The Rapidly Dying Tramway System.
Page 1
Page 2
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ONLY in very exceptional eases now can tramway systems be retained or extended, and, once a tramway system is abolished and replaced with the more flexible omnibus service, it can never regain favour. Neither private enterprise nor municipal organization could frame a schedule of fares which, on present-day costs for a permanent way, would show a profit and at the same time attract the public and encourage it to use the vehicles. Without the aid of the rates few existing tramway undertakings could live, and it is doubtful if the rate-aided undertakings would be permitted to continue did ratepayers as a whole take an active interest in the disposal of their funds.
The greatest value of the tramcar service is the incentive which it provides to the bus-operating concerns. The competition it creates is of real value to the travelling public, although it might be contended that, were that competition removed, more buses could be put into service. That, however, is a contention not yet put forward.
As we show in the news columns of this issue, the Corporation of Keighley—where, over a period of years, considerable efforts have been made to secure a better public hire vehicle than the tramcar, with its troubles and limitations—has now almost completed the entire removal of the rails, and has installed, or is completing the installation of, trolleybuses throughout the area which it controls. Other towns have done the, same thing, and now Sunderland is contemplating a similar step, having already replaced tramcars by motorbuses on some of the routes. Keighley being a non-county borough, will in future be relieved of the cost of maintaining that portion of the roadway occupied by the tram rails and 18 ins, each side thereof—an expense which has helped very largely to cripple the finances of many a system, and one which, it must be admitted, has not perhaps 'in recent years been altogether fair, because, when that condition was first introduced into tramway bills, the omnibus did not figure as a serious competitor—in fact, scarcely existed.
To the trolley-bus must be given the credit of having provided the "way out" to tramway engineers, as its driving power can be drawn from. the electric supply of the municipal generating station —the force which not only has kept the tramcars moving, but which has sustained most of the systems long after they have ceased to pay. THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR Our New Slippery Roads.
TT Is intensely interesting to learn that the Com
mittee formed by the Minister of Transport to deal with the question of slippery road surfaces is not only meeting to discuss the dangerous condition of the roads, now that these surfaces have been laid down, but is actually conducting experiments designed to mitigate the evil.
We have had a number of complaints, and have ourselves had some experience of these slippery roads, having, in fact, almost come to grief when running quite unexpectedly on to the curious pitted surface that has been laid down on the Great North Road. It was only long experience of driving, some extensive experience of skidding and a study of causes and cures in various circumstances and under different conditions that prevented, on the occasion in question, a crash that would have involved three cars.
We are still in doubt as to whether everything possible is being done to rectify the evil, and, moreover, whether the promptest possible action is being taken. Throwing down of sand we regard as a palliative which, even if it serves a purpose, can never be practical, because of the cost. The difficulty seems to lie in the reluctance of all concerned in the employment of this type of surface to admit that it is slippery.
As we bee it, the bituminous carpet has been rolled with a roller so grooved that a number of tiny indentions (say, about 16 to the square inch) are made in the face with a view to producing a non-skid surface. . As a matter of fact, the action is just the opposite. A rubber tyre, passing over a smooth, wet surface, squeezes the moisture away and obtains a grip, and if the corrugations on the tread of the tyre are well designed, their edges under a side thrust offer further resistance to slipping. But with these new pitted road surfaces the rubber tyre rides upon a number of high spots, between which are small pools of muddy fluid that are not displaced by the passage of the tyre, but act as a lubricant. Hence, the encouragement of the tyre to sideslip. Sand thrown freely on such a surface absorbs the moisture, but requires to be constantly renewed as it is destroyed by the wheels of heavy, vehicles. There is only one cure for this evil—the .replacemeat of the surface, or its carpeting with a material which is known not to be slippery.
The Opportunity for the Two-seater Cab.
rriliERE ARE not lacking indications that the two
seater type of cab is likely to become in the near future a highly succeasful business proposition, and one which will probably be looked upon with considerable favour by the public.
For the moment, such a vehicle can only be employed in provincial service, and then only with the assent of the licensing authorities, but even as regards London work we see no adequate reason why the regulations should not be amended to include twoseater vehicles, providing these are constructed on sound lines.
The ordinary four-seater cab is quite a satisfactory type of vehicle for carrying three or four persons, but in the vast majority of cases, the vehicle is hired by one or two persons only, with the result that for 90 per cent. of its hired time it is forced to provide unnecessary accommodation, and this quite apart from the loss during the non-paid-for running time which, it is stated, in many instances amounts to 75 per cent, of the total mileage.
Transport efficiency is only obtained by making the best use of the available loading space, whether the loads be goods or human beings. Therefore, everything possible should be done to encourage the development of new types of cab to fulfil this purpose.
We understand, of course, that there will always be a considerable sphere for the larger vehicle, but this should not deter the production of the smaller models. We know already of two finished cabs of the two-seater type, and at least one other is in preparation, and we suggest that the licensing authorities would do well to consider the matter of their approval for service, not only in the provinces, but in the MetrOpolis, and not to raise any bars against the progress which is _being made, other than those necessary for the safety and convenience of the travelling public.