KEIGHLEY'S TRAMWAY PROBLEMS.
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Why Trolley-buses are Being Substituted or Tramcars.
DOST-WAR difficulties common, to a 1greater or less degree, to all tramway undertakings, and particularly affecting the smaller concerns, have caused the Keighley Town Council to take the daring step of deciding to discard the present tramway track and adapt: the overhead equipment for trolley-buses—a course which will be watched by other municipalities.
Keighley's position is 'Peculiar from the point that all the troubles appear to have come to a, head at once, and, in these circumstances, drastic steps were necessary without delay. The town ranks among the highest-rated noncounty boroughs in the country, and, consequently, it is essential that. financial matters shall be dealt with very cautiously. On the other hand, the position of the tramway undertaking is such that, if it is to continue, a graat expenditure of Money Will be necessary, and the expenditurewill have to be incurred immediately. Tasks allowed to stand over during the war, and during the time prices were high, have now to be faced, and when the position is properly considered it is found that, the council cannot afford the expense.
The undertaking is 'a small .one, branching in three directions from the centre of the town, and having a total length of track of 6.62 miles in terms of single track. Track maintenance is the greatest difficulty which has to be encountered, and it is felt that the tramway cannot be carried on, economically under the conditions applicable to all similar undertakings, that the road between the rails and for 18 ins. on each side shall be maintained out of tramway revenue.
During the traffic census, conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of. Transport in August last, the road showing the heaviest weight of traffic in the 17v est Riding was the one over which one section of the tramways runs, and, naturally, the wear and tear on the road is very heavy. The cost has to be borne, so far as the traffic uses the tramway track, by the tramway undertaking, and, as this applies to all the routes and ordinary traffic is exceptionally heavy in the district, the burden is a great one for the tramways. Further, Keighley being a non-county borough, the roads -for the full length of the tramways would, if the rails were not there, be maintained by the West Riding County Council, and it is not passible to allocate some of the grant received from the Ministry of Transport for the rnainten
ance-of main roads, as it would be if Keighley received its grant direct.
Of the total track, over a third has been condemned by a permanent way expert who was called in to give an opinion, and the idea is pretty generally held that the foundations of the rails—a bed of concrete which was considered sufficient for the traffic which 'passed along the streets when the electric trains were installed in 1904—is not strong enough for the demands of. to-day. The rails were not welded when they were put-down, and, although a welding plant has been obtained and a good deal of work has been done, the rails themselves, and particularly the joints, are not in good, condition; this, coupled with the fact that the cars have had covers put on the top decks, means that there are many complaints of rocking. The bad state of the road in the principal streets of the town and the rocking of the tramcars have largely inclined public opinion in favour of the change, as it was realized that the situation could not be allowed to continue. Extensive re-. pairs have been carried out to the rolling stock, including reinforcement of the chassis to counteract sagging, but, although the receipts :last year were a record, the margin was too small to
meet the demands which would he made to pay off capital charges if track reconstruction alone were attempted on the lines which are absolutely essential. The relaying of the ttack, at present-day casts, is estimated at £11,683 per mile, and would represent £29,000 for the portions actually seed to be in need of renewal, although it is feared that when examination is made other lengths of track will need attention. The yearly capital charge on the £29,000 would be approximately 22,650, and maintenance and renewal costs are estimated at 22,650 per annum, thus giving a total cost per year of £6,150, whilst the total traffic revenue was only 219,850 last year, and the net profit 21,429. These figures show the impossibility of continuing the present service, as the reserve fund has been a negligible amount. There are only two other systems—trolley-buses and petrol-buses —and both those forms of service have been considered. The difficulty has been that the largest. bulk of traffic is carried at meal times, when the workmen are on their way to and from home and cheap fares are in operation. For instance, between the hours of five and six in the evening a recent return showed that 278 passengers were carried per car hour, and over 100 passengers are often carried at a time on one car. This heavy peak load puts a big strain on the undertaking and large Yehicles are necessary at these times. The traffic is all-the-year-round traffic, and it is essential that there should be adequate weather protection.
The Birmingham vehicles, which it is proposed shall be the type adopted, have a covered upper deck, and this is a point which has been strongly favoured by the members of the tramways committee against an open-deck petrol vehicle. The electricity for the tramway undertaking is obtained from the corporation supply, and; consequently, this is another point in favour of the trolley-vehicles, although the financial position of the
trolley.bus service at present running in the out-districts is far from satisfactory, the deficits during recent years being £4,467 in 1922-3, £5,367 in 1921-2, £5,321, in 1920-21, £2,748 in 1919-20, £1,795 in 1918-19, and 2457 in
1917-18. The trolley-bus service commenced in 1913, following a loss averaging £900 per year for some years on an omnibus undertaking. During last year a profit was shown on the motorbuses which servo the Oakworth district, amounting to £1,604, although only two vehicles, -both 38-seater teylands, were in use on the route wjth the steepest gradients in the locality. Three of the trolley-buses were rebuilt last year, and are stated to have given much better service, one having been fitted with underslang motors in place of the Cedes-Stoll motors in the wheels, which is the type in general Use. The trolley-buses are stated to be working satisfactorily, and since Christmas have been in a more satisfactory financial position.