THE L.C.C. AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT.
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A Reply to Mr. J. Allen Baker, M.P.
The chairman of the Highways Committee of the London County Council, Mr. J. Allen Baker, M.P., recently accorded an interview to a representative of " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," and this was published by us last week. We had only enough space at our disposal then to intimate that the arguments and statements which were advanced by Mr. Allen Baker should be answered this week, and it is in no spirit of idle discussion that we hasten to join issue with him. He speaks with authority as a serious advocate of electric traction, and our endeavour will be to meet him fairly on the points he has raised.
Questions of Fact.
Mr. Baker expressed the opinion that tramways "are more economical, more convenient, and more popular "than motor omnibuses. Now, to take the first of these claims, economy is measured by the excess of actual receipts over ascertained expenses; so long as the motor omnibus is able —as is demonstrated every day between Peckham and Westminster Bridge—to carry human beings at a less cost per passenger-mile than is done by competing tramcars, it is clear that economy does not lie with the tramcar. We invite Mr. Baker to test this fact if he does not credit it. The cost per car-mile may be a fraction less, in the case of the electric car, the 6o odd seats of which travelling unit are conveyed, full or empty, along the routes continuously, but is it not more reasonable to accept the cost per mile per occupied seat as the legitimate test of real economy in operation, rather than the cost per car? What value attaches to the knowledge that so many tons of metal, in the shape of motors, truck and coach-work, cost 9.25d. for each mile they are driven? The presence or absence of economy is found in the figure which is yielded as the quotient when the cost per car-mile, whether for electric tram or motorbus, is divided by the number of passengers carried by the vehicle per mile. We are able to state as a fact that the cost per occupied seat per mile is very frequently less for a motor omnibus on typical London routes, after charging up depreciation at the excessive rate of 33 per cent. per annum, and in respect of vehicles which are capable of great improvement, than it would be if the inclusive cost of operating the electric tramcars were to be legitimately reduced to 8.5d. per car-mile. We do not say that the same state of affairs would necessarily obtain outside the Metropolis, as we admit to the belief that electric traction is more suited to the conditions which prevail in some provincial cities. The impartial mind will recognise conclusive evidence of the superior or inferior economy of the tramcar in the cost of conveying the passengers, as disclosed by the recorded patronage of the two systems in competition, and not in the cost of moving the carrying vehicle without reference to its unoccupied seats. We can see no reasonable objection to this basis of comparison, if the actual relative economy of two opposed systems of passenger transport is genuinely sought for.
We invite Mr. Baker to submit the question of the economy of the L.C.C. tramcars to this test for one week. One tramcar and one omnibus might be specially observed for the purpose, in order to secure an accurate record of the missing factor, the length of trip per passenger, the records to be taken daily, during a period of one week. No publicity should be given to the dates or occasions, in order to avoid any process of undue " inflation " by interested parties, and the respective ascertained total number ot passenger-miles for each of the two units should then be divided into 9.25d. x miles run for the tramcar, and into to.50d. x miles run for the omnibus, these costs being according to existing practice in London.
What Members of the Public Observe.
In what respects are electric tramcars more convenient than motor omnibuses? The only conceivable advantage is their ability to take greater numbers of people at a time, but this must not be confused with larger carrying capacity per hour past a given point. The idea that electric tramcars are better capable of dealing with continued heavy passenger traffic is erroneous : motor omnibuses are distinctly superior on this count, as may be realised, at this early stage, by anybody who chooses to make the necessary observations in the Strand. The comparative sparseness of the motorbus traffic is such that it might easily be trebled, yet the self-propelled vehicles of this type, which are now in use there, are taking as many as 2,000 persons an hour in one direction. Is the plea of convenience advanced because passengers have to alight in and mount from the roadway? We should say that, apart from the positive inconveniences of this procedure, the not inconsiderable obstructions to traffic which members of the travelling public cause, when they are obliged to impede lines of
ordinary traffic, at no small risk to their own lives and persons, be it added, are sufficient to put the tramcar hopelessly out of court compared with the omnibus which draws up by the kerb. The tramcar is scarcely a convenience, as its driver petulantly jumps on his gong to call the road, as though by right, from drivers of other vehicles, whereas the motorbus driver goes round them. Again, is it a conventcure to any other user of the highway to have the lines to contend with? Ile must be a bold man who dare say" Yes " to that very pertinent question, whilst the pleasure and convenience of keeping in single 'file, between the kerb and a row of thirty or more tramcars which are helpless because one of them has failed, may sometimes be experienced. When a motorbus becomes disabled, as is more frequently the case at present than will result hereafter, the other motorbuses on the route are not impeded. The claim of greater convenience with electric traction will not stand examination; it is merely preposterous. The inconveniences, on the other hand, begin with the prolonged dislocation and blockages of traffic during the weary period of track construction, and they are ilways with us. Their incidence is not understood, at first; by those who are the sufferers, but we indicate a few of the less obvious effects, when dealing with the allegation that tramway undertakings pay more than a fair levy for their right of way.
Tramcars Ignored.
Then we come to the relative popularity of the two systems. This, also, is a question of fact, and no two opinions can exist in the minds of those who will take the trouble to look for themselves. We are obliged to turn to the Peckham-Westminster Bridge line, where the L.C.C. electric cars and a number of motorbuses are in daily competition. What are the facts? Mr. Baker has stated that the tramway receipts, in this case, are " continually increasing." Possibly they are, in the aggregate, because more electric cars were in on the route when the motorbuses were introduced, but it is certain that the receipts per car per day have fallen ! A deliberate preference is exhibited for the omnibuses, which are not ignored, and, whatever degree of popularity may be enjoyed by them elsewhere, it is an undeniable fact that the L.C.C. tramcars take second place where motorbuses provide an alternative mode of conveyance. It is not that the omnibuses attract cheaper fares : they win on their
merits of greater convenience and greater speed. The smaller seating capacity of the omnibus tells in its favour here, because people know there will be fewer stoppages in proportion to the lesser number of individuals who can be taken up or who will require to be set down.
Relieving" the Rates.
The amount 'mid in relief of nites, and the anticipated benefits of a linked-up North and South system, call for notice. .Al what indirect cost is this much-vaunted profit rendered available in the tramway accounts? In the first place, only one-third of the cost of street wideniegs is charged to the capital account of the tramway undertaking, notwithstanding the fact that a number of these " improvements " are in districts where they have no raison d'art! whatever except qua? track construction. They are made, these loudly-advertised appropriations to general account, when the depreciation and renewal funds are starved and passed over, and when the working expenses are at the abnormally high level of 74 per cent, of the gross receipts. The unhealthiness of the situation is apparent when it is recollected that the average of expenses to receipts for the United Kingdom is 66.1g per cent., and that several cities, of which we may quote Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and I.eeds, get this proportion down appreciably lower. There is every cause for uneasiness when a Public Authority such as the London County Council works its tramway system at more than is per cent, loss, compared with our greatest and best-managed Municipalities, and are yet able to " relieve " the rates at one and the same time.
"Through" Passengers Who Have to Change.
No improvement can be hoped for as regards through traffic, in competition with the ubiquitous motor omnibus, when passengers have, if they go by tramcar, to change vehicles twice. Is it not a misnomer to say that a " linkedup " system has been provided at all? Were the L. and N.W. Railway to suggest an intermediate stage in oldfashioned coaches as part of a so-called corridor service to the North, it would hardly be a greater anachronism than the intended " conveniences " of single-deck cars in the tunnel from the Embankment to Helhorn. We accept Mr. Baker's assurance that nothing but single-deck cars were contemplated, though the admission renders unintelligible the protestations about " linking-up " the North with the South. There are some of us who have not forgotten how the tramways department built a car-shed, at New Cross, with the roof so low that cars were unable to enter until the roof had been raised, and it is, possibly, a recollection of this " error of judgment " which accounts for the prevalent idea that the Kingsway tunnel was another incident of the same character.
Tramcars Cause Excessive Local Wear.
There remains Mr. Baker's opinion that the electric tramwav undertaking is unduly rated. Ile also stated, in reference to the paving and maintaining of the roadway between the lines and IS inches each side " We therefore pay for what we do not use, and for what is used by motor omnibuses and other street traffic." This is nothing short of a misconception, because the trams drive so much of the traffic to the sides of the roads that the Borough Councils bear the undue burden and the County Council escapes lightly. This somewhat unlooked-for result is testified to by a number of Borough Surveyors whose roads have suffered. The L.C.C. tramcars possess a monopolist right-of-way upon metal rails which confer great economy in traction ; they force much ordinary traffic, as frequently and. continuously as possible, to quit those portions of the highway which are maintainable out of tho tramway department's finances ; they impose delays and demurrage upon every other sort and variety of vehicular traffic ; the rails cause the surfaces of streets to be highly dangerous for all wheeled vehicles in wet weather; and, notwithstanding all these indirect losses to the community at large, the Chairman of the Highways Committee appears to labour under the belief that other people are benefiting at the expense of the tramcars. Exactly the reverse is the case.
Why not Recognise the Value of Motorbuses ?
We think it is high time that ratepayers in this country, and more particularly in London, wakened up to the fact that electric traction is not of necessity a money-making branch of municipal trading. Evencredit should be given to those who took up the subject of electric traction as a means of cheapening travelling facilities for the lower, middle, and working classes, at a time when no other favourable course was open to them. All this is granted to the full. But are we to go blindly on, extending the tramway track into unsuitable spheres, now that motorbuses are becoming satisfactorily established? Were a vote taken today, the majority against tramlines would prove enormous, and this change in public opinion will have to be recognised by those whose progressive instincts lead them, as a rule, to accommodate themselves to changing circumstances.