Big Loss on Glasgow Transport
Page 19
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I N his report for the year 1957-58, Mr. E. R.• L Fitzpayne, general manager. records a further drop in the number of passengers using Glasgow municipal transport. The number carried fell by more than 53m., or 8.5 per cent. This is the greatest acceleration so far of a trend that has been apparent sittce 1952. Previous losses have varied between 2 per cent. and 5 per cent.
The decline in passengers was also the cause of a deficit of .261,000 incurred by the transport department last year. The figure is already overshadowed -by an estimated loss of £631,000 in• the current year.
The 570m. people using the services last year were nearly 21 per cent, fewer than in 1952. Although the figureswere influenced by the withdrawal of transport to the city. boundaries, .Mr. Fitzpayne states that the general trend is • caused by the increase in other methods of transport and by the changing habits of the public. He points out that national
. cinema attendances in 1957 were 17 per cent, fewer than in 1956.
The loss of estimated revenue which accompanied the decline in passengers amounted to 050,000. There was a substantial decrease in revenue per mile earned on numerous routes, indicating that services in certain areas were in excess of requirements.
During the Year, the corporation decided to speed up the conversion of tramway services to motorbus operation. The bus fleet of 971 is now larger than the train fleet. The services covered by buses, running 29.5m. miles, exceeded the tramway services by nearly 6m. miles.
On the year's working. the trams incurred . a deficit of £548,140, but surpluses in the.other three services were:
Motorbuses, £312,702; trolley buses, £12352; underground, £14,966. The trollcybus section has consistently returned profits since its inception nearly 10 years ago, LARGE CITY ROAD EXHIBffION
THE largest and most comprehensive exhibition of town and city road schemes ever held is to he opened in London on January 29. Mr. Harold Watkinson, Minister of Transport, will attend a preview of the exhibition, which is being staged by the British Road Federation.
It is aimed to show how countries all over the world are tackling the growing problem of urban traffic congestion. A large number of local authorities will be sending delegations and officers.
Models, photographs and drawings of urban motorways, underpasses, viaducts, pedestrian subways and similar schemes have been gathered from towns and cities in Great Britain and throughout the world.
The exhibition, open to the public from January 29 to February 7, will be staged in the Great Hall of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Westminster.