THE TRAMWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1918, Page 6

THE TRAMWAYS.

QI*£3TIOX OF iIORLEI" STREET SEcnox . PROPOSALS. The tramways engineer (Mr. R- H. Hartley) reported to last night's meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council:— Arising out of the town clerk's report and tramway Wance-dhect for the year ending 31st March, 1918. certain matters relative to the working of the system have been referred to me to report on, and I am glad to have this opportunity of doing so. X purpose to deal with tie subject in order as follows: 1 Possibilities re alteration of service on Morlev street route. 1. Quicker service and increased mileage. 3. Possibility of reducing -working expenses and increasing revenue. 1. Morlev Street Route.—Our record's do not show the traffic. Esmont t j Mor. ley street and Egmont to Eliot street -eoarately, but/4rom experimental figures which have been taken the traffic appe:|< to be in the proportion of .35 to .85 whereas Egmont street to Eliot stree* represents .65 of the total traffic on this route, and Egmont street to Morley street represents .'.I of the total traffic on this route, and this i« the basis taken in the following calculations. The traffic record* for the Year Apri; 1917 to March. 1918. on the Morley'street route show:—Total revenue. foflfl o» Md; total passengers carried 133,311; total mileage run hv cars. 29.607. For convenience. Egmont street to Eliot street willl ib c called A njli Egmont street to Morley street B. Therefore m the proportions given above—Total revenue from A. £*27 18, l]j; lota] passengers carried A, M6.IM; total mileT T i"' m *«™ avenue from P, £3M 2s; total passengers car ned I!, 57,15.9: total milea*, nm b 0.3*2 mile. The total c4%f £aS and overhead on B. ei ual to £3174 Overhead Charges-Interest at 5 per cent., £l«s „,. RinkMn; , funi , a /; Percent, £W Us sd : depreciation at 1 m cent., £3l 14s lOd: renewals at 4 P« rent, £lO6 Ifa 4d: total, £333 5s for traction mi B. W043 at 1144. £sn 13« Id. wage, on B. motor™*. £132 Ms, wages onß. conductors, £l 2 n : ra pervMon, £inproportion of rolling stock, repairs. Pnd maintenance, £2O 1* 8d: total, £3M 6 , It will, therefore, be seen that the total charges on this route amount to £333 or ,d. standing on overhead 17" £S64 3 " M - ™W»* «** " emding maintenance; total. « n< M of £338 2. has been received, showing a loss of £3flo flq Bd . „„„ wshQi .™** precmt.on but including inters" a„d >nlcmgf u „d,thelos E is£2oo I^Vin Jow fcere the altered position of the main line results, nipv „; n „ ft ™ £,on can*, B i. dosed nVw n for he me and the service on the main line in' creased .--Increased working cost on «a. a hne, £3M 5s fld : increased <"» mm line. 10.3*2 miles; passengers on nwi n line. 74 s*l- increased revenue on mn,i n line £337 13s *l. after deducting £384 5s Dd increased working shows a gain 0 f £|T3 7s Bd. I Aonld think that this amount (£173 7s 8d) j. on the low »nV. n , more mileae* would be obtained for the wtme expenditure, due tothe reduction W time lost at the termini, also the easier wades on the mam line. I should he almost inclined f£ put this extra revenue at £20(1 for the same amount of cxnenditure and I am sure the fitmre would-be very near the true results. The torching is a eaWion assuming that the SM +ion called P. be elosed down, and the wholr. '•f the mileage and Workinz exoenses transferred to the main line. ' This procedure would be very drastic, and T am of opinion that a modification would bs more VnefMal. Observations show that J the bulk of the "business done on the Morley street route is done between l-» noon nnd S pan., and I am of opinion that 85 per cent, of the present amount of revenue would be obtained if a ser- I vice was onlv run during these hour", and the reduction in the hours would enable the working costs to he reduced by at least £364 per year on section A and Bof the Morley street route. The position on section B would be as under:—

Overheat! Charges —lnterest at 5 per cent,, £768 14^; sinking fund at %d per cent., £ls 17 g sd; depreciation" at 1 per cent, £3? 14s lfld: renewals at 4 ner cent., £l2B 19s 4d; total. £333 5s 7d. Working Cosfa.—Current for traction, aim units at l" 4 d, £4O 17a ed: wage-, motormen, £WI ss; conductors. £6O. supervision £10: proportion of rolling stock, ronairs and maintenance, £lO Ss 4d: total costs. £526 ifls sd. Revenue from section R. £??7 17s fid. Total I»«es._ £235 is, UH. Total loss, less depreciation and renewals, but including interest and sinking fund. £ISS 14s 2d £SO 4s 9d—as against £2OO 15a 4d. as fhnwn previously. Treatise this section P. separately hardly shows the advantage of the modification, but if section A and I? are taken together the results arc more marked, viz.:—The total revenue from A and B for the year was £9<Hl, and for a reduced expenditure of £364 a revenue of 85 per cent, of £866, or £B2l 2s, is still obtained, showing a decrease of £W4 18s, an actual saving of £219 2s, and, in addition to this, there would he a saving in car maintenance and current, not allowed in the item £384, making the total saving approximately £2BO ppr year. The Morley Street route has always been a problem to roe, and I am convinced that there is only one solution, which is the extension of the line. Quicker service and increased mileage depends entirely on the amount of business offering, and can be gauged from the records showing the number of passengers carried per mile run and the revenue earned per car mile, which >n our case is 7.2 passengers and 12.32 d. Both of these are quite normal figures, but I am of opinion that if times were normal it would pay to increase the service during certain hours, and it would show an increase in revenue in proportion to the increased expenditure. However, in our case our time-table is limited, due to limited rolling-stock. and the little that we could increase by extra speed would be greatly discounted owing to single lines and loops. The only other way that the quicker service can be worked is by the operation of ipecial ears, and every opportunity has

been taken during the past year to da this, and in a very "real measure this is responsible for the extra mileage shown in the records. The special car service has mostly been obtained by by reducing the Morley Street section time-table and employing this car in special traffic From the above explanation it vill he seen that at the present time not much extra revenue can be obtained from a faster service. The possibility of reducing the actual working expenses is, a very difficult matter at the present time, when labor and everything rise is so high in price, and shows every tendency to still greatly increase. The only chance is the curtailment of something that is already heme done, and I am continually considering the various matters with this object. During the last three months I have cut the ear cleaning down by £3 per week and the depot office expenses liy £1 10s per week. There are certain ,matters relative to traffic and ticket supervision that may possibly be reduced, but in doing so due consideration must be given to any sacrifice in discipline and loss that may occur with fare? due to insufficient check, also the possibility of a lesser amount of attention being shown to the public, and in the face of these disadvantages I am not in n. position to-make any recommendation before having a very thorough consultation with the Tramway Committee. There is no doubt in my mind that the Ngamotu beach traffic is a great asset to the tramways and vice versa, and the council lias done much to encourage the traffic in supplying light and water, etc.; but I agree with the town clerk that more could have been done in the way of creating special attractions, and I would be glad of the opportunity of making suggestions when the arrangements are being framed. In conclusion, I would like to state that I do not view the past year's working of the tramways with surprise or disappointment, because the position has turned out almost exactly as I estimated over twelve months ago that it would do. Further, we have been faced with a heavy expenditure on track and road maintenance, which was not anticipated, also with the high cost of material and labor, which in normal times would not be so, and although the revenue has increased considerably it is not in the proportion that we could have expected had times been normal. By this I mean that men have been leaving the town to go to the war; people have not been building, and the population has not been moved to the extent that could have been reasonably looked for. All these points are what tramways revenue depends upon, and which take time to bring about. Thus the reason why few, if any, tramway systems become paying concerns under five er six years, and that under normal conditions, a great many requiring a much longer time to bring these conditions about. The rate allowed for depreciation and renewals is no doubt high for the early stages of an undertaking of this sort, but as long as this is understood it is a good fault, and in no way prevents the system from paying, which I have not the slightest doubt it will do. I understood from Mr. Parry, when on his last visit here, that the amount allowed for depreciation in the Government Lake Coleridge scheme is approximately 1% to 1A per cent.