Tramways in Great Cities. , •
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ALEADING ARTICLE which appeared in The Times on Monday, October 27th, affords very tangible evidence of the effectiveness of the propagandist work that has been steadily conducted in these columns on the subject of motor omnibuses as against tramcars, and bears witness to the accuracy of the arguments which we have so often put forward.
The work of educating the public to a full appreciation of a new idea and to the abandonment of an old idea, the truth of which has long been taken for granted, is always a slow business. Time after time we have met and countered a renewal of the old contention that tramways are far better than a motorbus system for dealing with heavy traffic, particularly at rush hours. This delusion is based largely on the fact that the bus being a smaller unit, a change from tram to bus would involve the use of a larger number of vehicles. This argument, of course, ignores the allimportant factor of flexibility. The Times, in recommending the London County Council to avoid heavy new expenditure on tramway works, writes:— " Tramways, it may ghnost be said, are survivals of the past. They date from the period before the internal-co.mbustion engine had become nra,clical for transport and before the development of motor transport had brought about the imorovements in road surface. The disadvantages of the fixed rail are plain to everybody. During the railway strike, men had to find their unfamiliar Way through the tranrWay areas of London, and saw how the inflexible fixed rail system not only congested itself, but also blocked all other traffic. They saw also how 'easily the flexible• motor transport was marshalled at centres and junctions, and diverted this way Or that. 'The enormous development of road transport to serve the railways and docks, the new eartage schemes of the railway companies, all the daily changes and increases in the use of the road, call urgently for a reduction, not an increase, in the tramways."
• It is, of course, true that the experience of the public during the railway strike has done much to bring home the strength of the case in favour of the motor omnibus. This brief experience would not, however, have been alone sufficient to lead to such a definite statement as the following:— " The improvement of road surfaces and of wheels and suspension is so rapid that any prediction is difficult, except the prediction that fixed-line traffic in cities is doomed. The serious increase in cost of all new works makes the present time extremely unsuit able for heavy expenditure on plant of which the permanence is not assured. We understand, moreover, that the increase is greater in the ease of tramways than in that of motor omnibuses ; that a tramcar which cost £900 in 1914 now costs 22,500, while the cost of a motor omnibus' has risen only from .2650 to 21,200."
We have endeavoured to emphasize on many occasions the fact that the period of reconstruction following the war would afford an admirable opportunity for bringing about the great change that is required in the facilities for the conveyance of passengers on town roads. In practically every case, the tramway system has depreciated, and only heavy new expenditure can suffice to bring it back even to its old state of limited efficiency. In most cases, this necessary expenditure is greater than that which would be needed were the old system scrapped and motorbuses put in its place. • The matter is one which should be given the most serious attention possible by every local governing body responsible for the provisiou of passengercarrying facilities on roads. The constitution of very many of these local bodies has just now been materially changed. Consequently, we feel that, in order to force to its logical conclusion the educational scheme that we have always forwarded, it is desirable to restate in the simplest possible language the main arguments upon which the writer in The T-ines' consciously or unconsciously bases his very definite opinion. We would, therefore, particularly draw the attention of those of our readers who are concerned with local government to an article on town passenger traffic and the outstanding factor of flexibility, published elsewhere in this issue.
Making a Science of Transport.
IT WOULD BE extraordinarily interesting and entertaining to some of us if we could be transplanted back to the pm-transport era, the time, when, except for the horse, there was no means of quick individual locomotion and when a. coach journey would only be undertaken when exceptional circumstances compelled and when it would partake of the nature of an adventure—much, in fact, akin to the aspect which a journey across the ocean to a far land would bear to the majority of us to-day. The man who then knew the road well between London and York would rank with a travelled globe trotter of this advanced age.
In those days, the visionary must have taken his hearers out of their depths (no doubt, have bored them terribly)! by his thoughts and fancies of B2,3 wonderful transport facilities of the future and, self centred and self-reliant as -were the people of those days, they must have pondered and asked of what good would those facilities be '? They could understand that certain products of foreign parts, which reached this country by ship, and found their way after a long time into the homes of the wealthy, offered some attrabtions but not much, certainly nothing that could not be done without quite easily.
For us to be able to see matters from the point of view of that period would, therefore, be quite interesting—provided always that we could, without much trouble, get back (or forward!) again to the days when transport was one of the great forces of civilization bringing the goods and the peoples, from one end of the kingdom to the other, into touch within a few hours, thus changing the whole aspect of life and producing 'benefits that could, but a few generations ago, never have been imagined (except by our mythical visionary).
The next stage is to make of transport an exact science and, to this end, the meeting which Sir Albert Stanley, M.P., called in London yesterday (Monday) will be of great and almost incalculable service. The proposal is that an Institute of Transport be formed for the scientific study of questions relating to traffic and transport.. A provisional council and a temporary executive committee will take the necessary steps in the matter, and will -decide upon the various grades of the Institute and submit recommendations as to election in such grades. The suggestion is that Sir Eric Geddes, the Minister of Transport, shall be the first president.
London's Superiority Over Paris in Motor Transport.
NOW, AS BEFORE the war, the English visitor to Paris or other French cities can hardly fail to be struck with the fact that, while private motor vehicles are very extensively used, the employment of vans or lorries is on a much smaller scale than that to which the Londoner is. accustomed.
From one point of view, and one alone, Paris lends itself better to motor transport than does London. It is well provided with wide arteries along which traffic can flow rapidly. The ideal conditions for motor transport involve the possibility of rapid travel and, still more, the necessity for covering very considerable daily mileages. Up to a certain very limited mileage, the horsed van has decided advantages for retail delivery work, mainly on account of its comparatively low cost. Directly the necessary mileage passes the limit of endurance of the horse, the use of motors becomes not merely preferable, but positively necessary.
The main reason why we, in this country, can usefully employ so many commercial motor vehicles is that the average Englishman tends to live as far as possible from his business, consistent with convenience of transit. This is particularly noticeable in the case of London. The population of Greater London is, of course, far larger than that of Paris, and this population, instead of being compressed into almost the smallest possible area, is widely spread into the countryside all round the metropolis. The man who lives 10 miles out of Paris regards himself as somewhat isolated. The man who lives 10 miles from the centre of London is very distinctly a dweller in the suburbs. A large proportion of well-to-do Londoners live 25 to 30 miles out, but still depend, mainly, on the great London shops for their supplies.
With very few exceptions, a vehicle capable of covering 16 to 20 miles in a day can deliver to the most distant regular clients of Paris shops. Thus B24 the use of horsed vehicles is generally possible. The motorvan, if employed at all, is selected rather with a view to its advertising value and for the purpose of giving Very rapid service than upon grounds of economy or necessity.
In the case of London, the position is quite different. The retailer has the choice of delivering a great number of his goods direct 'by motor to the out lying districts or, indirectly, by rail. The latter system involves much handling and many delays, with consequent doubt as to the time of delivery. Thus, when a few traders go in for considerable fleets of motorvans and give direct delivery to all outlying customers, the material advantage obtained by those customers is very considerable. It amounts not merely to the saving of an hour or so, but to the certainty of regular and punctual deliveries. It follows, therefore, that when some traders adopt this method others are compelled by competition to follow suit.
The next stage in the process is for the central London shop to extend the area of its motor deliveries so far as to come into direct competition with the larger shops in towns distant as far as 30 or 40 miles. The substantial local traders in these towns, if they are to retain their custom, must then give eqindly good service, which means that they in turn must employ inotorvans. These they naturally use partially to extend their own areas and to deliver in districts more remote from London; and so the process goes on round this and every other great centre until motorvans are generally employed all over the country.
It is easy to see that the same snow-balling process only tends to occur to a very small degree round Paris and other French cities. The residents in towns 20 or 30 miles out depend only on their own local traders for their supplies, and these local traders do not come generally. into direct competition with the central stores in Paris, the latter not having the same inducement to penetrate further and further into the country in order to hold the custom of the families of business men with offices in Paris., At the beginning of the war, it was apparent that Great Britain was far better supplied with 'commercial vehicles than was any other country concerned. The explanation of the fact lies in the wider distribution of population due to the liking of the British business man for, districts in which some, at least, of the characteristics of country life can be maintained.
The Public Services of the Two Capitals.
TURNING TO the public service vehicle, the same comparison does not hold good, because a totally new consideration enters into the argument. From many points of view, Paris is an ideal city for the development of a complete tramway system' to the almost total exclusion of motor omnibuses.
The main force which prevents the development from maturing is different from that which limits the employment of trams in London. One does not find the Paris motor omnibus taking advantage of its ability to provide extended services into the country either regularly or on holidays. One does not find important thoroughfares in Paris so narrow that the completion of tramway connections through them would lead to a complete block in traffic, such as would occur in the City of London.
The use of :trams in the French capital is limited rather by considerations of appearance. The lay-out and the architectural bea...eies of Paris form one of the assets of the city, bringing to it innumerable visitors and greatly increasing the trade done by its citizens. It is realized that for example, the Place de la, Concorde, which is one of the finest open town !Faces in• the world, would be ruined in appearance by a network of tram-lines,, particularly if accompanied by Th overhead wires. e same argument applies with almost equal force to the principal shopping thoroughfares and the main avenues leading to the best residential quarters. If these are to be kept free of trams, as in fact they are, it follows, that no tram system can be complete. Without eom_pleteness, the fullest economy cannot be realized and the system must remain inconvenient, involving frequent changes from one vehicle to another. For this reason, while the tramway system admittedly 'exists, it is circumscribed not merely to ensure the preferential use of omnibuses at the main beauty spots, but to ensure that the buses which work in the best districts. shall extend their services sufficiently to provide uaeful through routes. It is, of course, impossible to assess exactly the commercial value of maintaining the artistic merit of a city, but Paris tacitly admits, that the commercial value is great, and this is a point of view which perhaps might with advantage be given far more consideraa tion than it, at present, receives on this side of the Channel.