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Public transport tram infrastructure in #Adelaide #SouthAustralia is abysmal.
Our neighbouring big city of #Melbourne #Naarm has the most incredible tram system by comparison.
When pressure came to remove the trams in Naarm, its recorded that Professional and friendly ticketeting staff on trams (and their strong union) were an important part of retaining the network as was a much earlier decision when Melbourne was first planned for major roads to be wide enough to 'be able to do a u-turn with a bullock cart".
Across in Adelaide, which was established by the South Australia Corporation (you heard that right), trams didnt go so well.
Aparently the tram network once established was somehow bought out by the largest Tire Manufactuer of the day and along with immense pressure applied by the car lobby, the tram tracks were ripped up.
Anyone know more detail on what exactly happened to the tram network in SA?
I'm wanting to look beyond car industry history that records that 'people just wanted to drive, so it was pulled out', which seems like an incomplete narrative to me. What folks just went oh well, rip my local tram out, no worries? What went down?
What happened to #Adelaide's tram network back in the day? (When it was all ripped out??)
This illustration, on display in historic Carrick Hill, Springfield of the land around Urbrae/Mitcham/Unley/Springfield just south of city of Adelaide, is pretty interesting.
Clearly shows (and emphasises) four nearby tram terminus.
> Mitcham Tram Terminus
> Kingswood Tram Terminus
> Fullarton Tram Terminus
> Glen Osmond Tram Terminus
Word was that a tram line ran up Glen Osmond Road and terminated near the bottom of the freeway, not far from the OTR/Hungry Jacks.
And this was all built without the tech of today.
Curious if anyone can date this further, but clearly this records a tram network that is now long forgotten.
So I’ve looked over the main Wikipedia article for Tramways in Adelaide (thx Mathi also for sharing this) and it provides some interesting background.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramways_in_Adelaide
Article raises some suspicion around unrecorded histories. The history section talks ALOT of the era 1901 to 1925, but gets pretty quiet after that. Come the 1940’s the network was pretty far reaching..
From the Wikipedia article:
“By 1945 the MTT was collecting fares for 95 million trips annually, representing 295 trips per head of population (350,000)”.
No mention of the tire company buying it out. The tramways trust was a gov endorsed tax-exempt non-profit, no mention of a sale.
I’m curious of if there was any pushback and more of the dynamics / politics leading up to 1958.
So I found this ABC coverage as part of their 2017 Curious Adelaide series.
"Why was Adelaide's tram network ripped up in the 1950s?"
The article does play down any car company involvement and laughs off car industry involvement as just unfounded consipracy. But their skeptisism does not align with what we know of the pressure the car industry was putting on phasing out trams.
From the article:
"The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) introduced a 10-year plan to phase out trams in favour of buses by the mid 50s."
The public's affection for the network and dismay at its loss is evident in letters to the editor from the time.
C. Steele of Tusmore seemed to have a window to the future.
"A tram which carries 100 people has 50 times more right to be on the road than a car which carries only two people."
A scathing 1955 report by the Council of the South Australian Branch of Australian Electric Traction Association suggested some deeper issues..
I'll bet the middle/upper class who could afford a shiney new car on new roads had a very different take to more lowly workers who very much relied on the trams up to the end.. hmm
Im not satisfied that the article covers the question and is the end of it, but its definitley an nteresting read, especially the part on how folks responded in the last days of the tram and to the news of closure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-01/why-was-adelaides-tram-network-ripped-up-in-the-1950s/9205768
#Trams #PublicTransport
#AdelaideMetro #WalkableCities #AdelaideTrams #AdelaidePublicTransport #AdelaideHistory #StrongerAdelaide
@richiekhoo > No mention of the tire company buying it out.
That really did happen in the USA - see either Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy or Robert Zemeckis https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/ .
I don't doubt that similar efforts happened in other countries - some company called Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd started out in Adelaide - but I also wonder if it's possible that someone was thinking about the US situation and combined that with the decline of the Adelaide trams.
Disclaimer: I'm looking at it from 9,500+ miles away.
There is a tram museum in St Kilda. It seems to be mostly about the hardware, but in my experience, places like that also tend to accumulate documents from back in the day. It might be worth visiting, and asking if they have anything you can read through. If you bring a flatbed scanner with you and give them copies of the scans, they'll probably love you forever. :D
@pair12 thx for that. Additional context, General Motors bought out Holden (to become General Motors Holden in Oz) in 1931.
Our city started to manufacture cars locally, so cars are def part of the story.