PTAs not to be scrapped
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• Mr John Peyton, Minister of Transport, said at a Press conference in Liverpool last week that he had no intention of disbanding any of the four Passenger Transport Authorities set up by Labour in 1969.
The Minister also stated that an investigation is to be made into the effects the new drivers' hours regulations are having on the bus companies, and a study made of a plea for financial aid by the Merseyside PTA.
In a report presented to the Minister by the Merseyside Authority it is claimed that the financial position is so critical that unless some action is taken the Authority will be faced with an estimated deficit of £4.75m by the end of 1974. Three ways in which aid could be made available to the PTA are also suggested in the report. The first is by relieving the Authority of debts totalling £4.5m which were inherited when it took over services in Birkenhead. Liverpool and Wallasey.
A second method of subsidization suggested is to make the PTA a grant towards revenue deficits, and a third by drawing off part of the annual £4m local road fund licence revenue to subsidize the services, a method which the PTA claims is justified as the growth of private motoring has brought about the problem.
On this subject Mr Peyton said: "It is a problem I find much easier to state than to solve.
"One just cannot avoid the financial implications even if a social service is provided Things have got to be paid for and nobody has yet evolved a painless way of extracting money from people,