TWO STORIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 172, 11 October 1927, Page 9

TWO STORIES

BUS RUNNING COSTS CITY V PRIVATE COMPANY Two very different stories have been told the Transport Appeal Board, now sitting in Auckland, as to the cost of running buses. YESTERDAY Mr. A. E. Ford, tramways manager, told the court that on the whole service of the City Council’s buses it was costing 17.Sd a mile to run buses, including everyth ,ng. Some of the council’s buses only did between four and five miles to the gallon of benzine, and others up to eight. The big buses, however, were considerably less expensive to maintain than the light ones. This morning Mr. J. V. Macky. secretary of the Passenger Transport Company, surprised the court by announcing that his company ran its buses for 10d a mile. ‘•lf, running the same mileage as we are. and it was costirg us the 17.8 d that it costs the Ci:y Council, we would be losing ii 25,000 a year,” stated Mr. Macky. W itness stated that the l*)d included depreciation, the buses being written down at the rate of 25 per cent, per annum. As far as he knew the only difference between their expenses and those of the council were that they supplied their drivers with white coats and hats, as against full uniforms. An inspector was oniy put on occasionally. ‘‘You run your buses at lower cost than Glasgow can?” asked Mr. J. Stanton. Witness: Yes. I believe others do, too. Wheelers, I understand. run their buses for between 10 d and Is a mile. He also said that their buses ‘Bid 10 miles to the gallon, and he one on Favona Road service. 12 n~ Des.