Loss on Trams Offset Bus Profits
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ALTHOUGH Glasgow Corporation motorbuses made a profit of £259,346 in the year ended May 31 and the trolleybuses £40,785, the remaining trams incurred a-£577,003 deficit and the transport department as a whole lost £261,406, compared with a profit of £209,793 in the previous year.
This is revealed in the accounts submitted to the transport committee on Monday. The loss would have been £150,000 less if there had been no provision to repay a loan from the corporation made several years ago.
Mr. E. R. L. Fitzpayne, general manager of the undertaking, stated that reasons for a £291,000 drop in revenue were the •effects of television and the greater use of private vehicles.
A sum of £42,000 was spent last year on the removal of tram tracks, and expenditure under this heading was expected to rise as tram conversion was speeded up. The cost, however, would be regarded as capital expenditure and repaid over 10 years.
Working expenses rose by £310,000 last year, and Mr. Fitzpayne commented that the abolition of fuel tax would save £400,000.
Ult.-. I. Bennett, committee convener, declined to comment on the possibility of an increase in fares.