Wallasey Granted Pull Increase: Liverpool Still in Trouble
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FOLLOWING an interim award last Decembe permitting the Id. fare to be raised to 11-d„ Wallasey Corporation has now received permission from the North-Western Licensing Authority to increase all other rates. The new fares will come into effect next Sunday. Additional revenue amounting to £42,000 is expected, which will be set against an estimated deficit for next year of £41,771.
Fares on the buses operated by. Douglas Corporation will also go up on April I, when lid. tickets will cost 3d. and certarn others will cost another Id. Peoposaks to increase contract rates from £4 10s. to £7 and scholars' contracts from £2 .5s. to £3 10s. were referred back by the town council.
Birkenhead's Fares Up On Sunday, all single tickets, except the lid.. will go up by Id. on Birken
head :Corporation's buses. Return tickets will cost another Ids with the exception of workmen's fare, which was increased from 21 to 3d. last November. The new rates are expected to meet the £40.000 by which operating costs have gone up in the past year.
Sitting at Nottingham, last week, the East Midland Liceusing Authority granted the .applicatioa of Barton Transport, Ltd., for permission to raise fares by 121 per cent. It was stated during the hearing that the company might soon have to make a further application for increases.
-Costs of operation had gone up by 110 per cent. since 1939. and increased costs amounting to £40.000 a year had recently been incurred. The new charges were .estimated to produce approximately £75.000 additional revenue in a full year. The new fares represented an increase, in the case of workmen's fares, from id, p-er mile to 0.562d. per mile.
Dundee Corporation has now received permission to reduce the frequency of certain off-peak services to achieve economies in working expenses.
£50,000 Loss for Portsmouth
In a report on the application for increased fares which has been filed. Portsmouth Transport Department estimates that this year the undertaking will incur a loss of £50,000. In 1949,50; the department made a profit of £2,877 —less than per cent. of the total revenue. The proposals submitted provide for increases of id on fares between lird. and 2ict., and id. and Id. addition to fares above 31 A minimum workmen's fare of 4d. will be introduced, and season-ticket rates will be amended accordingly.
Further advances are proposed by Liverpool Corporation, which introduced higher fares on March lg. These include id. additions to the 20, fare and Id, increases on 3d.-7d. tickets. In submitting this application, the transport committee stated that it reserved the right to revise these proposals A30 should the forthcoming Budget materially alter the position.
The deficit already incurred by the undertaking will have reached £579-,040 by April 1, it was stated, and not £552,000 as expected. The city council had recently granted £416,487 to meet the loss, but by this time next year the loss would have reached at least £464,518—and probably more.
Increased fares introduced on March 18 were expected In produce an additional £220,000 a year, and the new proposals would add another £407,640 a year to the revenue. This, it would appear, would not be sufficient to meet the losses incurred.
Although modifications were put into effect at the beginning of the year .affecting minimum fares, Burnley, Caine and Nelson Joint Transport Committee has applied to the North-Western Licensing Authority for further revisions. These suggest' all-round supplements of id. on ordinary tickets.
Yorkshire Applications Almost 240 routes operated by the West Riding Automobile Co., Ltd., are included in the application lodged by the concern with the Yorkshire Licensing Authority. This proposes that all fares between Id. and 5d. be increased by id., between 64. and 11d, by id., between Is. and Is. 811 by 2d., and so on. the maximum supplement to existing fares being 5d. A minimum return rate of 6d. is suggested and certain apprentice rate concessions will be discontinued. South Yorkshire Motors, Ltd., has made a similar application.
Walsall Corporation has now applied for a general increase, including id. additions to /id., 2d.-5-id. and 644. tickets, and Id. additions to fares over 71 Workmen's fares will be adjusted accordingly.
Many express-carriage operators have applied for permission to bring their charges to 25 per cent. above the prewar prices, and among these are the North-Western Road Car Co., Ltd., and Viking Motors, Ltd., Burton-on-Trent. South Midland Motor Services, Ltd., East Midland Motor Services, Ltd., Midland General Omnibus Cc'.. Ltd., and Barton Transport, Ltd.. have been granted increases on this scale in the East Midland Area.
In the same area, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co„ Ltd.. City of Oxford Motor Services. Ltd.. Daisy Bus Service. Ltd., and East Midland Motor Services, Ltd., have been granted increases on stage-carriage services.
Fifteen Yorkshire operators have applied for permission to amend their fare-tables in accordance with the application of Yorkshire Traction Co., Ltd., reported in "The Commercial Motor" on March 16. This application concerns routes over which Yorkshire Traction operates.