End of the 'tanner'?
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• A continued shortage of the 6d piece in London has compelled the London Transport Executive to seek approval by the Greater London Council for a new fare scale, based on whole new pennies, for the split entrance o-m-o buses. From tomorrow (Saturday), 481 buses of this type will be in service on 43 routes, and by the end of the year ,there will be about 780 such buses in service (200 double-deck Londoners and 580 single-deckers), 14 per cent of the fleet.
Sir Richard Way. chairman of LTE, warned in January that the future of the 6d piece was in doubt, and despite measures
taken to try to avert a shortage of this coin (vital on split entrance buses where the self-service machines accept 3d, 6d and 5p (1s) coins only), 90 per cent of passengers using these buses are having to pay the driver, seriously delaying the operation of the buses.
Under the new fare scale, proposed for split fare buses only, the minimum fare would be raised from 21-p to 3p. However the 7fp, 124p and 174-p fares would be rounded down to 7p, 12p and lip respectively. The 5p, 10p, 15p and 20p fares will be unchanged. The approval of the Traffic Commissioners would be needed in respect of some of Lrs services in outer London.
London evening papers blamed LT for trying to introduce a hidden fares increase (takings from buses will increase by an estimated £100,000 a year), but this is denied by London Transport.