Talking About Trams... Look at Glasgow’s!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 32, 30 April 1927, Page 17 (Supplement)

Talking About Trams... Look at Glasgow’s!

(WRITTEN FOR THE SUN BY

“SCOTTICUS.”)

“’T'ALKTNG about trams, look a Glasgow. Five miles for penny." “You mean nine miles for penny.” "Nonsense! Three miles is mort like it, and that’s going some.” “All wrong. When I was there in nineteen-fifteen ...” “Oh, but I have just had it from a man who arrived back last week, and he says ...” So much that is not exactly according lo fact is said about Glasgow and its splendid system of tramways that it might not be amiss to give some accurate information. Halfpenny Per Mile To begin with fares, the rate until quite recently was roughly a halfpenny a mile. For a penny you could travel 2.31 miles. For sevenpence you could travel 14.4 S miles. Things have changed a little in the .'ast two years, owing to a fierce private bus competition. The maximum fare is now twopence, and on one of the routes you can travel twenty miles for this sum. But the fares under twopence remain as before. About this bus competition which is the bane of municipal tram undertakings the world over, we quote an interesting letter at the end of this article.

A Wonderful Achievement Electric traction w-as started in Glasgow in IS9S. By 1901 the whole system was electrified. Sixteen years afterwards the whole of the capital debt of the tramways undertaking was wiped out —truly a wonderful achievement. During those 16 years the usual sinking fund was provided for and an unusually large fund laid aside for depreciation and renewals. There is no other instance in the world of a huge municipal enterprise like the Glasgow Municipal Tramways being run free of capital debt. Freed from interest charges the department w-as able until the last few years to turn over to the common good fund of the city annual surpluses averaging something like a quarter of a million pounds. The Halfpenny Fare The success of the Glasgow tramways has been mainly due to the halfpenny fare and the divided sections. Two half-sections for a halfpenny, four for a penny, and so on. This means that you get good value for your money no matter where you board a car. The halfpenny fare was abolished during a period of the war, and the manager, James Dalrymple, opposed its reintroduction, some years ago, on the grounds that it would not pay. But the halfpenny fare w-as enforced, and at the end of a year profits had increased. So tramway managers are not always right. Perhaps Auckland might benefit by the cutting up of the long two penny sections into two penny sections. Overcrowding Overcrowding as we know it is simply not allowed in Glasgow, and yet at all times, except during the worst of the rush, waiting is not necessary. Even then there are no very long waits, certainly nothing like we are used to in Auckland or that which prevails in most American cities. America, by the way, is the last place on earth to imitate when it comes to

ams and municipal government. It hould be stated that to compare .uckland with Glasgow in all particuars is not fair to Auckland. That is lot the intention of the writer. ConJitions are different. Glasgow is •ompact; Auckland is the reverse. The Glasgow trams serve a population ten times larger than that of Auckland. Buses Versus Trams One would not have thought that Glasgow would have any trouble from bus competition, but the following excerpt from a letter recently received from Glasgow gives some indication of how things have changed there. The letter says:— “There have been a number of developments in connection with the cars that might be of interest. For the second year in succession the cars have shown a loss, due to bus competition. The buses are now one of the most important means of travel between Glasgow and the surrounding districts. They are not allowed to plv tor hire inside the city itself, but there are hundreds of them running between Glasgow and Canibuslang, Hamilton, Airdrie, Coatbridge, Motherwell. Dumbarton. Milngavie, etc., on some routes as often as ever} - five minutes. The fares are very low and compare with the car fares, being even lower than the car fares before

the recent change. The change I refer to was brought about because of the rather desperate financial position of the cars, and consists of a maximum fare of 2d and the abolition of the id token. On one route you can travel 20 miles for 2d. “Many people still prefer the cars, the buses being rather tco fast for their nerves. But the buses have certainly made the corporation sit up and take notice. Pullman Trams “They have started to tackle the problem in earnest, and are experimenting with a single decked car with beautiful and comfortable upholstery and a possible speed of 25 miles an hour. There is no doubt that the people would prefer these cars to the jolting buses. The corporation, by the way, has a small fleet of fine buses, but I have not seen a report as to their financial success or otherwise. “There Is really room for cars, buses and trains, but if things go as I would like, the competition will in future be between the bus and the train, if there is any competition at all. (This is so far as suburban transit is concerned ) An Unholy Scramble •\ . . Meantime it is an unholy scramble. There are dozens of different companies running bus services, and this competition along with that of the cars is cutting fares very close to running cost. The irritating thing about it from the ratepayers* point of view is the fact that most of these companies belong to outlying districts and pay no rates In Glasgow’. What aggravates the situation. too, is that the Glasgow’ magistrates have no jurisdiction, apart fr«»in the normal .police control, over the outside companies, while they have made rules for the Glasgow bus companies which are bound to handicap them considerably. And so it is possible that these companies may remove outside the city boundaries to escape both rates and regulations.”