Minor Fares Adjustments Upset Schedule C OMPLICATIONS resulting from local fare
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adjustments on a main bus route had an echo in an appeal by the L.N.E. Railway Co., which was heard at Leeds, on Monday. The railway company appealed against a decision of the Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners to authorize numerous alterations in fares on the Liverpool-Redcar limitedstop service of the West Yolicshire Road Car Co., Ltd., and other " pool " companies.
Mr. E. P. Merritt, for the appellant, explained that, in consequence of the withdrawal, in 1935, of certain bus services from Thirsk to Northallerton, local people were left with only an express service running on the Liverpool-Redcar route. In order to use this they had to pay higher fares.
A local outcry resulted, and a reduction of express-service fares between Thirsk and Nortlaallerton was authorized. One effect of these reductions was that long-distance passengers could travel more cheaply by double booking than by booking through. On the ground of removing this anomaly, the operators of the Liverpool-Redcat ser vice applied for other alterations in fares. The Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners' decision on that application was the subject of the appeal.
The whole route, said Mr. Merritt, was 159 miles long, and served a population of 2,750,000. The portion from Thirslc to Northallerton was only nine miles long and concerned 8,407 people, yet to adjust the difficulty there the Yorkshire Commissioners had sanctioned 694 reductions of fares and 82 increases. He submitted that the trouble on the Thirsk-Northallerton section was a tiny peg upon which to hang an application for reductions of fares all along the route.
Mr. W. R. Hargrave, for the respondents, contended that the alteration of fares on one part of the route necessarily affected the remainder, and the variations should stand. Submitting that double booking was contrary to the public interest, he said that any schedule which permitted two people to travel hetiveen the Same two pOints at different fares was grossly unfair The hearing was adjourned until today (Friday),