N.I. Board Makes Operating Profit L f AST year the Northern
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Ireland Road I...Transport Board, which operates 680 buses, 1,118 goods motors and 19 horse-drawn vehicles, made an operating profit of /211,762, after charging £275.000 for depreciation and reserve. During the year, gross receipts rose by 2.8 per cent. from 12,800,325 to 12,878,853, and expenditure by 7.72 per cent. from 12,476,022 to 12,667,091. A debit balance of £274,424, brought about by past losses, is carried forward.
Passengers carried increased from 72,097,052 to 74,185,628 and passengervehicle mileage from 21,728,031 to 23,819,204. Goods traffic declined by 113.000 tons to 1,735,791 tons, but the mileage covered by the goods vehicles increased by about 400,000 to 13.207,930.
Since 1939, states the •Board's 11th annual report,_ wages have risen by about 60 per cent. and the cost of materials by some 75 per cent. Nevertheless, including the increases of fares and charges on September 1 last, freight rates are only 37/ per cent. above the pre-war level and passenger fares are but 23/ per cent. higher.
The Board is anxious to extend its touring and private-hire activities. Revenue from that side of the business increased by £100,000 during the past year.
To overcome the shortage of vehicles caused by the bodybuilding bottleneck. the Board has taken new and larger premises for its bodybuilding department and is producing four new passenger-vehicle bodies each week. These bodies are said to include the latest improvements in design, and to have more efficient heating and ventilating systems.
The buses on regular services operate over a route-mileage of 2,304.