Tyneside PTE looks to the Continent
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• Tyneside Passenger Transport Executive achieved a £481,000 surplus for the year ended December 31, 1971; operational revenue was £4,840,000, non-operational £446,000, and expenditure £4,461,000 and £282,000 respectively.
All operational costs were met out of traffic revenue but having regard to the growth of car ownership, congestion and such constraints, says the annual report, it was unrealistic to think that this situation could be maintained indefinitely without a major reduction in level of service or increased fares. And the fares would then reach such a level that they would have a deleterious effect on passenger demand.
Non-operational expenditure had been exceeded by precept income — p in the £ — principally because the Secretary of State, DoE, had deferred till January 1972 the making of an Order whereby PTAs were to become responsible for deficits of local rail services.
In addition to the precept levied for general purposes, lp in the £ was required for the area concessionary travel scheme.
The report says that the eventual need for contributions from other sources, including rates, "albeit predetermined to effect financial control must be faced by Tyneside as it is having to he faced in a number of major United Kingdom cities and, indeed, as has for some years been a feature of urban transport on the Continent".
Rapid transit proposals being worked out by the Executive are similar to those found in Europe; the Authority had supported the Executive in plans to present a Bill to Parliament in November 1972 seeking powers to construct the system. Representatives had visited Germany, Belgium and Holland to study urban transport systems both from the technical view and the standpoint of bus /rail integration in future planning.
At present, the PTE operates a bus mileage of 15.66m (1970: 15.33m) which is just over half the total mileage within its Area, the bulk of the remainder being NBC-operated. A basis of agreement had been reached to give the Executive the same control over the pattern of NBC subsidiaries (United and Northern Group) as it has over its own.
The reorganization of the Newcastle division forecast in 1970 had come inta operation and had greatly improved reliability of service to the public; lost mileage had fallen from 14 to almost three per cent a week, but in this case other factors such as o-m-o and Government relaxation on drivers' hours regulations, were involved.
All buses are to be radio-controlled eventually and a new booster radio station is to be installed.
Average life of the Executive's fleet at the end of 1971 was 6.7 years.
The fleet consists of 334 double-deckers (80 of them o-m-o-), 31 single-deckers and three coaches; this gives a total of 31 below the previous year's figure, and the staff has fallen by 77 to 1933.