of tlie abandonment of tramways. I am afraid that in many instances the tramway authorities were content to allow vehicles, track equipment ami personnel to run to seed. . . . But where the tramcar has been modernised and manned by men who have a pride in their job, the despised tramcar has still nothing to fear on the grounds ot cheapness, safety and comfort in communities suitable for Its operation. “In face of the changes which have taken place in passenger transport during the past two decades, no one dare dogmatise as to the future of city passenger transport, but it can be stated without fear of challenge that an unprejudiced investigation of the position of tramways to-day warrants one holding the view that there is little prospect of tramways in large towns becoming obsolete for many years to come.”