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World War II

When World War II started in September 1939, the Power Company put aside any plans they had for bus substitution. The importance of the port in Saint John was great during this time. The war effected the Power Company in two ways. The first was in the number of passengers. The second was the shortage of man power and materials. This with the rising costs, maintenance on tracks, and equipment made for the deterioration of the street cars.

Did You Know? Almost 11 million people rode on Saint John street cars in 1945. That is almost equal to the whole population of Canada at the time.

The number of people using the street cars and buses was so great that new vehicles were needed. So the company asked the Transit Controller if they could purchase more buses, and they said yes. By 1934 there was only 34 street cars on the system and they decide to confine these cars to certain routes and provide bus routes on the Haymarket Square route and on some street on the South End. This resulted in the abandonment of all but three street car routes. These route were the following:

• King, this route goes from King and Charlotte streets to Indiantown.
• West, this route goes from Union and Charlotte streets to Rodney and Market Square, West Saint John.
• East, this route goes from Tilton's Corner to East Saint John, via King and Prince Edward Street.

These three routes required 18 cars to operate regularly, 8 cars for extras, and 8 more for spares in the event of unusual demand or to replace cars that broke down during service. The lack of maintenance of the tracks for these routes resulted in uncomfortable and jolting rides. The street cars were in a disastrous cycle; the worse the tracks got the more jolting, the more jolting the faster the cars and track deteriorated.

The New Brunswick Power Company wanted to expand its bus lines, but they did not want to make the commitment until the got an exclusive bus franchise. They tried to settle the matter but another company was interested in the bus services in Saint John. The interested company was SMT (Eastern), and they claimed that the New Brunswick Power Company had no right to run buses at all, their exclusive rights on the street railway operations should not effect their bus operations. A final decision on this dispute was put aside until the end of the war. The trend of times was buses and anyway the dispute ended it would mean the end of street cars.

Did You Know? Taking photos of the Saint John city transit system during World War II was prohibited. That is why all pictures on this page are censored.

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