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‘to move with the times we cannot have lines’: the decline of leicester’s tramway system, - Richard Harrison Keywords: Leicester, tramways, modernity, abandonment, finances. ‘to move with the times we cannot have lines’: the decline of leicester’s tramway system, - ‘We mourn the loss of faithful friends From the streets of our grand old city, To move with the times we cannot have lines, So – go they must – it’s a pity.’1 This short poem was printed on the last tramcar to be decommissioned in Leicester on 9th November 1949. During the course of the 20th century, the majority of British cities witnessed a decline of public transport in favour of the private motor car. This was due to the desire for a more modern mode of transport within the urban environment . The first casualty was the tramway which disappeared after the Second World War. Contemporaries argued that the tramcar was a major contributor to congestion. This was for three reasons: firstly, due to its dependence on fixed routes; secondly, due to the obstruction to other vehicles; thirdly, due to the hazard of passengers disembarking in the middle of the road due to poor route design. As a result, tramways were perceived to be an out-dated form of transport in comparison to the motor bus or 1 K. W. Smith, Leicester’s Trams, (Leicester, 1964) p. 29. 231 car, neither of which required fixed infrastructure or large capital investment.2 In addition, the motorbus and car appeared to address the three main problems of the tramways and also had the aura of modernity. During the first half of the 20th century, tramways were an accepted form of transport within the urban environment, with its rails, over-head wires and an average life expectancy of over fifty years. However, due to its long life expectancy, tramcar design was perceived to be too aesthetically conservative and traditional as it had not experienced a radical change since the beginning of the century.3 Of all the tramcars operating in Britain in 1930, fewer than 7 per cent had been replaced by modern vehicles; consequently the majority of tramway fleets were either ageing or obsolete.4 This represented a serious hindrance in face of increasing competition from the motor bus after the First World War. The motor bus had the advantage of low capital cost, mobility, flexibility, speed, frequency and also comfort.5 In addition, its shorter lifeexpectancy meant that they would be replaced approximately every 10 years, and so could maintain an aesthetically pleasing modern image. To its disadvantage, however, the motorbus depreciated faster and therefore had to attract new investment more frequently for replacement. The advantages of longer life expectancy could be offset if the cost of replacement for a single bus was significantly cheaper than the cost of replacement for a tramcar. This paper will examine why the tramway system in Leicester was abandoned using the concept of modernity, as illustrated by Pooley and Turnbull,6 in combination with insights from sociology as illustrated by De Boer7 and Yago.8 As a framework, the concept of modernity represents an alternative explanation for tramway abandonment. Pooley and Turnbull point out that the conflict between public and private transport reflected contemporary views on the culture of modernity. The national shift away from public transport reflected the notion that the modern city required the growth 2 J. Joyce, Tramway Heyday, (London, 1964) p. 111. 3 R.J. Buckley, A History of Tramways. From Horse to Rapid Transit, (Newton Abbot, 1975) p. 121. 4 Ibid, p. 128. 5 H. J. Dyos and D. H. Aldcroft, British Transport. An Economic Survey from the Seventeenth Century to the Twentieth, (Leicester, 1969) p. 346. 6 Colin G. Pooley and Jean Turnbull, ‘Coping with Congestion: Responses to Urban Traffic Problems in British Cities c. 1920-1960’, Journal of Historical Geography, 31, (2005), 78-93, p. 90. 7 Enne De Boer, Transport Sociology. Social Aspects of Transport Planning, (Oxford, 1986) p. 7. 8 Glenn Yago, ‘The Sociology of Transportation’, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 9 (1983), 171-190. p. 171. ‘to move with the times we cannot have lines’: the decline of leicester’s tramway system, -| richard harrison 232 of private transport. By the 1930s, the tramcar became perceived as an out-dated mode of transport, unable to complement the speed of modern life. Modernity led to the progressive marginalisation of dated forms of transport to the consequential dominance of the car.9 In addition, the economic effects...

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