The starting torque of a motor is such an emphatic phenomenon that the driver of an electric car may, if he is careless and switches the current on too suddenly, jerk any standing passenger off his feet, even though the total weight of the car may be ten tons or more. Properly employed, however, the electric motor gives an even and rapid acceleration.
This is a far more important point in tramway economics than it appears to be at first sight. The superiority of the electric tramway over the horse tramway depends less upon higher speed than upon the fact that less time is wasted in stopping to pick up and set down passengers. Time is the vital element in all transport, and it is especially vital in connection with tramways, which have to stop with great frequency. If the time which elapses between putting on the brakes at each stop and getting up to full speed again can be materially shortened, then the average speed of the tramway journey can be materially raised. It is easy, by means of powerful brakes, to bring a car to rest quickly; the electric motor enables speed to be regained quickly. In this way a high average speed may be maintained in spite of numerous stops; and, with larger cars, the electric tramway is able to handle a larger volume of traffic in a shorter space of time than the horse tramway.
The time lost in stopping is of so much consequence that, when electric tramways were introduced, the old custom of stopping the cars at any desired point was abandoned. Stopping places were arranged at convenient points along the route, some of them being regular stops and others optional at a signal from passengers desiring to alight or to board the car. The public soon got used to walking a short distance to a stopping place, although they did not, perhaps, appreciate how much the collection of traffic at a reduced number of points tended to improve the general tramway service.
A high average speed with numerous stops was, however, only one of the improvements which the public derived from electric traction. Tramway passengers expect to find a car not only at a convenient point but within a convenient period of waiting. With electric traction the service became much more frequent than with horse traction. It is quite possible to run a horse tramway service profitably with cars at intervals of fifteen to thirty minutes, if the passengers are patient enough to wait and fill each vehicle. But with electric traction the main item is the cost of the standing equipment—the power house, mains, and overhead lines—and unless that equipment is adequately utilised the revenue will not cover the standing charges. A fifteen-minute service is, generally speaking, the lowest economic limit on an electric tramway. Every tramway manager tries to attract sufficient passengers for a more frequent service; and, as a matter of fact, it was found that where there was sufficient population the provision of a frequent and rapid service encouraged tramway travelling so much that cars had to be run at far shorter intervals than had been customary on horse tramways.
The increase of traffic brought with it the demand for larger as well as speedier cars with a shorter 'headway' or interval between one car and another. The capacity of a horse car is limited by the fact that it is not convenient to harness more than two horses to a single vehicle. But with electric cars there is no extraneous limitation to carrying capacity. Large double-decked cars with seats for seventy passengers are now quite common. In America it is a frequent practice to attach 'trailers' to the cars, making a short tramway train. Experiments have recently been arranged on similar lines in London, for the handling of the heavy traffic at rush hours. These instances show that electric tramway capacity is flexible and may be adjusted to the density and the fluctuating character of the demand.
Finally, it falls to be noted that the power consumed by a tramcar is, roughly, proportional to the useful work which the car performs. As already mentioned, it costs about as much to work a horse tramway when the cars are empty as when they are full, since the main item is the maintenance of the 'vital principle' of a certain number of horses independently of the traffic. But with electric traction the motors require less power when the cars are running light. And less current for the motors means less current generated at the power station—that is to say, less steam, less oil, less coal, less wear and tear. If more current is demanded, it is because more passengers are being carried and more revenue earned.
Reviewing the subject broadly, it is apparent that the adoption of electric traction on a tramway is not so much a step in advance as a beneficent revolution. The higher speeds with more frequent, more comfortable, and more commodious cars have created a volume of traffic far beyond what could have been handled with horse traction. The change also led to a great increase in the length of tramway routes and to the construction of new tramway systems. In 1898, when the electric tramway movement began in earnest, there were 1064 miles of tramway in the United Kingdom. Now there are 2562 miles, and the number of tramway passengers is more than double the total of third class passengers on the whole system of British railways. The number of tramway passengers carried during 1909-10 (the last period covered by the published official returns) was equal to about 62 times the estimated population of the United Kingdom.
While the traffic has multiplied in this remarkable fashion, there has been a heavy reduction in the fares charged. This has been made possible by the economical features of electric traction. In the old days a horse tramway had to spend about £80 to earn £100; an electric tramway need spend only about £60. With this reduction in the proportion of expenses to receipts, and with the greater volume of business, it became feasible to stimulate traffic still further by giving passengers much longer distances for their money. In fact, electric traction proved so economical that people began to imagine that there was no limit to the reductions which might be made with financial safety. However, there is plenty of evidence that a limit exists. In many cases it has been touched, if not passed, but the public continues to clamour for all sorts of concessions. These demands are a great compliment to electric traction, but they are a decided embarrassment to the tramway manager who believes in a reasonable margin between his total expenses and his total revenue.