The Tramway's Decay.
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By the Rt. Hon. Sir J. H. A. Macdonald, G.C.B., Member of the Road Board.
How Tramway Interests are Entrenched Against Public Interests.
It is proposed to consider the question of the road passenger-vehicle, and to call attention to the inherent disadvantages of the tramway system, pointing out its defects, and its inconveniences and injuries to all other traffic, and showing the greater efficiency of a service of vehicles running freely under their own power and on resilient wheels. In all such questions resembling that under consideration, the test is, and must be, whether, taking advantages and disadvantages together, one pa,rticular system most commends itself. But it is difficult to get an unbiassed consideration. What is new is considerably handicapped by what exists, and has established itself in a long course of years. And this is particularly the •case among the inhabitants of the British Isles. The people who have put in large swim of money to provide permanent way, plant and vehicles, unsuitable for any ordinary use, so providing a system, which, if it be abandoned, leaves on their hands an immense mass of what is comparativelyworthless scrap, are naturally intolerant of any new idea which may tend to attack what they think they are entitled to hold_ has by long use become a monopoly. They consider that their system has a claim to be protected against any new scheme, however excellent in itself. They beoome propagandists, proclaiming loudly to the easy-going public that of course' the tramway car is the best town vehicle, and that any proposed new carriage is not to be compared with it, using every influence they possess to induce town, urban or county councils to put difficulties in the way of those who have the audacity to attempt to compete with them. When the prophecy (quoted earlier) was made by Mr. Fell, he was voicing the wish of all persons interested in tramways • quite a natural wish, but it was father to the thought. People in such a frame of mind could not be expected to act otherwise than as obstructionists to any threatened competition.
Repression of Newer Methods of Conveyance.
Free Trade at home does not commend itself to those who are moved by self-interest. Such a state of mind is most developed, and sometimes carried to the length of downright oppression, when the tramway is in the hands of the local authority. Every possible obstruction is put in the way of those advocating a free-running line of vehicles, if it tends to touch any route over which tramway lines are laid, i or might n future be laid. Numerous cases of this nature have occurred, and many more will occur, as long as town. corporations hold control of tramway lines, using any profit that is made to aid the rates, and levying on the whole community additional rates, i whea the tramway running results n a deficit. It is too much to expect that fair consideration can be given to any proposal which, however good in itself, tends to lower tramway drawings by competing for traffic with the municipally-owned tramline ; the tone of mind of the tramline promoter or owner is peculiar. To him, Free Trade in the abstract is right, but not in his case, where the question does not touch foreign trade and foreign exchanges. There is room for much self-deception, and even for wilful blindness. And, further, the easy-going character of our race, whose innate conservatism makes it unwilling to consider changed circumstances, is against progress in any direction which involves substantial change.
All this makes it the more necessary that those whose eyes are not dimmed by the smoked goggles of interest should use every effort to enlighten the public, to awaken them from the slumber. of complacency, and to convince them that the turning of nighways into railways is not a wise mode for providing the public with efficient means of street transit. The tramway propaganda must be met by persistent and pertinent argument, and every means taken to open the eyes of the public to the truth. Those who are opposed to tramways. have no need to indulge in loud-mouthed prophecies. They know the goodness of their cause, and are willing to wait—but not to wait passively. They are prepared to give and will give reasons for their opinion, and have no fear of being unable to meet and controvert any arguments raised against their contention.
The Disadvantages of Railways on Streets.
The inherent and incurable defects of the tramway are many. .It is a system which can only hold its own where traffic is great and constant; otherwise it cannot be made to pay the interest on the very great capital outlay necessary to establish it, and to yield a dividend ; conversely, where the general traffic is very great, and, the public way is not exceptionally wide, its use is impossible, or, if not impossible, unsatisfactory, and most damaging to the interests of all those using the roadway. An instance of the first is to be found in a route already referred to, probably the most important from a business point of view in the whole world, the main entrance to the City of London from the west, passing by Strand, Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill. This is a succession of streets from which the tramway service is excluded by the very necessity of the case. If tramway cars were put-on this line, the whole traffic would be reduced to a crawl, with frequent blocks, during the business hours of the day. With the regular traffic of ordinary wheeled vehicles of all types, and the necessity for some ob these to stop in front of premises for loading and unloading, free-moving vehicles would be constantly forced upon the area occupied by the rails, and, as the tramcar cannot yield, but must keep on its direct route, unable to move aside an inch either in its own interest or the interest of the general traffic, it would be' impossible to avoid constant stoppages, and consequent congestion, which the great bulk of the cars would aggravate. Freedom of locomotion would be done away with ; bells clanging as signals for the ordinary vehicles to clear out of the way would be futile to obtain openings for free passage for the tramway car. The congestion at such places as the Waterloo Bridge crossing would be such as to lead to frequent deadlocks and long delays. An example of this on a less great scale can be taken. from the state of matters at the Surrey end of Westminster Bridge, where all traffic is held up and can only crawl forward, freedom of passage being blocked by a crowd of tramcars. Such a condition of matters would be bad enough when things were taking their ordinary course. They are, bad enough now at such places as Westminster Bridge, and Jamaica Street in 'Glasgow. It may be said,, without exaggeration, that at these and similar places the loss to the mercantile world by the time wasted in conveyance, of goods in consequence of delays caused by tramway obstruction must amount to many thousands of pounds sterling yearly even when the tramway road is open. But what is the case if anything abnormal occurs!: It only requires the snapping of a wire, a short circuit, or. .a motor failing—accidents which do occur—to bring dozens of the enormously long and broad cars to a standstill, blocking a large part of the street at intervals, and blocking more than half of it if two cars come to a, stop opposite one another. This for a time, besides creating obstruction, may deprive some hundreds of passengers of the conveyance for which they had paid their fares, and throw them late for business engagements, they having relied upon the tramcar to carry them forward. In such cases there is no remedy until the break can be repaired, the blown-out fuses restored, or the " powerless " car side-tracked or towed away, during the time necessary for which the tramway traffic over a long stretch of roadway must be absolutely interrupted, the tars creating obstruction at short intervals, and in the most injurious way, the block being not at the side of the road, but in the middle of the street. Bad weather greatly accentuates the inconveniences. Of course, the case is infinitely worse if a breakdown occurs at the central station, either to engine or dynamo, unless there is duplicate machinery available, the providing of which increases the capital expenses. But even when the driving power is present, an accident occurring might result in a worse state of things. A collision, or a vehicle upset on the lines, or even a horse down, or a car jumping the rails at a junction, must cause serious interference with the traffic, and as happens in such cases, car after car will come up behind, until there may be a dozen or more filling up the middle of the road, so that no other vehicle can cross it. And., this will cause double inconvenience if the accident happens to block both of the tramway lines.
"Waiting Rooms" on the Carriageway.
Further than all this, even if no accident happens, the presence of tramcars on a route of ordinary width, where there is constant wheeled traffic, must always cause delay, and often cause danger. Those who desire to board or to leave a car, are under the necessity of crossing that part of the roadway which is between the kerb and the tramway car, exposed to all the risks caused by having to pass between the car and the pavement. This is a real danger, and one which does not exist in the case of free-running vehicles. So serious is this in the cases where there is much traffic, and many persons go out over the causeway to catch the tramway cars, that it is becoming common to put down railway platforms on the streets, thus filling and obstructing several feet of the available breadth for ordinary traffic. It is different in the case of ordinary traffic by free-running vehicles ; a person coming to the edge of the pavement to mount one of such vehicles is not exposed to risk, for the omnibus can come to the kerb, and in practice always does so at setting-down points. But even if it is not brought to the kerb, there is less risk, as, under the rule of the road, any vehicle coming to pass another from behind is bound to -keep on the off side, and, therefore, those approaching on foot to the near side are safe. But the establishment by law of railroads on the public streets, with the cars held by rails to the middle of the roadway, has rendered the fulfilment of this salutary rule of the road impossible, so far as the passing of tramways is concerned, and has led of necessity to the judge-made law that any free-running vehicle passing a tramcar from behind should do so on the near side, and that if the driver takes his vehicle to the off side, he does so at his own risk, as he cannot pass it on the off side without going in the way of any tramcar coming from the opposite direction. And as such acar, if he encounters it, cannot give him an inch of the road, he must go still further to the wrong side if he is to escape a collision with the tramcar, thus running in the face of the other traffic. This of itself is a strong illustration of lie evils caused by putting down a railway on the public streets. The result is that a foot passenger going to or coming from a tramcar must cross that part of the road on which c44 the other velaicles going in the same direction are moving, which necessarily creates an additional danger, and in avoiding the danger congestion of the free-running traffic is inevitable. For it passengers are crossing the roadway in any number to and from a car, all traffic going in the same direction must be checked and held back, and as tramcars stop at very short intervals, these checks must occur time after time to the same free-running vehicle, as on such occasions it cannot, start again until the car starts, the conductor invariably ringing his bell the moment the last passenger is stepping on, so that the other vehicle cannot make its way forward to gain freedom of passage. This necessarily increases congestion, and all conges tion causes danger. •
More Consequences of Obstruction. Another danger which leads to frequent accidents is
caused by passengers dropping off tramcars while they are still in motion, and without looking to see whether there is any vehicle approaching. In doing so they must turn their backs to the approaching traffic and they too often proceed thoughtlessly to cross to the pavement, without looking to the left. Again, much danger is caused by the great bulk of the tramca.rs occupying the crown of the highway. They blot out the view, so that the drivers of other vehicles cannot see traffic approaching them till the last moment, causing great danger where traffic approaches from a cross street or where a vehicle is required to turn round or to cross to the opposite side of the way. The danger is specially aggravated when two cars come opposite one another, causing a shutting out from view of fully 20 ft., when looked at diagonally, as they must be by the drivers of vehicles who have been forced by their approach to draw in to the side of the road_ The dangers and disadvantages apply in a measure to all tramway traffic, wherever there is on any road a considerable number of vehiclesof ordinary classes. But they further have the effect, and this is an absolute effect, of making the exclusion of the tramway imperative in the streets above named in London, and in many busy streets which are not wide, in that city, and in other. cities and towns throughout the country. And this compulsory exclusion causes a further disadvantage, which brings about great public inconvenience, where tramways are the mode of public conveyance. In such cases tramlines coming in from outlying parts of towns may have their inner termini at long distances from the centre of the city, and the passengers using them may have to alight, whatever the state of the weather may be, and find other vehicles to carry them forward. There are numerous instances of this state of things in London. For long there was no tramway communication between the north and south of the Thames.
The Motorbus as a Feeder.
Again, a tramway cannot be carried out from a
populous town to another town at some distance, unless the traffic to be picked up on the route will be sufficient to make a, frequent service pay. The necessary capital outlay acts., as a bar where only a moderate number of passengers can be expected to use the line. A service which only calls for a vehicle to run over a route every few hours, or even every hour, is of no use on a tramway route, laid out at a
capital expenditure of £11,000 per mile of double track, or 26500 for a single track. No similar capital is required for establishment of a motorbus service. Therefore the laying down of tramways in places which are not populous is a very hazardous experiment. It may be of some small value as a feeder to the principal line, but the loss at which it is likely to be run may be a serious deterrent to promoters.
So clearly is this the case that tramway companies and municipal bodies who own tramways are already seeking. to bring outlying traffic to their termini, by employing. the hated power omnibus, rather than risk applying for an extension of their line.