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FARE CUTS TO GAIN TRAFFIC
Page 46
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Chesterfield Experiment : Chester Raises Fares : Mr. Hanlon Defends C.M.S.
AN application by Chesterfield Corporation to increase by 4d. adult single fares of 2d. to 11d, was granted last week by the Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners.
Three months' experiment with cheaper fares for short jotirneYs, to try to' encourage -passengers, was' also authorized. Fares will be reduced by
or id.'.
• Traffic on the municipal system has dropped by 8 per cent., compared with the volume last year. The increase in private transport has greatly stimulated competition.
Chester Application Granted The North Western Traffic Commissioners last week granted an application by Chester Corporation for fare increases to bring in an estimated revenue of £10,600 a year.
Mr. N. Kermode, deputy town clerk, said the last increase was in December, 1954,when it was estimated that a net profit of £10,000 would accrue. In fact, it realized £1,000. Additional costs swallowing the remainder.
Reorganization of services 12 months ago effected substantial economy, otherwise increases would have been applied for sooner. There wag a loss of £3,000 in 1956-57, and the estimated deficit for next year was £9,000.
Mr. H. J. Hooley, general manager, said the application envisaged the reorganization of the fare structure on the basis of half-mile stages. Some fares Would remain unchanged and in a few other cases would be reduced.
Objecting on behalf of Chester Rural District Council, Mr. J. Roberts suggested that during television viewing time services could. be pruned.. The corporation should also consider radial services terminating in various pads of the city without travelling through the busy centres.
Mr. F. Williamson, chairman, commended the council on their efforts to economize, but said that cuts in services could not continue, otherwise the public would suffer. They would no doubt give consideration to the point about radial services.
Ribble Minimum Up?
Decision was reserved at Carlisle when Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., applied to the Northern Traffic Commissioners for fare variations which involved raising the 35 lid. minimum stages in Carlisle to 2d. Carlisle City Council objected.
For the company, Mr. F. D. Walker explained that the proposals also affected services run jointly with other companies. For country services, the general pattern would be to add on each single journey, but there would also be a system of Overlapping fare stages, which would cost the company £30,000.
The only increase on town services would be the raising of the lid. minimum.
Mr. Walker recalled that an increase granted last October which was designed to produce £91,000 additional revenue. Since then there had been a wage award which would cost £75,000 a year, £25,000 a year extra costs on tyres and salaries, and £79,000 extra for fuel, despite the recent cuts. The proposed increased fares would produce £194,000 a year to set against increased costs totalling £182,000.
Mr. H. Bottomley, general manager, said fares were raised by only id. per single journey under the emergency powers. Answering Mr. H. D. A. Robertson, Town Clerk of Carlisle, Mr. Bottomley said the raising of the lid. fare in Carlisle would mean an extra £17,000 in revenue. Country services had their minimum fare raised to 2d. a year ago.
Mr. Robertson submitted that the increase in the Carlisle minimum was being asked for at a time when the city was developing its housing schemes, largely away from the centre of the city, and more working people were using the minimum stages to reach the shops. The overlapping stages in the country should not be introduced at the expense of the users of the city services.
C.M.S. Suez Increases Public concern at a bus company's retention of the Suez increases, expressed on behalf of local authorities, was answered by the chairman of the Northern Traffic Commissioners, Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon.
There were special reasons, he said, why Cumberland Motor Services, Ltd., Whitehaven, should continue the increased fares. Normal expenditure since last November had justified a review of fares quite apart from the "Suez shilling."
"It is not a bit of sharp practice, as it may appear," he added. The company's application for increased fares, on a mileage basis, was estimated to provide an extra £64,725 a year. The increases, to operate from July 1, affect about 75 per cent. of the company's fares.
For the company, Mr. J. L. R. Croft said that six workers' services were operated above cost and six below cost. Of the other services, 16 were operated above cost and 20 below. Vehicle-miles per week had gone up from 691 in 1941 to 760.
Objecting on behalf of Whitehaver Town Council and Ennerdale Rural District Council, Mr. A. R. Neighbour, deputy town clerk of Whitehaven, said people had expected the removal of the Suez increases, and any further appli cation to be considered later on merits.
Mr. Hanlon pointed out that last December the company had been faced with a wages award amounting to about £14,000 a year, and recent increases in tyre costs amounted to £2,500. Fuel had increased in price by over £13,000 a year. The Commissioners were satisfied that the proposed fares were not unreasonable and that profits, such as they were, were not excessive.
Fare increases sought by coach operators who run special services to the Austin works at Longbridge, Birmingham, were opposed before the West Midland Traffic Commissioners. On behalf of the main objectors, the factory's Joint Shop Stewards Committee, it was claimed that some of the increases were completely unreasonable. ranging up to 60 per cent. its First Since 1952 Seven coach operators were seeking their first fare increase since 1952 for special services used to take Austin employees to and from work.
Mr. Kenneth Mynett, Q.C., for the committee, said there was no wish to oppose any reasonable increase, as it might well be that a case would be made out for a few.
Mr. John Else, representing the coach operators, pointed out that from 1952 to 1957 all costs had risen substantially. Transport by direct means from homes to factories should not be expected to cost substantially less than , by normal means. If increases had been applied for in 1954 and 1956 the present application would not seem ,. high. The hearing was adjourned.
Edinburgh Corporation have agreed to a recommendation by their transport committee (The Commercial Motor, last -week) that permission should be sought for fare increases and the introduction of £2 5s. season tickets on the municipal undertaking.
Cllr. 3. Chalmers Brown told the city council that since the last increase, in January, 1956, wages had gone up by £300,000 a year, and a further rise was now being negotiated.
Small increases in fares throughout the Shetland Isles have been approved by the Scottish Traffic Commissioners. This is the first increase on the islands since 1931. .
Birmingham Corporation's application to raise fares by 44. to Id. will be heard by the West Midland Traffic Commissioners on July 10.