New Plymouth City Transport (originally known as New Plymouth Tramways) was a council-owned public transport operator in New Plymouth, New Zealand. It was established in 1916 with the opening of the borough’s electric tramway system and remained in operation for 75 years.
The system went through several transitions: electric trams (1916–1954), trolleybuses (1950–1967), and a succession of battery-electric, petrol and diesel powered buses from the 1920s through to the early 1990s. In 1991, regulatory changes required the council to divest its bus services, and the operation was sold to Gold Star Bus Lines, ending direct municipal involvement in public transport.
Early private services
Before municipal control, public transport in New Plymouth was provided by private operators. Early attempts to start a regular service occurred in the 1890s. In April 1892, W. Courtney announced his intention to run a bus to Fitzroy “within two months,” promoting it as a catalyst for local growth. In March 1894, a public meeting was held to form the New Plymouth and Fitzroy Omnibus Company, which proposed to purchase a Jubilee omnibus similar to those in Auckland at the time.
Neither venture appears to have succeeded, but on 21 May 1894 M. Jones of the Criterion Livery Stables began a new service from Fitzroy to town, using a bus imported from Auckland. The bus could carry ten passengers inside and four outside, and was described as “splendidly finished off” with plush-covered seats, curtained windows, and overhead racks for parcels." Fares were sixpence one way, and the route also extended to the Breakwater on some trips.
As suburban growth created new demand, there was growth in both the number of routes covered and the number of operators, leading in 1902 to a brief period of intense competition. For example, in 1902 a competing Breakwater–New Plymouth service was advertised by H Sparks, while S W Jury started running on the New Plymouth–Westown run Jury took over Sparks Breakwater service in 1903.
That same year, another competing service named Cathro’s bus started between Fitzroy and New Plymouth. In 1903 Fitzroy services had all been taken over by operator J. W. West. That same year M. Jones started a new service along Carrington Road to Vogeltown.
By the mid-1910s, omnibuses were falling out of favour in favour of self-propelled vehicles. In August 1915 West sold his horses and a replacement motor bus service to Fitzroy and the Breakwater was introduced by M Jones. By 1916 motorbus services were also running to Vogeltown, Westown and Frankleigh Park. These developments marked the shift away from horse-drawn transport — a transition that would accelerate once the Borough Council took control and introduced electric trams and battery buses.
Council-run services (1916–1991) Tramways (1916–1954)
By 1910, New Plymouth had begun exploring the introduction of an electric tramway system. A council committee examined the options and reported two possibilities:
a single line between Fitzroy and the Breakwater the same, with branches to Vogeltown and Elliot Road (now Tukapa Street)
The committee recommended building only the main Fitzroy–Breakwater line initially, noting that further extensions would only be viable with significant population growth. Frankleigh Park was deemed entirely unsuitable for tram services.
Before any tramway construction could begin, the council sought to amalgamate the separate Fitzroy and St Aubyn town districts, along with Westown, Vogeltown, and Frankleigh Park (then part of the Hurworth Riding of Taranaki County), into the Borough of New Plymouth. Consolidation under one authority was seen as essential for laying track without protracted negotiations between multiple councils and to avoid the expense of establishing a separate transport board.
In March 1913, a vote authorised the construction of tramways within the expanded borough. Although “trackless trams” or motor buses were suggested as cheaper alternatives, the council opted to proceed with a conventional electric tramway.
The New Plymouth Borough Council launched the tramway on 10 March 1916, initially running from Fitzroy past the railway station to Weymouth Street. The full route to the Breakwater opened on 21 April, and the Morley Road extension on 20 May. The network was officially opened on 1 June 1916.
When the network officially opened, two routes were in operation:
Fitzroy – New Plymouth – Breakwater Eliot Street – New Plymouth – Morley Road
Calls for further expansion soon followed. The first extension was a continuation of the Morley Road line to David Street in Westown, accompanied by the purchase of three additional tramcars. This extension opened on 29 November 1923, though it did not reach as far into Westown as many residents had hoped (or as the existing bus service did). Limited electricity generating capacity and the £19,000 cost constrained how far the Borough could extend the line. By comparison, the original system, including six trams, depot, and electrical infrastructure, had cost £56,000 in total.
The short length of the Westown line became a point of contention. It had three fare sections, the same as the longer Fitzroy and Breakwater routes, despite covering only . By contrast, the Fitzroy line was and the Breakwater line about . With fares set at 2d for the first section and 1d for each additional stage, Westown residents argued that they were paying disproportionately more for a shorter journey.
The next extension opened in 1924 when track was laid along Liardet Street and Gilbert Street to the Pukekura Park entrance there. A spur further up Liardet street was also laid for football game traffic. The line was widely seen as the beginning of the tram service to Vogeltown. The line also provided a triangle at Devon Street where trams could be turned. From this day, Westown trams were extended to run all the way through to Pukekura Park.
This was to be the last expansion of the tram service. Investigations on which road trams should take to reach Vogeltown, concerns on the narrowness of Carrington Street and the potential cost scuppered any extensions. A 1930 proposal sought to extend the Westown line to Upper Westown (now Hurdon), freeing up the bus for other services, but this did not proceed due to lack of funds.
The Liardet Street service by itself was never a paying proposition, and the line was the first to close in 1937, with the track reclaimed and used for other track modifications in the system. This change also coincided with rugby moving from Pukekura Park to the newly built Rugby Park grounds in Westown. The service was replaced with the through-routing of Avenue Road buses down Liardet Street. The rest of the system was retained as it was considered to have a useful life of around 15 years before the trams needed replacing, and while the cost of running a fully diesel bus system was estimated as slightly lower than trams, the upfront cost of replacing vehicles was considered unaffordable.
The Westown line was the next to close on 6 October 1950, replaced with a lower cost trolley bus service running to Upper Westown. The core route between Fitzroy and The Port remained in service, and in 1950 enquiries were made for the purchase of three former Wanganui trams recently taken out of service when that city's network closed down. Wanganui wanted £450 per tram, which was not accepted, while New Plymouths offer of £100 per tram and £150 for spares was not accepted by Wanganui. This effectively locked in the end of the trams in New Plymouth, which closed for good on 23 July 1954.
Fleet Details
Boon cars In July 1914 the Borough Council accepted a tender from F. S. Greenshields and Co. of Wellington, at around £8,012, for six tramcars to be built by Boon & Co. of Christchurch. The cars were built in 1915 and delivered by ship to New Plymouth, where a steam tractor and trailer hauled them to the Fitzroy depot. The trailer's coupling reportedly broke on the hill approaching the Henui bridge, but it ran into the bank without damage, and the two bogie cars were said to have nearly been lost overboard when the ship carrying them met a heavy storm. Cars 1 to 6 were available when the tramway opened, although No. 6 had not yet been certified for use and stayed in the depot yard.
Cars 1 to 4 were four-wheel single-truck cars on United Electric Car Company trucks, with Dick Kerr electrical equipment and two 35 hp motors. Each had an enclosed central compartment, with sliding doors in the bulkheads and cane-covered seats, and a semi-open compartment with wooden batten seats at either end. They were fitted with hand brakes only. Cars 5 and 6 were larger double-bogie cars divided into two saloons by a bulkhead with a sliding door, running on two United Electrical bogies, each with a 45 hp Dick Kerr motor, and also with hand brakes only. Car 10, the last tram built for the system, was delivered in 1925. It was essentially identical to cars 5 and 6, except that its bogies were by the English Electric Company (which had absorbed Dick Kerr) and its motors were rated at 50 hp.
The Boon cars were substantially rebuilt during their lives as the council moved towards one-man operation. In 1923 cars 1 to 4 were rebuilt with enclosed platforms, folding end doors in place of chains, and motorman-operated double doors, although one-man running could not begin until air brakes and dead-man controls had been fitted. These were added around 1930, and the four cars re-entered service in one-man form between June 1930 and January 1931. Cars 5 and 6 were converted to motorman-only operation in 1932, gaining outward-opening doors worked from the controls, a manually operated folding rear door, air brakes and dead-man controls. Car 10 was not fitted with air brakes or dead-man controls until 1938. In 1936–37 the centre bulkheads of cars 1 to 4 were removed to make them single-saloon cars, with the same change made to cars 5, 6 and 10 later in the 1930s. The destination boxes were also moved from the roof to the top of the front left window, in the style of the Birneys. All of the Boon cars were in service when the system closed in 1954, apart from car 4, which was sidelined on the last day with a loose tyre.
Birney Safety Cars In July 1920 the Governor-General-in-Council sanctioned the introduction of one-man tram operation in New Plymouth, and the Borough Council authorised its electrical engineers to purchase three cars suitable for either one-man or two-man control, at an estimated price of about £3,600 each. The council retained the right to cancel the order for two of the cars within three months, and the purchase was made conditional on a loan for tramway extensions being carried. The cars ordered were of the Birney Safety type, and in January 1921 the tramway manager, R. H. Bartley, received construction plans for them, with delivery expected around April. The Birney was a lightweight, steel-bodied design suitable for either one-man or conventional operation. Being lighter than the existing cars, it was expected to reduce wear on the track, and it was capable of quicker acceleration and higher schedule speeds. The newspaper reported that New Plymouth would be the first system to adopt this particular car, and that Invercargill had also chosen Birneys for its most recent order. It also noted that the type was in use on around 170 systems in the United States.