Far be it for me to belittle the contribution made by the horse-drawn tram in the transport of residents within the town of 15,000 people, but they had severe limitations given the topography of the town. It was mere wishful thinking that this conveyance could ever service the hill area.

Progress was swift. In 1881, horse drawn trams were introduced and sixteen years later in 1897, electric trams made their appearance and by 1913 buses had been introduced, albeit initially for excursions. The latter two services progressed in tandem until the flexibility of bus routes without the need for tracks, predetermined that the bus would ultimately prevail.

Main picture: Electric tram in Main Street travelling to Russell Road

Tramways Act
Too much bureaucracy, some would argue, inhibits the rate of progress. The stark reality is that it is a necessary evil, it just depends upon the level of red tape that is required. In the case of an electric tram system, the Municipality required an Act of Parliament to proceed with this process. In due course, the Municipal Tramways Act No. 25 of 1895 was passed and became law. In terms of this Act, the Municipality was authorised to construct and operate an electric tramway or alternatively to lease their rights to a third party. Moreover, the Act took into consideration the fact that the P.E. Tramway Company already had a tramway operation, albeit operated by horses. In order to compensate the owners for the loss of their business, the Municipality was obligated to pay them £20 000.

The municipality subsequently entered into an agreement with Henry Butters, sub-letting their rights to him. They despatched Rommel, an engineer from Cape Town, to supervise the installation of the new tramway. In October 1895, Butters ceded his rights to Messrs Wernher, Beit and Company of London, who were also financing the Cape Town tramways at the time. On 19^th May 1896, the Port Elizabeth Electric Tramway Company Limited was officially registered.

Establishing the initial infrastructure
At the time of the opening, tracks had been laid from the foot of Walmer Road as far as the North End Park. In addition, there were two lines up the hill, one in Russell Road and the other in White’s / Western Road. These lines converged and then continued along Cape Road with the terminus at the end of the municipal land.

The electric tramway was officially opened by the mayor on Wednesday 16^th June 1897 by driving the tram from Market Square to the North End Park. An illuminated tram paraded through the streets, much to the delight of the crowds, as most were seeing electric lights for the very first time. The initial order of trams from JC Brill Company of Philadelphia was for 10 units. To house these vehicles overnight and to provide workshops and stores, a new depot building was constructed at the Baakens Bridge.

In order to supply the electricity to power these trams, a power station had to be erected as well. It comprised two Bellis and Morcom triple expansion vertical steam engines of 560 kW, direct coupled to two 550V, 500 kW generators running at 300 revolutions per minute. A subsidiary shed and yard was situated at North End, which was actually the old horse tram depot which had been suitably refurbished.

Extensions Not surprisingly, the tram was a resounding success, with the service conveying 2.2 million passengers during 1898. This permitted the P.E. Tramways Company to make several extensions to the various routes over the next few years. The North End route, 3.9 kms in length, was extended by .8 km to the Show Grounds. The rapid development of South End necessitated the extension of the line up Walmer Road as far as the Municipality boundary with Walmer, 2.5kms from Market Square as well as a line to Humewood, a distance of 2.9kms. The Cape Road route was extended twice, first as far as the Golf Club and later to the Fairview Racecourse, a total distance of 5.1km from Market Square.

Tribulations
Being situated in the flood plain of the Baakens River, it had always been an unwise move to locate the tram sheds there. Monday 16^th November 1908 would be a day of high drama for the company. As the river came down, it burst its banks inundating the depot and immobilising the city’s transport system. To commemorate the flood, a brass plaque was attached to a wall indicating that the flood waters reached two metres above floor level. With a sense of relief, the flood was of short duration, nevertheless extensive damage had by then been inflicted.

Expansion continued apace. By 1911, the fleet of trams had surged from ten to thirty, of which nine were double-deckers. This trebling of the fleet was engendered by the population increase to 32,000 resulting in 3.25 million passengers being conveyed.

The “Black-Maria” Tram
Prior to WW1 a “Black-Maria” tram was in use in Port Elizabeth. It was a single-decker, about 25 feet long, painted black with no side windows. A small window in the front and rear doors provided the only light by which an armed constable, on the rear platform, could keep an eye on the passengers inside.

On a daily basis, the tram conveyed prisoners from the jail at the foot of Mount Road to the Baakens Police Station. It was towed by a single decker tramcar as far as foot of Military Road, from there the prisoners were marched up to the Police Station in Baakens Street. In the late afternoon, they were conveyed back to jail in the same “Black-Maria”.

Sometime after the war, the “Black-Maria” disappeared. As it was a small tramcar, it is possible that it was a survivor of the horse-drawn trams of earlier days.

Operation of the trams
Trams ran down the centre of the streets and passengers waited in a marked square alongside the tramlines. Motorists could not pass on the right hand side of the trams and were supposed to stop while passengers boarded and alighted from a tram. The early trams had longitudinal cane-covered seats inside facing one another, but there were a few open trams with wooden seats right across and full-length running boards on each side, which made rapid entry and exit very much easier for the passengers. These four wheeled trams had no bogeys and the double-deckers with open tops plying to Humewood were so unstable that several children could sit on the open front and rock hard enough for the rear wheels to lift off the track. This inevitably resulted in their being forcibly ejected by the conductor.

On arrival at the terminus, the motorman, would remove his brass handles from the control box and fit them to the box at the other end of the tram. Electric brake-blocks gripped the rails but mechanically-operated shoes, working on the steel tyres, were applied by the motorman at the front end and by the conductor at. the rear when descending White’s Road and Russell Road. In spite of this precaution and two compulsory stops ( at the top and halfway down each of these steep hills) several runaways occurred down Russell Road, the trams always finishing inside Salter’s jewellery shop, fortunately each time without injuries or loss of life. No record of a runaway down the steeper White’s Road, can be traced. Later, Cape Town sent Port Elizabeth more luxurious and faster trams with bogeys and pneumatic brakes.

The Circle tram was very popular, running in both directions up the hill, along Rink Street and back to Main Street for 3d. This saved a lot of walking up White’s Road and over the Donkin Reserve.

The nemesis of the tram arrives
By and large, the importing of the first motor bus was not considered a threat to their existing tram business. The pair of Leyland charabancs was acquired in 1913 to provide excursion trips and not as a replacement of the tram. Shortly afterwards, four large bogie double-deckers were purchased, also for private hire. They all came in handy during the Great War. The resulting shortages arising during the war increased operating costs per mile from 11s 1d in 1913 to 18s 4d in 1922, a staggering increase for those times.

The early “pirate” buses competing with the trams in the l920’s were converted trucks with canvas side curtains, like army transport vehicles. Passengers sat facing one another on wooden benches and the step was at the rear. The fare to Humewood was 4d and invariably, many rode on the slower trams, as they could not afford the extra penny it cost to ride by bus.

Industrial Action
Peace in the world arrived on Monday 11^th November 1918 when the armistice ending the Great War took effect. A new period of amity, harmony and prosperity beckoned. This era was to be short lived for the P.E. Tramways Company.  Commencing on Saturday 19^th July 1919, the Tramway sheds were mute with none of the normal sound of trams and buses. None of the drivers and conductors had reported for work that day. They had lodged a dispute over wages with management of the company. Intransigence negated all efforts at the strike’s resolution. It was to take 19 days before higher wage rates, based upon a guaranteed week of forty-eight hours, were implemented. Worse was to come, for it was ultimately the passenger who bore the brunt of that increase as fares were raised from 3d, which was the tariff for a third of all passengers, to 4d.

The post war depression was felt by Port Elizabeth too. The use of the two Leyland charabancs, which were hired out for excursions, declined. Being underutilised, they were transferred to Cape Town as there was buoyant demand.

Conversely, the attendance at horse racing was surging as betting was one method by which people were deluded into believing that they could earn some extra money. To assist these punters, the Turf Club entered into an agreement with the Tramway Company whereby they would pay them 10% of the gate money if the tram line was extended by 1.5 kms to a point near the Fairview Racecourse..

The extension to the line was officially opened on the 28^th July 1920. It must have been a Wednesday’s Child for, despite the fares collected and the percentage of the gate money, this line seldom made a profit. 

Pirate buses
At this juncture, the era of the pirate motor bus made its appearance. The P.E. Tramways Company did not operate their buses on regular routes at this stage, but rather hired them out for private use. The arrival of these pirate buses coincided with the depression. During this period in Port Elizabeth’s development, it was not industrialised but depended largely upon the wool, mohair and feather markets. Moreover, unemployment was exacerbated by migration from the platteland.

To make matters worse, the company had not expanded the network into the growing areas in the north towards Korsten. Furthermore, the tram fleet was no longer in prime condition. This was in the process of being addressed by acquiring two new Brill bogie double deckers in 1922, while two other large double-deckers were re-motored to increase their speed. As well in 1922, a renovation programme was instituted to bring all the trams into first-class condition once again.

Into this milieu during 1923, the first of the pirate buses came into operation. These buses primarily targeted the Humewood and North End routes, using mainly small 18 to 20 seaters built on Reo, Studebaker and other light truck chassis. One of the factors which influenced the public to support the pirate buses was that on most routes, the pirate buses catered only for white passengers. On the Humewood run, tram passengers dropped by 33%, and overall the tramway company lost 16% of its passengers, virtually overnight.

Sources
Port Elizabeth Tramways – A Short History of Port Elizabeth’s Road Passenger Transport Services by Graham Shield (1979, E.H. Walton & Co, Port Elizabeth). Looking Back, Vol XI No 2 (June 1971), pages 50 and 56.