Municipal Tramways Administration
| Date | 01 December 1924 |
| Author | James Dalrymple |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1924.tb02196.x |
| Published date | 01 December 1924 |
Manicz$al
Tram
ways
Administration
0.
Municipal
Tramways
a.
Administration
By
JAUES
DALRYMPLE,
C.B.E.,
General
Manager
of
the
Glasgow
C~+~ation
Tramways
HE municipal activities of the city
of
Glasgow,
at
the time
I
first
T
entered their service over forty years ago, were very modest in
extent
as
compared with what they
are
today. The total debt was
at
that time only
~!5,soO,OOO,
to-day the outstanding debt
of
themunicipality
amounts to
@5,274.000.
There are
113
members in the Glasgow City Council; Of this number
thirty-seven are on the Tramways Committee, one member from each
of the thirty-seven wards.
The
full
Tramway Committee meets every fortnight. The committee
is divided into several subcommittees
;
one sub-committee takes charge
of
all
purchases of material, and the carrying out of
all
works.. The
Sub-committee on Finance has charge of
all
financial matters, such
as
fares and revenue generally. This committee
also
passes
all
accounts
for payment. The third sub-committee
is
the Sub-committee on Exten-
sions, which examines all proposals for making new lines.
The minutes of the sub-committees require to be confirmed by the
full
committee, and the minutes of the full committee require to
be
confirmed by the whole City Council.
With reference to the formation of the Tramways Department
of
the Corporation which took place in
1894,
just thirty years ago, it was
decided at that time that the department would be large enough to
be
self-contained] that
is
to say, it would have its
own
finance officers, who
would take care
of
the financial side of the undertaking.
It
would have
a
permanent-way staff, who would undertake the making, repairing, and
laying of the track, and when the system was subsequently electrified
it
was
decided that the Tramways Department should have its
own
power station for the production
of
all electrical energy required for the
tramways.
Very few municipal tramway undertakings in the country are
in
a
similar position to Glasgow in having all these departments under one
head. Of course this arrangement can only be carried out
in
the case of
very large undertakings. The smaller undertakings cannot afford to be
self-contained in the way
I
have described.
Another very important step was taken when the Corporation, in
=-(WW)
407
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