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Passengers Given a Choice of Higher. Fares or Service Cuts

19th July 1957, Page 37
19th July 1957
Page 37
Page 37, 19th July 1957 — Passengers Given a Choice of Higher. Fares or Service Cuts
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

PEOPLE living in Leicester are being asked to solve the city's bus problem by deciding which of two remedies they prefer to balance the undertaking's finances. ClIr. S. Bridges, chairman of the transport committee, put forward the alternatives at a Press conference last week and asked the general public to make their choice.

Fares have gone up in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Yarmouth, and West Bromwich Town Council have been warned that their undertaking is operating "on a shoestring." Three private companies in the Cambridge area have also applied for increases.

Leicester's fares were bound to go up with any new wage award, Cllr. Bridges stated, but the question was how the publi& wanted to meet the increased costs.

The alternatives were: (1) Cuts at offpeak periods and a slight increase in fares, or (2) maintenance of the present service with more general fare changes. Since the war the minimum fare had increased by 117 per cent.

Cllr. Bridges said that the department had cut its own costs considerably. At the central depot the administrative staff had been reduced from 103 to 65. the depot staff had been pruned, and the number of inspectors had gone down by 25 per cent.

Five-seat bulkheads had been introduced on the lower decks of some double-deckers, and eventually 100 buses would be equipped in this way. Twelve new buses, each holding over 70 passengers, were on order at a cost of £72,000.

Reading Town Council has been warned that the only way to keep fares at their present level is to cut unremunerativeservices. Cllr. D. L. Stoddart. transport committee chair

man, said that to increase fares further this .year would accentuate rather than relieve their difficulties. Their policy should be to whittle down non-paying services, although this might hit some people quite hard.

In Edinburgh, the minimum fare is now to be 3d., instead of 2d., and most other fares are to go up by Id. The new structure will bring in an additional £480,000, but it is expected that the issue of 45s. monthly tickets will reduce this figure by at least 00,000. The expected surplus is £75,000, which will probably be taken up by any new wage award.

Except for the Suez surcharge, this is the first fare increase since the undertaking switched from trams to buses last year. The conversion was costly, and the new fares are designed to help cover the expense.

Birmingham Fares Up Birmingham's new fares structure will bring in over £1m. a year, with a general increase of ld. and lid. The minimum stays at 2d., but the maximum is now 9d. The West Midland Traffic Commissioners increased the night service flat rate to ls.-2d. more than the undertaking had sought. Mr. W. P. James, chairman, said this was done because of the "very useful and exceptional service" being run.

The surplus this year will be £87,000, and the corporation 'are budgeting to remove the accumulated deficiency over a two-year period. At present it is £322,600.

Some 3d. fares in Yarmouth have increased to 4d. and fares above this level have all gone up by ld.

Eastern Operators Apply Eastern Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., Premier Travel, Ltd., and Corona Coaches, Halstead, all applied for increases last week. They asked the Eastern Traffic Commissioners for permission to put 5 per cent. on day returns, and 10 per cent, on single and period returns. Decision was reserved.

Aid. G. C.. W. Jones, chairman of West Bromwich Transport Committee, said last week that although the undertaking had made a profit of £14,676 in the year ended March 31, it was being run "on a shoestring." The net profit per pound of traffic revenue was 6id., which meant that buses carried 39 passengers to cover their costs, and it was only on every 40th passenger that any profit was made.


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