"PIRATING" TO MAINTAIN SERVICES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 13

"PIRATING" TO MAINTAIN SERVICES

UNPAYABLE BUSES RIGHT TO RUN INTO CITY POINT BEFORE TRANSPORT BOARD Whether a district thait cannot support a bus service itself is to be allowed to subsidise itself by “pirating" on other services on the route into the city is the important principle raised before the Transport Appeal Board, presided over by Mr. Justice Frazer, in Auckland this morning. The case was an appeal from A. E. Ivil, who recently applied to the licensing authority for permission to run a service from Te Atatu to the city, and was offered a licence to run a feeder service from Te Atatu to the concrete Auckland-Henderson Road, a distance of some SJ miles. Mr. Goulding, for Ivil, submitted lengthy evidence from residents to Hhow that the feeder service was opposed by them. They objected to transferring from one bus to another. They also held that a man could not run the feeder service, as it would not pay, and had to rely on a. certain amount of traffic picked up—under penal fares —on the main road. A service was continued for five weeks after the City Council took over the G.O.C'. buses, and was then cancelled. It ran 578 miles a week, collected £25 and cost £42. Appellant estimated his running expenses and wages at £2l weekly if he could run to the city, which would pay. The attitude of the City Council was that no service should be allowed that ran for a considerable distance in the same road as another. The service could not possibly pay, and to allow a new service to start, knowing that, was improper and could only injure the district further. “I am going to ask the board to investigate the position of feeder services and decide whether there should not be more movement in this direction.” remarked Mr. Stanton. “Te Atatu people are not concerned about other services,” stated Mr. A. E. Ford, tramways manager. “They can’t pay on their own traffic, and they intend to subsidise themselves at others’ expense. GLASGOW’S FAILURE “Buses pay in singularly few cases. Glasgow is always held up as a centre of perfect management and cheap fares. But last year Glasgow lost £9,956 on 16 buses, while Melbourne lost more than we did on fewer buses.” (Proceeding.)