U.T.A. £396,650 Down
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THE seventh annual report of the Ulster Transport Authority for the year ended September 30, 1955, reveals a trading loss of £187,068, compared with a trading profit of £70,461 for the previous year. Loan interest and capital redemption bring the total deficit for the year up to £396,650, as compared with a loss of £166,498 in 1953-54.
The road passenger services last year made a profit of £11,631—£126,149 lower than in 1953-54. The road freight services incurred a loss of £33,073, which was £144,379 worse than in the previous year, and the railway services showed a loss of £218,363, an improvement of £29,656.
These figures give an overall deficiency of £2,176,960 for the seven years of the Authority's existence, about 90 per cent, of which was made by the railways. The chief reasons for the losses in the seventh year were increased labour and material costs, ts reduction in livestock traffic, a ban on overtime working during the peak of the summer by bus drivers, and competition from private cars and private lorries.
Delay in securing permission to raise charges reduced revenue by 160.000 in the year under review and by a further £45.000 in the present year.
In 1954-55, U.T.A. lorries ran 11,294,749 miles, a decrease of 523,689 as compared with 1953-54, and carried 1,211,359 tons of merchandise (a fall of 28,697) and 1,126,340 head of livestock (a decrease of 385,638). The buses covered 31,316,817 miles, a drop of 434,987, and carried 94,548,164 passengers, a decrease of 2,925,209.
The Authority now own S 876 lorries (including articulated units) and 325 trailers. There are, however, 22,689 lorries owned by private individuals or other bodies. Traders and farmers who carry their own traffic in their own vehicles are serious competitors of the U.T.A. road and rail services.
Once again the Authority complains that illegal carrying, particularly in the livestock trade, is greatly on the increise. The Government have been asked repeatedly to strengthen U.T.A.'s legal position in this matter.
Similarly, the U.T.A. fleet of 137 double-deck buses and 825 singledeckers is troubled by the 74,356 cars and 17,939 motorcycles in Northern Ireland. Workers are increasingly running their own cars and carrying others to and from their work, the falling-off in U.T.A. passenger traffic having been almost entirely in the sale of workmen's and season tickets.
The Authority regards with anxiety the serious deterioration in its financial position, the more so as the indications at this time last year pointed to an early possibility of being able to pay its way.