New Fares Application by North Western
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riECISION on the application for fare increases, to the North Western Traffic Commissioners, by the North Western Road Car. Co., Ltd., has been withheld. The company, • -however, intend. to make :a further application in the meantime, with revised figures. An application by the same company for increases in Derbyshire, has been granted by the East Midland • Traffic Commissioners. When . the' application Was made in April it was stated that the increafsed fares wOuld prOdUce nearly. £40.000 towards the estimated deficit this . The number of passengers carried in Todmorden Corporation buseS fell from 10.126,000 in' the year ended March 31, 1954, to little more than 7,500,000 last year, the Yorkshire Commissioners were told at Leeds last week. The Commissioners granted an application for fares changes. on 13 localroutes,.deSigned to produce additional revenue of some £10,500 a year. New fares scales which come into operation in Hastings and Bexhill next month when oil-engined buses take over from trolleybuses will reduce 1,139 fares by amounts varying from 1d. to 2d. Mr. Stanley Smith, traffic manager for Maidstone and District Motor Services, 1 td., who operate in the coastal towns, told the South Eastern Traffic Commissioners that in the light of improved design and amenities, the trolleybus was obsolete and hopelessly uneconomic.
NOT SUCH A GOOD TURN FOR PASSENGERS
COMMENTING, during the annual meeting, on various economy measures and the necessity to apply' for certain small fare increases, Mr. W. T. James, chairman of the South Wales Transport Co., Ltd., said that if local authorities object to small increases of fares, they may not, in the long run, he doing such it good turn to the community as they think.
Mr. James, weighing the value of pruning services or increasing fares, said passengers do not take kindly to cutting services, and .in unguarded moments, often admit that they would rather pay more than wait longer for buses. Referring to the industry's disappointment in the recent Budget, Mr. James said that while the Chancellor reduced Excise Duty by about two-thirds, the net benefit was nil because of the increased rate of profits tax imposed last year. On the subject of traffic congestion the South Wales chairman made particular mention of Port Talbot, where the same central'. roads., that existed 50 years ago still had to be used.
Though it was thought that a start would soon be made on the western section ef the Port Talbot by-pass, no hint had been given when construction would begin on the central or eastern sections and Mr. James called for speedy action and a firm statement on the subject by the Minister of Transport.