lp fares would cost E15m
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• Bus fares based on one new penny for each fare stage travelled would cost London Transport £15m a year in lost revenue, says a report to the Greater London Council.
"This is one of the ideas for a revised fares structure which we have been happy to study," said Mr Horace Cutler, chairman of the GLC's policy and resources committee. "In view of the heavy losses this particular idea would entail, it has no prospect of' being adopted.
"It remains GLC policy that London Transport's day-to-day operations must be self-supporting, while the GLC is injecting capital to develop new services, provide more modern equipment, and improve facilities for travellers."
The £15m figure is reached even after allowance has been made for the increased number of passengers lower fares might produce.
The report, which was called for by the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Reginald Goodwin, explains that present fare values• apply for a minimum of one mile each (or two fare stages). For five miles or over, each fare value covers at least two miles (four fare stages).
If the one new penny-one fare stage scale was introduced, shorter journeys would cost less, longer journeys more. But since most bus journeys are over short distances, the overall result would be a heavy loss.
The report claims that more satisfactory financial results would be achieved by starting off with a higher minimum for the first fare stage, then progressing on the suggested basis of one new penny per fare stage. Thus, while two new pennies for the first half-mile would produce a loss of £3m, a three new penny minimum with one penny for each succeeding fare stage would show a profit of £6m. But this would mean an effective minimum fare of four new pence, since few bus passengers travel only half a mile.
Riis journeys of one mile account for nearly 50 per cent of the total, and the London Transport Executive feels that such a minimum fare would lead to a substantial falling off in the number of passengers.
The Council is not being recommended to take any action on the report.