Provisional 10% Increase Wanted
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1-1, A SUGGESTION that all bus opera
tors should be allowed provisionally to increase fares up to 10 per cent. in advance of the hearing of applications, was made by Mr. J. S. Wills, chairman of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., at the annual meeting at Stratford on Avon on Wednesday. This power is already vested in the railways and London Transport under the Charges Scheme procedure.
Mr. Wills was commenting on the "inevitable" time lag from the date of major increases in costs to the date on which higher fares became effective. The time lag was usually about three months and, as increases had occurred twice in the past year, the company had lost considerable revenue because of it.
"I am far from blaming the Licensing Authorities, who normally do their very utmost to be bath co-operative and speedy," said Mr. Wills. "But it does appear that there is a fault in the system which urgently needs examination by those in authority."
The company would shortly be starting a number of services in rural areas with one-man operated buses (The Commercial Motor, April 13). In the past year 18 new services were introduced and frequencies were increased on 88 other routes.
Mileage covered increased by 1-1-m. to a record of 781m., the number of passengers carried advancing by more than 20m. to a record of 4771-m.
A total of 164 new vehicles, 85 of them double-deckers, was placed in service, whilst 206 obsolete vehicles (66 of them double-deckers, and 50 coaches) were withdrawn.
In 1955, the fuel tax cost the company £845,000, representing 2.58d. per mile run.