HOW EASTERN COMMISSIONERS INTEND CONTROLLING FARES
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Competition to be Encouraged if Unduly High Fares are Charged AN indication of the attitude of the 21..Traffic Commissioners for the Eastern Area was given at the recent Cambridge sitting, when an operator, in applying to run a new service to Whipsnade, said that his proposed fare worked out at the rate of lid. per mile. The chairman stated that if this fare, which was considered a high one, were allowed, it would be because the service was a new one. In the case of a service which was known to be remunerative, the Commissioners would not sanction such a -fare as lid. per mile. The chairman went on to say that high fares were charged on some of the remunerative services and if such fares remained the " Commissioners would encourage competition between operators so as to bring them down to a reasonable level.
In this area; also, the problem of protection for municipal services is demanding attention for, at the recent Yarmouth sitting, Colchester Corporation asked that 25 per cent. of the fares taken in respectof passengers picked up and set .down.in the Colchester area should be paid-over to the corporation, this, it was explained, having been the
general custom in the borough under the old licensing system. The matter was raised at the hearing of applications by Hillman's Saloon Coaches, an important company employing 300 men and running a fleet of some 98 coaches on the popular Yarmouth passenger services. Incidentally, this company met objections from the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., and the L.N.E. Railway Co.
In the case of the former it was mentioned that in two years the L.G.O.C., Ltd., lost Si million passengers, paying fares of 7d. each or more, and that the Green Line coaches were started as a protective measure.