Rise in fares expected in SE
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THE South Eastern Traffic Commissioners are expected to agree to fares increases in the Brighton transport area (BATS) on September 18 and 19 on the lines of the Southdown Motor Services submission of January which was rejected by the Brighton Corporation, the other joint BATS operator.
Following the public hearings last month (CM August 2), the Commissioners asked the joint operators to prepare a revised fares table within two weeks failing which the Commissioners proposed to lodge their own proposals in accordance with the Southdown proposals.
The deadline expired on Monday and Southdown told CM that no fresh proposals had been made.
The Commissioners have stated that if no increases were made in the BATS area shortly, they would have to give careful consideration to further fares increase applications in the Southdown general operating area and the Portsmouth city area. These might result in fares which might be considered unreasonable because it would be difficult to disprove that low fares in the BATS area were being subsidized.
The Southdown proposals are considered to be capable of, producing an extra £600,000 a ear.