“WITHIN THE LAW?”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 109, 29 July 1927, Page 9

“WITHIN THE LAW?”

COMMUNITY BUS SCHEME FEEDER SERVICES STARTED HPHE latest attempt to run J- community buses “within the law” commenced to-day. Transit club members, only, are carried and they do not put their subscriptions in the driver’s box as they used to do. They send them, with their names and addresses to depots arranged by the club. Mr. S. Bradley, president of the Mt. Eden and Dominion Road Transit Club, says that something had to be done, since the City Council refused the buses a licence and the court decided that the accepting of donations was really the taking of fares. The club is running a skeleton service for the benefit of its mmebers beyond the tram termini. Morning trips are run from 6.30 a.m. to 9 a.m., and evening trips from 4.45 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. “FORCED ON THE CLUB” “This measure has been forced upon the club by the inadequate service supplied by the City Council at the exorbitant fare of 7d, the dearest fare for the distance in Auckland,” says Mr. Bradley. “Regarding the alleged adequacy of the council’s service, it can be stated as just one aspect of the position, that having to alight from a tram, and wait in the cold and rain for a feeder bus for 20 minutes and more, is a criminal waste of the people’s time, and detrimental to the health, comfort and happiness of the unfortunate suburban dweller. “If this is the council’s idea of an adequate service, it is devoutly to be hoped that the Appeal Board has a more enlightened and humane view of the subject.” •‘The committee regrets that in the worst part of the winter it has to curtail its free service' to members’ children going to school, but owing to the few trips being run, no other course is possible. The skeleton service will be continued until the application for a licence has been heard by the Appeal Board.”