RAILLESS TRAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1922, Page 5

RAILLESS TRAMS.

REJECTED BY AUCKLAND. ADVANTAGE OF RAIL TRAMS. A proposal to adopt rail-less trams for certain extensions was recently rejected by the Auckland City Council on the advice of the engineers. In view of the discussion which took place inNew Plymouth last year on this subject, the New Plymouth Borough Council wrote asking the northern council if a copy of the report could be supplied. The Auckland town clerk (Mr. J. Walkate) has now replied that the full reports could not be disclosed as these were confidential. He forwarded a Press report, however, giving a resume of the opinions of the tramways engineer (Mr. E. de Guerrier) and the city engineer (Mr. W. E. Bush) on the proposal to introduce the trackless cars on the Great South Road, Auckland.

When the report was received at last night’s meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council the general manager (Mr. F. T. Bellringefr) said the opinions were very much on the lines of what was previously submitted, to the council. The extract reads:—

In the course of his report, Mr. de Guerrier said trolley ’buses could manoeuvre about the road as easily as a petrol ’bus. Owing to the few moving parts of the trolley ’bus (there were nb change gears) jts maintenance was considerably less than that of a petrol ’bus, and owing to the absence of rails the capital cost was less than one-half of a tramway installation. Where traffic was dense, however, the tramcar had to be adopted. This argument applied particularly to the Great South Road extension, more especially when one considered the race traffic, which would necessitate a fleet of about 70 ’buses, 60 of which would be idle for the rest of the year.

As a general axiom it could be taken that except in eases of comparatively thinly-populated routes, changing from vehicle to vehicle gave most unsatisfactory results, and therefore if. for the sake of argument, they excluded the race traffic on Great South Road from consideration, the ’buses would have to be brought into the city to avoid the inconvenience. This would entail the erection of a complete new set of poles to take the additional wires, on account of their being already fully loaded. Further, when rails were already laid along a route, the most economical method of traction was a tramcar. The report continued that the electrical engineer considered that the trolley ’bus would be suitable for such routes as Great North Road and Point Chevalier. St. Heliers Bay, Panmure, and Otahuhu, and also Orakei when developed. Tn these cases, where traffic had to b? developed, changing of vehicles would not be a hindrance, as people wouU be only too glad to avail themselves of a good service. At present a petrol ’bus service was in operation on some of these routes, but trolley ’buses would have no difficulty in displacing them, owing to lower maintenance and running costs, and the absence of noise and smell of petrol. As regards maintenance and running costs of the trolley ’bus, these would appear to be about 20 to 25 per cent, higher than for a tramway, but this, of course, was more than balanced by the saving in interest on capital expenditure.” Maintenance and running costs for petrol ’buses worked out 70 per cent, higher than for a tramway, and the standing charges for the petrol ’bus were about the same as the trolley ’bus. on account of the much higher depreciation of the former.