NEW PLYMOUTH TRAMWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1919, Page 8

NEW PLYMOUTH TRAMWAYS.

SUGGESTED EXTENSIONS. At last night's meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council, Mr. R. II Bartley (borough engineer) submitted an estimate of the cost of the tramways extension to Westown, via Morley Street and Tukapa Road. The estimate, said the engineer, is based on present day quo. 1 tations for materials and coat of labor, For reference and to show exactly how the estimate is made up, he had set out a schedule detailing the materials required, together with present-day prices and cost of constructing one mile of track complete and suitable for the class of extension under cdnsideration. To estimat the cost of an extension over or under a mile, but not under half a mile, It will suffice to take a proportion of the price scheduled. The estimate allows for asphalting the track road surface, an.! if this was not done but substituted with tar-sealing, the amount £IO2O per mile) must be deducted from the estimate. The cost of the sealing per mile is £4O The amount allowed for excavating and filling, etc., is £SOO per mile. This figure may vary over or under the limount allowed according to the final levels adopted, but if complete construction of one mile of track and overhead equipment is taken at £14,000, it will not fall far short of the mark under present conditions. Cost per mile: Materials for track £10,336; construction of track £ll4O (if track tar-sealed in lieu of asphalt deduct £1020); materials for overhead equipment £2415 14s 8d; construction ot overhead equipment £248; total £14,143 14s Bd. Total materials i 12751 14s 8d; total labor £1392. TOWN CLERK'S REPORT. The town clerk (Mr. F. T. Bellringer) reported:— With reference to the report submitted by the electrical and tramways engineer, I would recommend that the council, before deciding upon the extension, should very carefully consider the possibility of serving this district and also the Vogeltown district, for the r.ext ten years at any rate, by means of a much improved bus service. The successful running of the electric bus to Westown leads one to believe that, a very efficient service could be installed and maintained at a very small cost compared with the cost which would be entailed by extending the tramways. It must be borne in mind also that the road to Westown is in good order, tar-sealed, and that the road to Vogeltown will also be tar-sealed this summer. Thus the greatest objection to a bus service—bad roads—has already been removed. The cost of extending the tramways to Westown, as estimated by the electrical engineer, is £14,000 per mile, compared with approximately £SBOO per mile, which it cost to instal our present system. The estimated cost of the extension is, therefore, so high that it must be several years before the extensions can be made to pay working expenses and interest. The capital required for an efficient electric motor bus service would be so small in comparison, and the working conditions so much more elastic, that the might possibly pay its way from the commencement. If such a serviee were to be installed, however, I think that the fares should not be greater than those charged upon the tramways. The function of the electric motor bus service should be to act as the pioneer of the electric tramways, to provide cheap transit between the town and the less thickly populated suburbs, thereby encouraging the people to build and reside in suqli suburbs. Later on, when the population warrants, the tramways could be extended with some chance of obtaining a reasonable return for the capital outlay involved. Sufficient information is not yet available to enabl! the question to be fully considered, and I therefore recommend that the electrical and tramways engineer be instructed to submit a report generally upon the whole question, and embodying the fojlowinp information: (a) The number of buses required to enable a twentyminute service to be maintained tt Westown, a fortv-minute seiH'ice (with extra trips at rush hours) to Vogeltown. and four trips per day to Frankleigl' Park; (b) the estfmatcd capital, cost oi the motor buses required; (c) the esti. mated annual working expenses of sucli services; (d) the estimated revenue pel annum to be derived therefrom, based upon fares not greater than those at present charged upon the tramways; (e) the estimated cost of tajr-sealing Morlej Street from Devon Street to Wallact Place; (f) the estimated saving whicl: would be effected if the Morley Streel tram service was discontinued, and'tin service taken up by the motor bus.