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’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..
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.
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?
