Provincial Council, in order to secure funding to improve the roads. Maintenance and improvement of the area's roading was affected by the borough's income. From 1897, a water cart was used on dirt roads, and in 1896 gravel began to be laid on some of the roads. Early public transport In 1861, the first commercial coach service commenced, and from 1872, there were daily coach services from Christchurch which attracted more settlement in the area including boarding houses, baches, holiday homes and permanent houses. Trams Trams were first introduced to Christchurch thanks to the Canterbury Tramway Company, which was founded in 1878. The first tram services commenced in central Christchurch in 1880, with the tramway system consisting of several lines and stations. Buoyed by its success, the New Brighton Tramway Company was formed in 1885 with the purpose of providing a tram connection from the eastern end of the central Christchurch tramway network, at Linwood, out to New Brighton. Construction of the line, which followed Pages Road, commenced in 1887 and was completed early the following year, with fare-paying services commencing on 15 February 1888. The service proved to be popular, garnering between 3,000 and 5,000 passengers per week. A second tram route, which became known as the North Beach tramline, was constructed by the City and Suburban Tramway Company, passing through Linwood, Avonside, Shirley, Avondale, Rawhiti, before ending at the New Brighton Pier, was completed in 1894. In this era, the trams on both routes were horse-drawn. It was only with the formation of the Christchurch Tramway Board in 1905 and which took over the assets of the local tramway companies, that steam engines were introduced to the New Brighton lines. Electrification of the New Brighton tramway lines was completed in August 1906. Trolley buses Over time, the North Beach route proved uneconomic, mainly due to the poor state of the track not enabling the trams to compete with the private Inter City Motors' buses which ran along the same route. The tramline was closed in 1931, with a new electric trolley bus service commencing in its place. The bus company was eventually purchased by the board in 1935, allowing the Board to have a monopoly on that route. The fate of the main New Brighton tramway line followed that of the economy. The Great Depression of the 1930s caused a decline in patronage, but increased during WWII due