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RIBBLE PROFIT E2,500

4th October 1957, Page 46
4th October 1957
Page 46
Page 46, 4th October 1957 — RIBBLE PROFIT E2,500
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Keywords : Business / Finance

Seventh Application for Higher Fares Granted : Increases Awarded to Many Other Operators

WHEN Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., were granted increased fares last May they estimated that their gross profits for the year ending March 31, 1958, would be £264,636. That figure has now dropped to £27,231, the North Western and Northern Traffic Commissioners were told at a joint sitting at Morecambe on Tuesday.

Mr. H. Bottotnley, general manager, blamed increased costs, coupled with a decline of 8 per cent, in passengers. The new profit figure was based on the 'assumption that fare increases now sought would be granted. The company were, in fact, £2,500 a week down on their May estimate. Their new claim for higher fares was granted.

Mr. F. D. Walker, for the company, said since the last application, costs had risen by about £200,000. Wage awards meant another £206,693, and after deducting fuel saving of £43,598, a balance of £162,695 had to be met.

The stage-carriage profit expected for 1958 had been £127,738, but, a loss of £102,437 was now foreseen. The company considered that to meet true minimum requirements, an excess of income over expenditure of £848,075 a year was necessary. For 1958 it would be £594,999. With the increases in a full year it would be 055,694—still £93,000 short—and the company were being forced to consider substantial reductions in unrernunerative frequencies.

Increases on Stage Services

The stage-carriage proposals were for advances on return and contract fares, plus single-fare increases only on stages identical with those on certain town services. On express services, existing single and return fares were to be increased by 3d. for each fare unit of 5s., and there would be increases in contract rates. The yield in a full year was estimated at £188,731.

On behalf of Carlisle City Council it was submitted that with its 68,000 population the city was in a unique position in the Ribble area and provided a plum service for the company. If the present 2Id. single fare, averaging stages of a mile, were increased to 3d., passengers would be paying as much as first-class rail fares.

Mr. Bottomley replied that although the profit on Carlisle's city services alone was £55,483 in 1957, even in that exceptional year there was a loss of £19,809 on surrounding country services, and it would be much more in a normal year. Traffic in Carlisle was £400 a week down compared with a year ago.

Granting the application, Mr. F. Williamson, on behalf of the joint Commissioners, said they had noted that the additional revenue—£189,000 in a full year—would give a net yield of 4 per cent. on capital. Although not strictly a blanket application, it was Ribble's seventh request for fare increases, all on somewhat similar lines. In view of various anomalies, if there should be

a further application, the Commissioners would expect a move towards a More uniform mileage basis.

Increases on 185 services operated by the Yorkshire Traction Co., Ltd., in Barnsley, Doncaster, Ackworth and Upton were granted by the Yorkshire Commissioners. Mr. W. R. Hargrave, for the company, said increased costs would total £74,000 in a full year, but with allowances for reduced mileage this would be cut to £64,000. The application, if granted, would yield £70,000.

No single fare below 10d. would be increased by more than Id., and over 10d. there would be no increases of more than 2d, On the Doncaster-Ackworth and Doncaster-Upton routes the minimum would be 2d., and no single fare would go up by more than ld.

Hants and Dorset Motor Services, Ltd., were successful in their application heard by the South Eastern Commissioners. It was stated that increased costs would add a further £90,450 to the company's yearly expenditure. Under the new scale, fares up to is. may be increased by no more than Id.

Wilts and Dorset Succeed

The South Eastern• Commissioners also granted increases to Wilts and Dorset Motor Services, Ltd., who. said wage awards and a falling-off in traffic necessitated their second application in a year. Of the total of 17,803 fares, 12,546 will go up and 229 will be reduced.

Both companies were successful when they applied to the Western Commissioners. The chairman, Mr. S. W. Nelson, commented: "Few people realise when they see a bus coming along, very often empty or with just a few people in it, that it is costing in wages alone Is. 30. for every mile.

The application by United Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., was granted in full by the East Midland Commissioners, despite objections by Wellingborough Urban District Council. There were also letters from two rural councils, and from the Bedfordshire Association of Parish Councils.

Mr. W. R. Hargrave, for the company, said the wage award alone would cost the company 191,000. If the increases were allowed there would be an additional £68,200 from single


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