Aldershot Co. Seeks More
Page 32
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
OVER 70 stage-carriage services are affected by a new application for higher fares, filed by Aldershot and District Traction Co., Ltd., with the South Eastern Licensing Authority. The application proposes a 2d. minimum fare, the addition of id. to 21d., 31d. and 41d. tickets, and a revision of the return-ticket rate so that it becomes
11 times the single fare, instead of times as at present. Some 11d. and 21d. fares are excluded from the application.
Proposals aimed at increasing revenue by £14,000 a year were recently presented to the Eastern Licensing Authority by Colchester Corporation. The corporation wished to add id. to all single fares, to increase cross-town fares by Id. and to vary children's tickets.
It was stated that on the existing charges there would be a deficit of £13,650 in 1954, by which time the accumulated loss would be £30,000. Since 1949, when the last application to advance charges was put forward, fuel cost had risen by 140 per cent., and all other major items of expenditure by not less than 20 per cent. The corporation had declined to meet deficits out of the general rate. Decision was reserved.
Faced with a deficit exceeding f26,000, Newport Corporation has
*30 decided to apply for further fares advances. A new scale of charges based on mileage has been worked out, providing for a half-mile journey for lid. (the minimum fare), 1 mile for 2d., 11 miles for 21d. and so on, up to a maximum of 8 miles for 9d. Since the Budget this year, costs have risen by £30,220 a year.
Next Tuesday, West Bridgford Urban District Council will present its case for higher charges to the East Midland Licensing Authority.
_ Middlesbrough Corporation, which is applying for its first advance in fares since before the war, has decided not to abolish workmen's return tickets. It was intended to apply for permission. to introduce cheap early-morning single fares, but this idea has been dropped, it is reported.
Workmen's fares, and luggage and parcel rates will be increased shortly in Burton-on-Trent. Permission for the changes was granted by the West Midland Licensing Authority on Monday. The increases will augment revenue by £3,850 a year. Another proposal was that two routes should be discontinued because they were uneconomic. Objections were registered to this suggestion and hearing of the application on this point was adjourned.