MOTORBUS OR TRAMCAR-WHICH?
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The Modern Tendency to Determine the Relative Spheres of these Passenger-carrying Media.
T1OR MANY months past prominent
municipal authorities in Many parts of this country, who have beeu faced with the necessity for renewing or relaying tramway tracks involving expenditure which would at one time have been deemed prohibitive, have weighed up the advantages and disadvantages of the various forms of passenger transport, and in many eases we know that they have voted in favour of the motorbus or the trolley-bus as a substitute for the rigid system. In fact, in some areas the tramway tracks are being removed from the streets. Local authorities in various parts of the Empire are also tackling this problem, whilst State officials in the United States are exhibiting a definite leaning towards the road motor as a passenger-carrying unit.
A few month S ago there was a lively discussion on this .subjeet at Dover, and, as a -result, the corporation had under consideration the promotion of a Parliamentary Dill to give it power, not only to nth motorbus services to all parts of the borough, but to pull up the old tramway tracks. About the same time, too, a suggestion was made that the tramcars running in the central part of Manchester should be dispensed with and replaced by buses. Mr. II. Matti son, the general manager of the Manchester CorporationTramways, issued a report on this subject, and, although he ably defended the status of the tramcar in the scheme of modern municipal transportation, he was forced to concede that the motorbus could claim advantages on certain points. These indications arc merely reflective of the general: tendency to consider an alternative system of passenger transport, to the tramways.
Vested interests in tramway systems, both in this country and in other parts of the world, have often resulted in unfair legislation being passed against the more modern passenger vehicle; hut even drastic measures have, in many eases, proved unavailing. For instance; the Johannesburg Municipal Tramways incurred a loss of £24,000 during a recent period covering seven months, and one-third of this sum was lost in futile competition with heavily taxed motorbuses over the direct. roads of the southern suburbs. In Canada, too, tramway interests are finding it impossible to combat the advent of the motorbus, despite the fact that in Many eases the authorities have been given the fullest powers. In Toronto both trains and beees are under the control of one authority, but the bus is rapidly gaming favour. In Montreal the tramway company alone have the
right to run buses: but this has not deterred bus proprietors from running serviees from the surrounding towns into the city at competitive rates. The tramway service between Hamilton and Dundas, in Ontario, has been abandoned because the inhabitants prefer to use motorbuses, whilst, the Levis County (Quebec) Tramway Co. have sought aid to prevent what they term illegitimate competition on the part of buses.
Events are taking a similar course in Australia. At the present time open war is being waged in Melbourne between tram and bus interests, in which. the former, •unbacked by public partiality, is slowly but surely being ousted. Matters have not come to a head so definitely in Sydney, but even there a latent feeling exists that the day of the tramcar is over.
Most of the credit for the extended use and development of the motorhua belongt to this country, but Americans appreciate the advantages possessed by this form of passenger transport, and it is not surprising, therefore, to learn that the question of replacing tramcars by motorbuses is receiving ever-increasing attention on the ether side of the Atlantic. Several cities in the United States are discarding trams for buses, and in more than one instance this change has been brought about 'owing to strikes occurring on local tramway systems, the resultant installation of emergency WI services driving home emphatically to. the public the advantages of the motor vehicle.
The strike on the New Jersey tramway system last August provides a ease in paint; but, perhaps; the ease of Gloucester, Magsachusetts, provides the classic example of a change-over from
tram to bus in the United States. It was so long ago as June, 1920, that, following a strike of tramcar employees, a fleet of 24 motorbuses was put into service to fill the gap created by the absence of the trams, and so satisfied were the citizens of Gloucester with the :facilities afforded by these vehicles that not a tramcar has been seen in the city since that time.
In New itIrk itself the bus is steadily but surely ousting the tram. Here, again, the fight commenced with a partial suspension of tramcar operations in 1919, but on the day the trams stepped inn.ning emergency fleets of buses, obtained from Newark and other neighbouring cities, commenced operations. The response of the public Was instantaneous and gratifying, for it soon discovered that the buses reduced the running time taken by tramcars by from 20 to 50 per cent. At the end of four months 10 regular services of motorbuses were in operation ie various parts of New York City, and this rate of progress has since been steadily maintained. New Yorkers claim for the motorbus that it is quicker, more flexible, more comfortable and more. dependable than the tramcar.
A few months age the Trackless Transportation Cornmittee of the American Electric Railway (Tramways) Association published a report that provides some indication as to the modern aspect of this problem. The thief findings of this committee were ;—that the number of trantwa.y companies operating buses increased from 44 in June, 1922, to 95 in June; 1923; that the number of buses employed increased in this period from '300 to .925; that the higher unit cost, of bus transportation is justified where traffic is light; that the social and economic forces which caused the adoption of auxiliary bus services by these companies will continue to expand, and that the tramway companies, should become more fully alive to the possibilities of bits operation.
They also found that the motorbus is a valuable feeder to the tramcar; that tramw,ay companies should not allow their antagonism to buses to blind them as to their duty to the public; that they must keep pace with develOpments in the transportation field if they are to expect to Maintain their position in the scheme of modern transportation, and that they should ,supply the needs of new and developing communities by establishing adequate services either with trams or buses.
• The latest authority to 'urge co-operation and not competition between buses and tramcars is Mr. Walter C. White, the President of the White Co. Mr. White speaks as a pioneer in the motor industry, for he has been connected with the manufacture of commercial motor vehicles for many years. As early as 1901 he was selling cars in London and occupied the driving seat in many of the vehicles which took part in early road tests.
According to Mr. White, tramway • B40
companies should be authorized by legislation to own and operate their own public-service motor vehicles, for through their experience in catering far the public's requirements they are well suited to run motorbuses. Motor vehicles; Mr. White believes, will play a major .role in one sympathetic system _
of passenger transport, for co-operation, instead of competition, will solve problems Of transportation in the relationship between buses on one hand and trams an the other.
In expressing this view Mr. White is in agreement with the opinions held by Mr. Britton I. Budd, president of the American Electric Railway {Tramways} Association, and by such outstanding figures in'the recent Transportation Conference as Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, and Julius Barneis, President' of the U.S.A. Chamber of Commerce.
"Bases," continues Mr. 'White, "would not exist to-day in anything like the numbers they do unless there was a public demand for them. The public is not necessarily opposed to tramway services, but appreciates their value as a supplement to them. There are several instances Of high-class bus services that pay well without. exerting any 'influence on tramcar revenues."
Mr. White emphasizes the belief of the American motor industry that the same principles should govern the opera-. tion of motor vehicles 3,4 common carriers as are applied by State regulatory_ commissions to the operation of other
public-service units. "For example,' he, says, "the motorbus carrying passengem fer hire should not be permitted to operate until a certifieate of public convenience and necessity from a legislative authority has been secured.
"The motor industry," Mr. White says, "has taken a definite stand on taxation. It contends that the cost of the construction of improved highways for the use of the general public should be paid for out of funds raised by general taxation and that the entire annual budget for the maintenance of improved highways used by motor vehicles should be paid ont of special taxes levied on the motor vehicle."
There are many people on this side of the Atlantic who will disagree with some of Mr. White's views but the mere fact that a leading motorbus manufacturer should make public such open-Minded views provides convincing proof of the faith he has in motorbus development. •