In-a year's time motor-cars will not be in the public streets of the International Settlement.
Thus a practice which costs the ratepayers on an average $10 per car per month will be abolished, to the general relict of traffic congestion." The Council gives good notice of its intention, like Mr. Winkle on famous occasion. It does not Propose to carry the imitation of the noble Pickwickian to extreme) lengths, In short, car-owners may take it that action at the prescribed time will follow. The notice is designed to facilitate the formula-' tion of alternative arrangements for parking cars and to enable the Council to benefit from the inform~ ation which Major F. W. Gerrard is expected to gather on the tram problem during his forthcoming study of conditions in America and Europe. Meanwhile private enterprise can examine at its leisure the possibility of establishing garaging facilities, in the light of the demand which the ban is expected to create The outgoing Council is to be con gratulated on thus boldly if belatedly adopting a proposal which has been before the public fever since the Traffic Commission of 1926 issued ppg It is surprising indeed that the community has s0 docilely borne the burden of inconvenience thrust upon it by this parking nuisance. The obstruction of traffic is not th resultant evil. The persistent, parking of cars down certain public, streets has actually so hindered shopping operations that some firms have suffered appreciable loss. Nor is it irrelevant to note, in this connection, the significant tendency to develop shopping areas in districts remote from those in which the evil is particularly rife. General traffic is exposed to special risks by the presence of cars ning the herbs The chief value of the proposals} lies, however, in the fact that they open the way to reform of the 1 traMe and transportation arrangements in other directions. They bring the Council back to first principles and, when adopted, should remove obstacles which stand plainly in the way of schemes for providing more efficient means of transport and more rapid negotiation of the Settlement' streets. It is pointed out, for example, that the space gained by the clearance of cars from public places' may be partly used, in appropriate points of access, for taxi-cab stands, Indirectly, too, the solution of the problem of 1 providing additional classes of public conveyance may be assisted. This return to the Traffic Commission's Report prompts the hope that the Council will be able effectively to re-affirm one of the most important recommendations in that valuable document: that steps be. taken towards. the ultimate elimination. of passenger and freight man-hauled vehicles within a definite period, or og soon 4s ful table substitutes ave offering. Special' consideration "should be iaiven' to" Possible' methods of encouraging such substitutes, so hasten the replacement of man-hauled trate, The weakness of the otherwise admirable Massey Report on the Rickshaw Problem lay in the scant recognition given by it to the importance of preserving the principle of abolition. The acute controversy which has grown. up. round the newly-created Rickshaw Board has tended further to: obscure this issue, So long as the pressing parking problem remains unsolved the Council may well feel that the elimination of the rickshaw too remote for inclusion within the scope of practical polities. With the present decision reached this attitude should be revised.
Improvement of trafic conditions in Shanghai can thus be given a new impetus. The removal -of parking obstructions should enable the Council to give further attention to the possibility of encouraging @ class of vehicle which will enable the abolition of the rickshaw to be progressively attempted. Lately the project of putting small taxi-cabs on the streets has been examined and rejected, on grounds which seem to be generally sound. Moreover, it is abundantly clear that the present organizations for the provision of hire cars would have long ago resorted to such a vehicle if its commercial possibilities had commended itself to them, under existing conditions. The problem of rickshaw abolition resolves, itself into discovery of means of public conveyance which will meet the requirements lof passengers who cannot afford to keep their own cars or to take taxis for their lawful occasions but are prepared to pay for avoidance of the discomforts of bus or tram transport. It is possible that the adoption of the jitney which has been popular in America and in certain cities in the Far East might be considered, but a condition precedent would appear to be the Temoval of parking congestion, to say nothing of the firm endorsement of a policy of gradual climination of the rickshaw. Once again this traffic problem seems to invite earnest examination of the poscibility of setting up a transport board. The Trafic Commission of 1926 insisted on the importance of periodical reviews of the question. The Traffic Committee which now meets under the Council's auspices has partly fulfilled this function by more regular meetings. It may be Jdoubted, however, whether it can tackle the whole transport question with the same efficiency as a special created body like a transport board. Experience of the difficulties encountered by the Rickshaw Board clearly suggests that some sort of overriding authority which can balance the advantages of Jdifferent types of conveyance and the conflicting interests of all parties concerned might eventually become a valuable guide to the Council in pursuing its reforms. In the multitude of counsellors at present there may be plenty of wisdom but performance is at times hesitant, if not barren. A transport board with a clear mandate to bring Shanghai's traffic up-to-date by encouraging the mechanization of public conveyances—in the hands of properly enfranchized and controlled private enterprise—should be able to continue and effectively supplement the good work already done by street-widening and the reforms proposed by the Police for clearing the streets of too long tolerated obstruction.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.