To the Editor of the Norra Catva Dan $m,—Althoush the relative merits of Motor Cars ad Elec'rie Tramsays were not discusse 1 at last evening's: Town Hull, many of the ratepayers may read the following with inter: st, and this is my apology for requesting you ty be ood enough to print this unusually long letter.
There can be no doubt that the automo bile has mad immense st ides in public favour during the few yous, more! particularly for pastime pur po es, but ite use for conveying passen srs has been very Timite!, ant no reliabl+ data ex'sr as to cost of carriage per pas-enser per mile, for it has never been eonsi'ered by those who study the transport.tion quest on of cities "serious rival to the overlierd, or conduit trolley, or of the cibl+ system, for conveying " la-ge number of passengers ab reason alle rae. Indeed it is yet a question whether they can compete with ho ses in the ordinary ¢ty ecb service. Within the past three or four yews namber of companies have hee formed in Eurupe and America, for establishing tric cab services in the priucipd cities, notably Lndon, Paris, New York, and Chicago. These complies had ample financial bck.ng, ant th+ best expert advice, yet a large number have bern financial failures. The cabs wre well patroni-ed by the public at prices somewhat in excess of those pryable for lors- cab service, yet they did not pay. They have inno instance reduced the pure of such service nor have t"y proved danger-us rivals to the horse cus. In London and Chicago the service has been given up after thoroughly good trials in 5; ite of the fret that the cabs had the advantage of ruming on good roads mostly asphalt or wool. is possible that improvements muy be eff-cled in course of time which may bring about a change but at present the cost of repairs to batteries moiers, ant particularly to tyres eats up the profits made by the high rates charged. The Boston lary who went shopping in an automobile probably paid at least SI gold per hour for the convenience, A short line of motor omnibuses way established in cortein streets in B.: about " year "go by the principal tr: company as an experiment. 'Toe fare charged was 10 e-nts gol', The regular tramway fare is 5 e-nts for any distance, For many yews a line of herss buses he turion bth Avenue, New York, asthisis the on-street on which the authorities have no!
ioned trams. Recently a small num-huses were replicad automobiles. A fare vf 10 is charged on the electric bus and 5 cents good on the horse bus, These electric Huses carry about 10 psrsous inside and about 5 persons outside and weigh for the smaller ones 10,3.0 Ibs. and for the lag owes 15,00" Ibs. The battery with its say alone weighs 3,800 Ibs. Th's is a dead weight and more than equals the weight of the parsonners ewried, from whites venue ix received, and for w must be furnished to carry it about were x paying low. The weight of earriage Der passer is from 800 to 1,000 The weight of a tramway doced motor with n sewing capacity of 24 passengers is about 16,00) Ibs., that of an open instar car with a seating capacity of 32 passengers is about 12,000 Ibs. The difference in weight vf curiage per passenger alone means a great saving in the power required to move a certain number of passengers. The storage battery in its most proved form converts the power with considerable loss. In the overhead trolley system the power passes directly from the station generator turouzh the trolley wires to the moter in the car. In the motor omnibus or in any form of storage battery propulsion the a ided factor of the battery is introduced with its care, deterioration and loss in efficiency. These are the principal items that have prevented the ad-prion of the storage bittery for ordinary tramear servic. From the time electric traction was first introduc d xttempts have been made ty run tramesrs by storage batteries but from the Companies' standpoint they have been absolute failures, for they could not be operated as cheaply as the old horse car service. Tests of the storage battery system were made on two tramw.ys in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. They were elaborate and complete and no expense was spared to make the trial a success, tracks, cars, motor, and power stition were as complete as possible, yet the trials were a failure as the cost of operating was excessive, A million dollars gold were lost, the system given up and conduit trolley roads constructed. If the storage battery were failure here where all conditions were favourable, viz, a very large gold fare, cars of large carrying capa Tunning on a smooth steel track, what must be the result with omnibuses of sull capacity running on the ordinary macadam roadways dependent upon low fares on a silver basis. In the question of future transportation for Shanghai the Chinese population must be considered for three Isily. Because the streets would be freed from many unnecessary rieshas.
Qnudly.—Because it would be to our advantage could our shroffs, boys and coolies go on errands more expeditiously than the present system allows.
3edly.—B cause it would be unfair not to consider them.
Now this will necessitate separate accommodation for natives and moter car omnibuses can scarcely be constructed to this end, whilst with a tramear it can easily be arranged. "Tue traction coeffi cient of a car moving along a steel rail in god condition at a speed of only 8 miles An hour and on a Level tack is 5 to 8 Ibs. per ton. That of a wagon on a macadam, Away is about 90 Ibs. The insroluction of a rubber tyre may reduce this somewhat, bur it need: little calentation to show that the power required to move a given weight agiv.n speed on a macadam, roadway is very much greater than that required to move a similar load on a smooth steel rail. Whi s' of course there will be no special roa iway required for motor omnibus and the system to establish will cost less than the overhead trolley, yet for carrying the sume number of pass-ners a power ation of much lazer eapae ty will be required, There wid be the extra cost of the litteries and the cist of the carriages will be great~ er. Butif the motor car omnibus system cost practically nothing to establish it could wot compete with the overhead trolley for carrying pissen.ers at the sume jor the saving in operating expenses of the trolley system over the other, would quick ly ye wen the expenses of laying the special tr ok, Should a trolley lise be built in Shanghai the Municipality would nama strip of well-paved roadway frown 14.15 fort wide available for the use of the public at all t mes except xt the short i tervals when a car 1s passing. The rails being laid level with the roadway offer no obstruction 10 the ordinary trafic, Should the tramway bs given up the roadway would atid he of permanent service to the public ut no cost to them, they being the geiners of what has cost the tramway, company several hundred thousand dulars. As the trolley cars would run on heavy steel rails Isid upon a thick bed of concrete at the depth of the lall below the surface the pavement would receive no wear from the running of the cars. The wear and tear of the street hero would be very small asthe pavement would be the best. 'I'he rep: a consequ: nt inconvenience to the public would be very much less then is; the case now, In the muter-omnibuses the whole weight of the cwrringe and passengers will come directly upon the surface of the street at 4 points, instend of the weight bein, distributed along a heavy ster] rail and carded tom plane several inches below the street surface us is the case with the tramear. If the tyres of the morer-omnibus should be of steel the Street wott'd be actually cut to pieces. of rubber the manufacturers would have very good thing on, Practically the whole roadway repairs of a tramway Tine are due to loose joints which have to be tightened up. Exch joint requires a disturbing of about 2ft_ by 3ft of roadway. At first glance the possibility of changing an omnibus route may seem an advantage, but the best service will be given to the public by x quick and punctual ranning of es over well-established and natural routes, andas new routes may devel pand be shown to noel trolley-oar service it can easily be arranged to serve them. There are no means of public con-rayanes by which fewer people have lost their lives than by the overhead working of a trolley line, whether by horse cats, steam cars, steamers, lifts, etc, and the danger from overhead wires ix practically nil and has been grossly exaggerated.
The danger from an electric omnibus ing at 8 miles an hour, even if operated by a European driver, who has nob
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.