LTB viability through fares
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from a special correspondent
• When the White Paper on London Transport was published earlier this year, GLC leader Mr. Desmond Plummer made it clear that the LTB would have to be on a fully commercial footing before take-over became acceptable. Asked how this might be achieved, the LTB chairman Mr. Maurice Holmes said it would take two small fares increases or a ."whacking big one'.
The latter course now seems to have been accepted by the Government (which was expected to take a tougher line over GLC's insistence on profitability), for on Tuesday night in the Commons the Minster of Transport revealed that proposals to raise the Hai needed for viability before take-over would go to the PIB early in the New Year,
Shadow Transport Minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher replied that, by her calculations, this meant a fares rise of 12 to 13 per cent—a -bombshell".
The Commons was debating the Transport (London) Bill which will give the GLC freedom from Transport Tribunal intervention in fares levels. But when the PIB approved a London Transport minimum fare of 6d in August, the Tribunal reduced this to 5d minimum—and any fares applications made before the new Bill becomes law will have to pass the Tribunal's scrutiny.