ULSTER PROFITS BY PASSENGER SERVICES
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I N the third annual report of the
Northern Ireland Road Transport Board it is revealed that, although the passenger section showed an operating profit of .Z16,385, the unfavourable freight-traffic returns resulted in a total operating loss of £76,206 for the year ended September 30, 1938. After. making provision for bank and stock interest, rent and interest on consideration for undertakings acquired, and, after adding other receipts, the above sum is increased to £168,527. A total adverse amount of .£256,277, for the previous two years' Working, brings the cumulative debit balance of the Board up to £424,804. '
The total revenue, for passenger services during the year under review, amounted to £606,275, a decrease of £1,714 as compared with the previous year. The report considers tifat the unfavourable weather conditions during the summer season last year were responsible for the decrease. The decrease in ordinary single and 'return tickets, . however, amounts to only £2,085, or 49 per cent. The total number of vehicle-miles run increased . by 350,000 to 14,600,000. The total number of passengers carried, in 1938, was 29,042,753, whilst the operating profit, at £18,385, represented an increase of approximately £12,000 on the figure for the previous year. . The traffic carried in the good's section was not sufficient to keep the Board's fleet occupied to full capacity, and this fact accounts, to a great extent, for the unsatisfactory financial result of the undertaking. Steps have been made to reduce the fleet and to ensure that the taxed vehicles shall be more fully occupied, but the Board is of opinion that satisfactory financial results can be obtained only if the volume of traffic be increased.
Apart from the normal services, the Board has a number of special contracts for the use of goods vehicles by private concerns. Within the next few weeks a new scheme is to be presented for private vanhire.
When arriving at the operating totals for the year, in the passenger and goods sections, the Board charged a sum of £147,399 for depreciation, of which £133.397 was in respect of vehicles. This charge is greatly in excess of the normal charge, and is accounted for by the fact that the Board has adopted the policy of writing down, within a short _ period, the surplus and unsuitable vehicles taken over and not required. The total of reserves for renewals now stands at £325,128..
During the year covered by the report, the Board, after thoroughly considering the matter of renewal ot the passenger fleet, decided that such renewals should be in the form of oilers. It is expected that the replace.. ment of the existing petrol-engined vehicles by oilers will result in an annual saving of Z5,000.