Sunderland's Subsidized Fares
Page 42
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QUNDERLAND CORPORATION,
■ -.) according to the chairman of the Northern Traffic Commissioners, is not charging economic fares. Because the fares were subsidized by the local ratepayers to the tune of £20,000 in 1963/64 and £54.000 in the current year—and because the Corporation proposes to jump this subsidy to £81,732in the coming year—Mr. Hanlon reckons that the transport undertaking is charging uneconomical, cut-price fares.
There appears to be some feeling in Sunderland about the chairman's remarks and a local M.P. was due to ask 'he Minister of Transport on Wednesday to give a general direction to Traffic Corn ett missioners that they must refrain from referring to the financial policies of authorities who apply for increases in fares.
Of course. the Road Traffic Act of 1960 gives the Commissioners authority to consider both time-tables and fare tables. Section 140 gives wide investigating powers to the Commissioners, and the Minister's reply to the Sunderland M.P. should be interesting. Perhaps it would have been better if, instead of a grant, the Commissioners refused the application or adjourned the matter until the report on the financial future of the undertaking, by the general manager, is ready.