TRAMWAY INNOVATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 895, 12 February 1930, Page 18

TRAMWAY INNOVATION

CIGARETTES AND TEA IN WAITING ROOMS

COMFORT AT TERMINI Waiting rooms where passengers may buy cigarettes, newspapers. or even- a cup of tea are the Transport Board's latest idea for popularising those services which involve tramn and feeder busna. With the completion this year ol several new tramway extensions buses now operating over the routes to be served by trams will be dispensed with, insofar as they would run parallel with the tram tracks. The new tram termini will be fed by buses and it is to ensure a minimum of inconvenience to passengers making a change of vehicle that the board has decided to erect the waiting rooms. Hint of the plan was given by Mr. G. Baildon. deputy-chairman of the Transport Board, in pacifying residents of Blockhouse Bay who demurred at the thought of feeder services when the Avondale tram extension was completed. “These places will, do a lot to make changing from i rams to buses more comfortable,” said Mr. Baildon. “They will be like rest houses —little restaurants —with an attendant in charge." He added that a telephone would hr installed for convenience of travellers. Time-tables would be prominently displayed. There would be no need for standing in the rain. The waiting rooms would be of attractive design and comfortably appointed. A feature would be accommodation tor children’s prams. The manager to the Transport Board, Mr. A. E. Ford, said this morning that the scheme had been inaugurated in Britain and America, where the “half-way houses” had proved very popular. The only difficulty facing the board was the acquisition of suitable sites. No actual design had yet been decided on, but planning would shortly be undertaken.