The second valuable peculiarity of the electric motor is that it gives its 'maximum torque' at starting. That is to say, it exercises the highest propulsive effort at the precise moment when it is required. When horses are employed, they have to endure an abnormal strain in overcoming the inertia of a stationary vehicle; everyone must have noticed how horses have to struggle to start a car which they can keep going at an easy trot once it has got up speed. The electric motor--to use an apparent paradox--gives this abnormal pull as part of its normal action. As the inertia of the car is gradually overcome, the speed of rotation of the motor increases and its torque decreases, automatically and precisely in accordance with the demands of the case. The starting torque of a motor is such an emphatic phenomenon that the driver of an electric car may, if he is careless and switches the current on too suddenly, jerk any standing passenger off his feet, even though the total weight of the car may be ten tons or more. Properly employed, however, the electric motor gives an even and _rapid_ acceleration. This is a far more important point in tramway economics than it appears to be at first sight. The superiority of the electric tramway over the horse tramway depends less upon higher speed than upon the fact that less time is wasted in stopping to pick up and set down passengers. Time is the vital element in all transport, and it is especially vital in connection with tramways, which have to stop with great frequency. If the time which elapses between putting on the brakes at each stop and getting up to full speed again can be materially shortened, then the average speed of the tramway journey can be materially raised. It is easy, by means of powerful brakes, to bring a car to rest quickly; the electric motor enables speed to be regained quickly. In this way a high average speed may be maintained in spite of numerous stops; and, with larger cars, the electric tramway is able to handle a larger volume of traffic in a shorter space of time than the horse tramway. The time lost in stopping is of so much consequence that, when electric tramways were introduced, the old custom of stopping the cars at any desired point was abandoned. Stopping places were arranged at convenient points along the route, some of them being regular stops and others optional at a signal from passengers desiring to alight or to board the car. The public soon got used to walking a short distance to a stopping place, although they did not, perhaps, appreciate how much the collection of traffic at a reduced number of points tended to improve the general tramway service.