West Midland PTA agrees to find Om
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• Last week the West Midland Passenger Transport Authority accepted its Executive's recommendation that a needed £3m extra revenue should be sought by way of fares increases, taking effect from January 1 1971. But it disagreed with the PTE's rejection of plans for increased rail services, and referred this matter back to the Executive. British Railways had proposed to increase the off-peak service between Birmingham and Kidderminster by doubling the frequency to half-hourly, but the PTE recommended rejection because this was not a commercially justified development.
The Ministry of Transport representative on the PTA, Mr. J. W. Wardle, moved the reference back, arguing that the Authority should be doing all it could to encourage BR to attract more passengers in that area. (The PTA has already told local authorities that retention of local commuter rail services will cost £2m annually when the responsibility for the local railways falls upon the Authority.) Increases of as much as a third (40 per cent in a few cases) in bus fares will be involved in the new application, which is to be put before the W. Midland Traffic Commissioners this autumn. About £2fin of the extra revenue will come from the urban areas of Birmingham; there will not be a uniform fare scale throughout the Authority's area.
The £3m sought will include rather over Ilm as a "reserve" to avoid the need for a further early fares rise. Already the higher fares have been delayed for about three months by the PTA's request to its Executive to examine all possible economy measures.
The PTE estimates that, if the fares increases are granted, passenger fall-off will be between 7 and 8 per cent.