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TROLLEY BUSES: COMING SOON | Adelaide motor buses | Trolley bus history | Buses post 1945 | Running the trolley buses | Trolley bus routes | COMING SOON |
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| The tram system echoed the manners and customs of the day |
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Safety
For safety reasons, passengers were asked not to speak to the motorman (driver) while the tram was moving.
Patrons would often ask him questions before boarding, but once the tram moved on, the motorman had to concentrate on traffic conditions. |
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Because copper coins were large and heavy, conductors liked to hand them out as change to make their bag less heavy to carry. A ‘ten bob’ note was slang for ten shillings, now equivalent to our $1 and was equal to 120 pennies.
Cartoonist: Alex Gurney (PC Keynes Collection) |
A friendly service
The conductor had close contact with passengers as he moved through the tram taking fares, answering questions and helping people on and off the tram, which frequently had high steps. Good conductors did this in a friendly way.
Conductor Arthur Sommers received a commendation from a family after he helped a young mother off a tram and carried one of the small children from the tram to the footpath. (Among Ourselves, Vol 5, January 1947)
A bus conductor remembers arriving in the city from Somerton and being very surprised to have passengers come down the stairs and pay their fares before getting off. He had forgotten he was on a double-decker bus. (Among Ourselves, Vol 12, March 1948)
Then there was the conductor who slept with a clock under his pillow, so he would wake up on time. (Among Ourselves, Vol 18, March 1949) |
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Among Ourselves. Vol 17, Jan, 1949 |
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Public health
In the early 1900s spitting in public was an unpleasant but common practice that could spread serious diseases like influenza and tuberculosis. The MTT was prepared to eject and prosecute passengers who did so.
In 1919 an influenza epidemic swept the world including Australia, causing many deaths. Adelaide tram crews took a hand basin and soap on the trams and washed their hands after each trip to try and ward off the flu.
Advertising gone wrong
In the 1950s large square glass tram stop beacons were installed at important tram stops at main intersections. They had lighting inside to make them easily seen. The first one, at Burnside, carried an advertisement for the competition. ‘Be on time, ride a cycle.’
Beacon at the Paradise terminus, mid 1950s. Photo: JC Radcliffe |
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Hilton terminus. Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection |
High steps and hat pins
In the early days of the electric trams many trams had high floors with only one step to clamber into and out of the tram. There were engineering reasons for this, but it was inconvenient for passengers. About the time of The First World War (1914-18) hobble skirts were fashionable and ladies wearing these must have had a hard time climbing into the trams.
From the 1920s the Drop Centre trams offered easier, lower steps.
The conductors faced some danger too when moving along the tram, especially when they got too close to ladies wearing fashionable hats fixed with large hat pins.
Where people sat
In the first half of the 20th Century, most men, but few women, were smokers. The open sections of the trams were designated for smoking. Women and children usually rode in the enclosed non-smoking sections of the cars.
Ladies who liked sitting in the open sections were requested not to do so before 9am or between 5 and 6:30pm to provide seats for male smokers travelling to and from work.
Young lads in their teens liked to stand in the ‘gangways’ on the side away from the entrances. |
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Henley Beach opening 23 December 1909. Photo: Gordon Walker
Trams were hired out to community groups for excursions. Photo: PC Keynes Collection |
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A racecourse queue
Photo: JW Hoffmann
During the tramway era passengers were accustomed to travelling in crowded conditions.
Among Ourselves, Vol 8, July 1947 |
Crowded trams
During the tramway era, most people used trams to go places, as car ownership was rare. This meant that trams carried many people and at busy times most people had to stand. Most trams were designed to carry two to three times the number of people standing as sitting. When the tram was at full capacity this was called a ‘crush load’.
Trams to sporting events were very busy, carrying thousands of people to football, horse races, the showground and the beaches. Even horses could go to the races by tram. For the 28 Dec 1936 Proclamation Day almost 45,000 passengers were carried on the Glenelg line. That is about the equivalent of getting a capacity crowd to Football Park by tram and getting them home again.
After the Second World War when the trams were at their busiest, a queue system was introduced in Victoria Square for the Glenelg trams with parallel lines painted on the road from the footpath to the tram doors. Four queues of passengers stood in line to board the double trams.
Queue lines were also painted along the edge of the footpath in Hindley St. by the CML building for people to line up for the trolley buses, which ran every three minutes to Port Adelaide.
The MTT built two horse-boxes, each able to carry eight horses. They were hauled by two of the powerful F type trams, adapted for the service. This is the well-known racehorse Phar-lap boarding the horse-box, 20 May 1930. The horse-box service was short lived. Photo: MTT |
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A crowd of enthusiasts.
Photo: The Advertiser
Waiting for race goers on the balloon loop at Victoria Park. Photo: JC Radcliffe
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 Photo: JC Radcliffe Collection
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