The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1912. TRAMCARS AND MOTOR-BUSES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 140, 31 October 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1912. TRAMCARS AND MOTOR-BUSES.

For some time past a war has waged in the Old Country between tramcars and motor-buses. At first the tramcar had all its own way, and held its rival pretty cheap. It had the advantage in its roominess, smoothness of movement; it started from known station, and was protected against the sudden jerks the motor-bus of the time was subjected to. The weakness of the tramcar lay in the very fixedness which was its greatest merit. Where the rails on which it ran were placed there they had to remain. Traffic might prefer other lines of road, business might desert one street and take to another, new neighborhoods might suddenly become populous, but the tram rails stayed where they were. With the motor-bus every one of these changes could be met almost as soon as they happened. Was a new road opened, a motorbus could at once be placed on it. If the traffic did not grow as fast as was expected, it could at once be taken off. But the motor-bus had its drawbacks. The noise was very great, the smell unpleasant, the great weight tore up the roads and caused increased vibration. But the position during the past year or two has been gradually changed, until the companies who run the motor-buses make new and strong claims on the preference of the street traveller. These claims are referred to by the Spectator in a recent issue. The weight, the paper says, has been reduced by half—from seven tons to three and a half —the construction has been improved, and the risk of accident proportionately lessened; engines, it is said, "now make but a slight purring noise, which is hardly noticeable to passengers or to pedestrians." In fact, the motor-bus, "in speed, ease of running, cleanliness, ventilation and lighting qualities, is very little behind the expensive motor-car of the private owner." The Spectator points out that there are now nearly 2000 motor-buses working in London, and about thirty new ones are being put on the streets every week. The tram-car, it says, seems to be in a bad way. The paper shows how severely the tramcar is handicapped in the race with the motor-bus. There is the heavy initial cost of laying down the lines, the overhead gear, the long delay before the tramcar can be made to earn revenue, whereas the motor-bus can earn money the moment it is out of the makers' hands. The London County Council, as has already been pointed out in these columns, is faced with a substantial decrease in the revenue of its electric tramcars. the amount for the twenty-three weeks ending September 4 being no less than £48,000. The receipts of the London General Omnibus Company, on the other hand, for forty-eight and a half weeks show an increase of upwards of half a million, whilst those of the other company, the Xational Steam Car Company, show an increase of nearly £45,000. The Spectator sums up the situation in the following words:

The Council trnmwitvs have cost more tkan four times what the motor omnibuses of the London General Omnibus

Company have cost, but the income derived from them is very much smaller. The explanation is to be found in the comparative expense of the two systems. A motor-bus can be run for something under 7d a mile, while the tramcar costs lid a mile. Some part of tWs last-men-tioned sum may be saved by economy in this or that particular, but since the actual working expenses ill two . years show a reduction of 3%d a mile for the Omnibus Company, against one of a halfpenny per mile for the County Council, there is not much to be looked for in this direction If the Council

goes on running trams when the superior conveniences of motor-buses has been shown by experiment, it is not trading with the ratepayers' money, but throwing it away.

These lessons and facts cannot be disregarded by places like New Plymouth that are contemplating the installation of street transit systems. Two years ago it seemed there was no other system but the overhead trolley electric system to consider, but the position has since been entirely changed, and the Council and ratepayers cannot overlook this fact when it comes to deciding upon a tramways system for Taranaki's capital town.