Minister Calls for London Fare Stage Review
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DUBLIC resentment against the
increased fares of London Transport has been so great that the Minister of Transport has sought the opinion of the Central Transport Consultative• Committee on the alterations made to fare stages, The matter came before the committee on Tuesday.
The precise information required was decided and a report is to be circulated to members of the committee, who will resume discussions on the subject next week.
Executive's Discretion The changes in fares and stages were introduced under a scheme approved by the Transport Tribunal. The charges authorized were maxima and the Executive had discretion to decide the actual fares, provided that they did not exceed the scale laid down. The Consultative Committee cannot, of course, overrule the Tribunal, but its opinion would probably carry weight with the Executive.
A statement issued from 10, Downing Street, last Friday, absolved the present Government and the Minister from any responsibility for the increases in fares or for the procedure by which they were made. "The procedure is that provided by the Transport Act, 1947, passed under the late Government," it said.
Lord Latham, chairman of the L.T.E,, said last week that costs of operation were now 120 per cent, higher than before the war, whereas fares were only 74 per cent. higher.
Review " Inconsistent "
In the House of Commons, on . Monday, Mr. J. S. Maclay, Minister of Transport, said that it would be inconsistent with the intentions of the Transport Act for the committee to review the Tribunal's decision, Or for him to ask the Tribunal to reconsider the operation of a scheme which it had just confirmed.
When Mr. Brooke asked the Minister whether, in amending the Transport Act, he would consider making it more difficult for a nationalized undertaking to impose fresh burdens on the travelling public without reference to Parliament, Mr. Maclay answered, "Mr. Brooke's remarks will be carefully noted."
London Transport has not increased its fares on the London-Hitchin route, because Birch Bros., Ltd., has not done so. On the Hitchin-Buntingford route, Mr. W. H. Smith, who was involved in litigation with the L.T.E. which went to the House of Lords, still charges a 'single fare of Is. 4d., as compared with London Transport's single rate of Is. 11d.
SHOULD L.T.E. STAFF PAY?
I N a statement on the recent increased fares introduced by London Transport, Mr. A. H. S. Pomeroy, chairman of the London Passengers' Association,
declared that the 1 fm. which the Executive expected to derive from the modified rates, would reduce public purchasing power by that amount.
He expressed interest in the actual value of the free travel and reducedfare vouchers held by the 100,000 employees of London Transport and their dependants. He wondered, too, what was the equivalent rise in wages which higher fares to the general public represented to these employees.
London Transport later declared that the new fares would augment revenue by £91,m. a year—not El I m.
Pickfords' Rates : B.F.M.F.A. Protests
Eip EP R ESENTATIV ES. of the British I N. Furniture Manufacturers' Federated
Associations went before the Central Transport Consultative Committee on Tuesday and asked for a revision of what they. regard as inflationary carriage rates and onerous conditions" of Pickfords' New Furniture Carriage Serv ice.
The B.F.M.F.A. had previously submitted to the Minister of Transport a
memorandum irk which it made four proposals. The first three asked for carriage of new furniture to be treated as a special traffic and to be transported freely by Aand B-licensed hauliers; for nationalized furniture removers to he given an early opportunity of buying their businesses back; and for new operators to he given -facilities to enter the haulage industry and carry new furniture. •
The Minister himself is dealing with these suggestions and the committee was left to meet the fourth proposal for an investigation into Pickfords' rates and conditions "with a vieiv to placing them on a reasonable and economic basis."
The main objections to the new rates are that they are said to show a misunderstanding of the nature of the load and that Pick fords have made no attempt to justify the increases on economic grounds except in the most general terms. The cost of furniture has increased as a result of the new rates, and Scottish retailers are stated to have experienced a serious loss of business, as southern manufacturers. operating under ceiling prices, cannot pay the cost of carriage to Scotland.
COUNCIL'S OBJECTION FARS BITING REPLY .
"DO"u think you are representing . the people of Newcastle in making what we consider to be outrageous suggestions that for the sake of a penny or two they should go to this trouble on this miserable journey to see people in tuberculosis hospitals ?"
The Northern Licensing Authority made this trenchant statement to a representative of Newcastle Corporation who objected to an application by the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., to run a special bus service on Saturdays and Sundays from Gateshead to Normans Riding Tuberculosis Hospital, Blaydon.
The objection was based on the ground that the proposed service would abstract traffic from the corporation's service between Gateshead station-4nd Newcastle Central station. The chairman said that he had no hesitation in granting the application.