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16 Councils Fight Fare Application

15th March 1957, Page 38
15th March 1957
Page 38
Page 38, 15th March 1957 — 16 Councils Fight Fare Application
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

S1XTEEN local councils opposed an application by the West Riding, Automobile Co., Ltd., for a revision of fares before the. Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners, at Leeds, last Friday. Decision was reserved.

The proposals included id. increases in ordinary and special single fares of 244, 30., 41(1., 54d., 644 and 71(1., and the elimination of anomalous fares by adjustment in a downward direction.

Mr. David Karmel, Q.C., for the company, said it was the sixth occasion on which they had had to apply for increases. In February, 1956, they were granted an application designed to bring in £108,000, but the result was disappointing. In the first six months, revenue rose by only £39,444 which, in a full year, represented only about £79,000. Since then, there had been rises in costs.

If they were to maintain a proper standard of operation, another £10,000 would have to-be found this year. The estimated net balance for a full year from the present 'fares, leaving out the fuel. emergency, was £29,703, which showed a percentage of gross profit on capital invested of 5.26 per cent.

For the objectors, Mr. Alan Goss submitted that the financial status of the company did not warrant increases.

u4 He said that by moving some fares in a downward direction they 'would create, rather than remove, anomalies. The comparative fare tables showed that some 41d. fares had' been reduced to 3d., while others had been raised to 5d.

Reserving decision, Maj. F. S. Eastwood, chairman, said the objectors must be given the opportunity to study the comparative fare tables. In their present form there were many anomalies in the proposals.

The Northern Traffic Commissioners have authorized Newcastle upon Tyne Corporation to add Id. to most of their fares. The undertaking has retained its minimum fare.

As a result of the increase, Newcastle expects to have a surplus of £124,000 in the next financial year. If the application had been refused, there would have been a deficit of more than £123,000.

South Shields 'Transport Committee are to seek to make permanent the temporary fare increases introduced on motorbuses as a result of the Suez crisis, and to extend them to trolleybuses. The proposals are to reduce to 2.3 miles the distance allowed for a 3d. ordinary single fare, and to add d. to the present 34-d. rate.


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