BUSES SUBURBS Guarantees by Local Bodies

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 215, 30 November 1927, Page 1

BUSES SUBURBS Guarantees by Local Bodies

COMMISSION TO MAKE FULL INQUIRY

A COMPLETE survey of every phase of Auckland’s transport—tram, rail and bus—by a specially appointed commission is the suggestion which yesterday’s conference between the Auckland City Council’s representatives and the Government advanced as an initial step toward the solution of one of the biggest problems the city has had to deal with for some time. In the meantime the City Council will undertake to provide bus services, within the limits of the capacity of its plant, upon certain conditions. The local bodies are to be called upon to request the' City Council to provide the services the suburbs consider necessary, and charge the fares recommended by the local bodies, who will be called upon to guarantee the City Council the running cost of Is 6d a bus mile. (.From Our Resident Correspondent.')

WELLINGTON, Tuesday. "NEGOTIATIONS were continued this afternoon, regarding Auckland’s transport problems, between the

Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, and his city colleagues, and the Government, represented by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, and the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. K. 3. Williams, and Mr. F. W. Furkert, Chief Engineer to the Public Works Department. Mr. Coates eventually agreed to recommend Cabinet to approve the request of the City Council that a commission be appointed. In the meantime some relief to people in suburbs must be provided and the council had promised that it is prepared to run any motor-bus service, within the capacity of its plant, if required by any of the local authorities affected on the outskirts of the city, subject to carefully specified conditions, as follows: (1) The various local bodies to guarantee to the council a gross return of Is 6d a bus mile, the amount payable by any local body in the event of a dispute to be determined by a Government auditor. (2) The fares to be determined by the respective local bodies concerned, subject to the imposition of penal fares, in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act, 1926. ' (3) The council will meet any local body or its representatives at any time to discuss proposals. (4) Until the local bodies have had a reasonable time to consider and deal with this suggestion, the council will maintain all omnibus services as now existing. COMMISSION’S POWERS The following decision was made regarding the commission, which will probably sit early in me New Year: (1) The commission to consist of three members, one or preferably two of whom should be persons resident out of New Zealand. (2) The order of reference to direct the commission to make a complete survey of the transport problem in the Aucklan 1 metropolitan area in relation to passenger traffic as affected by tramways, railways and motor-cmni-buses, with special reference to the following:—(a) The administration equipment and working of the transport system of the Auckland City Couneil; (b) the best methods of providing for the transport requirements of the district: (c) the working of the Motor-omnibus Traffic Act, 1926; (d) what legislative provision (if any) is required to effectively meet the requirements of the position or to carry cut the recommendations of the commission; (e) any other matter which seems to the commission relevant to the main subject of inquiry and worthy of investigation.

“IT ISN’T BUSINESS” MAYOR AGAINST TRANSPORT GUARANTEE Mount Eden's Mayor, Mr. E. H. Potter, is not in favour of guaranteeing operating costs of municipal transport services. Mr. Potter’s condemnation ot the proposal that the local bodies should guarantee the running costs cf the Tramway Committee’s services was that “It wasn’t business” to ask for a guarantee when private enterprise was willing to give good through services at low fares without any guarantee. The operating costs of tramway

buses was set down as Is 6d a mile whereas Hie private buses could operate services at a cost of lOd a mile. He also expressed a doubt whether, the City. Council had sufficient plant-to give the service local bodies would require. “GETTING THEIR WANTS” OWN SERVICES AT OWN FARES OBJECTIONS EXPECTED A meeting of local bodies will be held to-morrow afternoon to discuss the suburban transport proposals, and an outcry is expected. Mr. J. A. C. Allum, chairman of the Tramways Committee, says the suburbs are getting what they wanted, but Mr. E. H. Potter, Mayor of Mt. Eden, considers they are getting something that they decidedly do not want.

Mr. Allum, accompanied by city officials, returned to Auckland this morning, the Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, having remained in Wellington. “The local bodies are now getting what they asked for, and are in a position to get the services they want when they want them, and at their own fares, but they will assume the financial responsibility until the commission sits, and the whole business is cleared up,” remarked Mr. Allum to THE SUN this morning. “The services will only be limited by the capacity of the council’s plant, and the new arrangement will come into force as soon as the local bodies decide cheir wants. “In Cases where the services run through more than one district, then the question of allocation of loss will necessarily be for adjustment between the bodies concerned. The adjustment can be based on the revenue collected'on the sections of the route traversed.” HUGE LOSS PROBLEM On weekly figures, prepared early this month, the services maintained as at. present, on the present fares, will provide • a very serious problem for the outside local body financiers. Over -the whole bus system in one week early in the present month, the loss on a basis of 18d a bus mile was £1,339 5s 10d. The average working expenses for the first seven months of the year, however, were 16.90 d a bus mile, and the loss on this basis was approximately £1,126 for the week, £306 of which was dropped on the former G.O.C. system. Figures in possession of THE SUN show that Buckland’s Road service is losing about £216 weekly, running 5,189 miles on a total income of £l7l 17s 6Jd, or 7.94 d a mile. Otahuhu service is losing £2B a week; and the approximate losses weekly on some ot the other services are: Mount Eden-Boundary Road, £92; Mount Eden-Waikowhai, £3O; EdendaleHarlston Avenue, £36; Dominion Road-Mount Albert, £6O; Henderson, £100; Glen Eden, £7B; Oratia, £1 10s; Smith Street, £52; Hutchison Avenue, £l7; and Blockhouse Bay, £B2. In addition to these were a number of city services losing heavily, including Point Resolution, Seaview Road and Upland Road, which have since been cancelled or curtailed.