100 years ago

Mr JJ Coulson, Vyner Street, wrote: “I think if small flat boxes were fixed at each end of the tramcars for the disposal of discarded tickets, it would be an advantage.

Not only would the boxes tend to keep the cars clean and tidy, but would also prevent the streets having the untidy appearance they now so frequently present, owing to the passengers having to throw away the tickets when they alight from the cars.

The tickets thus collected from the boxes could be sold as wastepaper. I am also of the opinion that a system of ‘transfer’ tickets would also be advantageous, even more so when the Bishopthorpe Road route is opened.

Passengers would then be able to travel on other routes or in another tramcar without having to obtain another ticket, the charges, as now, of course being in accordance with the distance travelled.”

50 years ago

A report by the County Surveyors’ Society on the practical implications of introducing a right-hand Rule of the Road would be considered by the executive council of the County Councils’ Association shortly.

No estimate had been prepared of the cost of the operation, but the report said it would clearly cost more than the estimated £22 million spent in Sweden in 1961 to change to driving on the right.

If the change were made, it would probably be necessary to have a strictly enforced standstill of all except essential traffic for about four or five hours before zero hour.

Changes would have to be made at once to pads of some vehicle-operated traffic signals, mirror signals, “Keep Left” signs or arrows, traffic signs, traffic flow in one-way streets, and double white lines on curves.

The surveyors warned “The possibility of a large temporary increase in accidents must be faced.”

25 years ago

An ambitious plan to extend the Yorkshire Museum was described as “the most exciting scheme York has seen for years”. But county councillors were worried about its ‘horrendous’ £1.4 million cost.

The extension would replace the Marygate annex which consisted of huts built during the Second World War.

The aim was to make the museum “a centre of excellence” by providing up-to-date storage facilities for a vast collection of items which could not be exhibited.

It would provide better access for researchers and ordinary visitors.

North Yorkshire’s Library and Museums Committee decided that officials should have further talks with York City Council, English Heritage and other agencies over sharing the cost of the scheme.