£500,000 FOR CITY TRAMWAYS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 118, 9 August 1927, Page 16

£500,000 FOR CITY TRAMWAYS

COUNCILLORS MEET RATEPAYERS

LOAN PROPOSALS EXPLAINED AT PONSONBY

“The Tramways Committee has had to work on a foundation with which some members did not agree. Consequently we have been accused of changing our minds, when we, rn reality, had to take the position as we found it, and not as we would have liked it, and try and reach a solution of cur difficulties accordingly. WITH these remarks, Cr. J. A. C. Allum introduced the subject of tramway matters, especially in relation to the Motor Omnibus Act, and the proposed tramway loans, to an audience of about eighty at Ponsonby last evening. The Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, presided, and several councillors were present, including Cr. O. Mcßrine, who was the second speaker of the evening. Cr. Allum said the council felt that it must maintain the monopoly it had been given by the Omnibus Act—even if some of the councillors did not view the Act favourably. They felt that they must maintain services that had been given in the past by private service, but the council definitely did not intend to run services that were unwarranted and unpayable. Trams and buses could not be run separately, and the services had been combined. The buses would, under the new scheme, act as feeders and serve areas where trams were not justified, but where a service of some sort was necessary and had a chance of paying. The speaker outlined the new proposals to come into force in October, on the lines of his remarks at the last council meeting, emphasising the fact that the committee considered it could justify the new scheme even though it faced a decrease in revenue of £50,000, and that the sections were penny sections whether in Herne Bay, Onehunga or the city. TORN-UP TRAMLINES “It has been stated that tramlines are being torn up, and so they are, due to alterations in the features of cities, but let me say that last year, among many cities where I saw new lines being laid, were London and Sheffield.” “Bus services could not continue on tram fares to such places as Point Chevalier, and the only possible service to give any return was by trams. “Before there are any more bus services one of these points must be conformed with.” remarked Cr. Allum. “Either the service must show it will pay, or it must be subsidised by the

local body of the area, or the proposed users must agree to pay fares that will show a reasonable return.”* CUT-THROAT COMPETITION Cr. O. Mcßrine said few private institutions had had to stand the: cutthroat competition that the tramways had had to face, and which had resulted in the present position. Worldwide experience had shown that tramways provided the only economic method of transporting large numbers of passengers. With the services required in Auckland now the council’s only option was to go to the ratepayers asking for sanction to extend the tramways;. The whole of the loan to be placed before ratepayers was for trams —not a penny for buses. Small towns had sprung up In the suburbs, and these had no proper transport to the city. They must have transport, and the trams provided the safest, quickest, best and most economical means. A considerable portion of the loan was with a view to improving the services and effecting economies iin the present system. AN EFFECTIVE BASIS “It is for the ratepayers to say whether they have sufficient confidence in themselves, their city, and the men and women they had placed in charge of their affairs, to sanction a loan giving additional facilities, and placing the trams on an effective basis, now, and for some time to come,” concluded Cr. Mcßrine. QUESTION TIME Questions were fired at Cr. Allum in dozens, most of them having little reference to loan proposals. He made the following replies to various requests:— The committee anticipates a loss of £170,000 a year by the introduction of the penny fares, £90,000 of which will be wiped out by the increases on concession cards. The council, and therefore the public, will be kept advised as to how the new fares are operating—especially if the results are disappointing. A loss on working over the first three years of a new tramway is always allowed for. Often it does not eventuate. The Fd.e.ndale extension paid the first year. Cr. Allum and all the members of the council present their assurances that the present loan, if carried, will be used for the purposes set out only. “We are not splitting up the loan because we want to do the proper thing for everyone. We don’t want parochialism, or works provided with no trams to run on them.”