IT'S ALL FAIR DO'S IN LANCS
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THE AGENCY agreement between Ribble, Burnley and Pendk and Lancashire County Council announced in CM last weel could soon be extended to Blackburn Borough Transport an Hyndburn Borough Transport; £420,000 has been earmarked b; the council to spend on agency agreements 1977/78.
This has just been announced in the Lancashire TPP submission for this year. Discussions are also taking place with Lancaster City, Preston Borough and Rossendale Borough.
These schemes will eventually cover all of Lancashire, and be linked together to produce a common level of bus services and bus fares for everyone.
In the long term these agencies should become self financing, but initially payments will be made to Ribble to keep fares down to those charged by the municipal operators. The Burnley and Pendle scheme has been calculated to give payments of £60,000 a year to Ribble for keeping fares down. Of the 00,000 to be paid for the remainder of this year most will come from Government grant and the remainder will be split equally between Lanes County Council and Burnley and Pendle Councils. Lancashire hopes to obtai. continuing grant for this cc ordination scheme.
All concerned seem to gai: from the agency operatior The county gets a co-ordinal ed transport system; Ribbl gets a guaranteed income; an ratepayers get fares subsidise by their rates. Previously pec pie living in parts of Burnie and Pendle served only b Ribble were supporting th municipal undertaking b. their rates and getting nothin in return.
Ribble has insisted that th agency agreements run for minimum of two years in th first instance and are renewe on an annual basis.
In Lancashire at presen municipal operators provid 62 per cent of the total flee but run only 54 per cent c the total mileage carrying 7 per cent of passengers. Ribbl runs 42 per cent of bus mileag but carries only 22 per cent o passengers.