CITY TRANSPORT POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 87, 13 April 1938, Page 12

CITY TRANSPORT POLICY

In replying to a deputation of the Ohiro Ratepayers' Association yesterday, requesting an extension of the tramway system to Ohiro Bay, the Mayor (Mr. Hislop) made some observations on city and suburban transport that invite comment. The spokesman of the deputation drew a contrast between Wellington, where he said there had been no extension of tramway facilities for the past fourteen or fifteen years, and Auckland, where he slated there had been extensions of live tramways "all over the place, about five or six miles altogether." All that had been done in Wellington was to put on a few buses as feeder services. The result was that expansion had taken place in the Hutt Valley and Tawa Flat, where it was no good Lo the city, which should have been developing its own outlying districts and getting in rates from them. The Mayor replied that the council wanted to give transport facilities lo outlying districts, but it

was not quite so easy as people imagined. While a great deal of money was expended on the maintenance of the tracks and rollingstock, consideration was being given to the ultimate development of the means of transport. It was still a moot point whether the trams as they knew them might not have to be superseded by some other form of transport which offered greater free-' dom of movement. Opinions differed on that point. So until a decision was reached on the type of transport that would best serve the needs of the people, it might be unwise to go in for-extensions of the present system of electric trams. Meanwhile, the council had found that bus services were perhaps the most economical means of developing outlying districts.

This is a clear statement of the transport position in Wellington today. The policy adopted by the City Council is one of "watchful waiting" until, apparently, the existing difference of opinion as to the best method of transport crystallises in one direction or another. In the meantime, it is a fact that Wellington's outlying districts along the hills and valleys to the south, from Ohiro Bay to Houghton Bay, and in the western areas between Karori and Wadestown are developing far more slowly than the Hutt Valley. With the electrification of the Johnsonville and Paekakariki railways, suburban settlement is likely to expand in that direction also. It,, is therefore a matter of some urgency that the City Council should come to some '• decision as to the future transport policy for Wellington. In Britain the decision seems, in the main, already .to have been made. Tramways in London are to be abandoned. Several of the larger cities like Manchester are substituting gradually other modes of transport) for trams. Cities of the size and population of Wellington have largely superseded their trams altogether. The alternative systems of transport for this type of city arej either motor buses or electric trolley buses. Sometimes both are used in the same city. Each system has its advantages and its advocates. , The, motor bus, being completely selfcontained, is much more flexible than the trolley bus, which, like the tram, is confined to its overhead wires, but, unlike the tram, can move over a wide area laterally on the street or road. 'The trolley bus has the advantage over the motor bus in silence, quicker acceleration,1 better hill-climbing powers, and freedom from an evil-smelling exhaust. It also uses existing sources of power in'the electricity supply furnished by hydro-electric or steam stations. All these.facts, of course, are well known to the authorities. It; is admitted that each city has its own peculiar transport problems, but there seems to be no obvious reason why, with the "data at its disposal, the City Council should1 not plan its future transport policy without further long* delay. .