DRASTIC REDUCTION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 4, 14 September 1942, Page 2

DRASTIC REDUCTION

OFOTIKI-GISBORNE RUN TWO GARS ONLY DAILY Drasti? reductions iji I!ic running of serivce . ears between Gisborne and Wairoa and Gisborne and Opotiki have been made by the No. 2 Transport Licensing Authority, in addition to the curl ai! men is alreadv announced. The timetable* are as previously announced, namely Ihe elimination of the Wairoa runs that will be tak-en-over by the institution of a railway passenger service and the revised departure time-; for the Gis-borne-Opotiki service. There is lietie criticism regarding this, the main inconvenience being the limitation of the. services to one car per runiTn addition, 110 more than 75 per cent of the seating capacity shall be reserved for the full journey. Most of the service cars operating from Gisborne have a seating capacity of If> passengers, and that will mean that 110 more than 12 passengers can be carried each trip over the whole distance from Gisborne to Wairoa 01* Gisborne to Opotiki, Protests arc being made by both the Duco and Musgrave's services in regard to these limitations, which they regard as more drastic than necessary for a district such as Gisbcrne, which will still be dependent to a very great extent on the road services until the full railway timetable is in operation, and even then the railways cannot cater for the

northern route. Both and northern and southern routes vril! have their special difficulties, but one Avhich appears common to both is that passengers will be arriving at Opotiki and Wairoa ou services that are not restricted to the same extent as those on the final stage of the journey to Gisborne, states the Gisborne Herald. On the sout.li the railway connection might bring more passengers than the one service car can take for the

noon departure from Wairoa, while in addition the service 'far from Napier also may have passengers. On the northern route the position was particularly difficult because there Avas. no alternative service. Mr J. (X Muso rave, of Musgrave's sen ice, statcd / that, the service from Opotiki northwards was not restricted to the sam.e extent as, that from Opotiki to Gisborne, and it

was likely that a large number of I passengers would arrive at Opotiki for G i.s bo me and find, that there was accommodation on' the final stage tor only a proportion of them. He, too, was making a protest against the limitation of the number of cars per trip/ A drastic cut in the number of cars on the Gisborne East Coast (northern) route has also been made.