Suburban Trials

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 287, 24 February 1928, Page 8

Suburban Trials

TRANSPORT BOARD WANTED Birkenhead Buses to Go SCHOOL children between Birkenhead and Albany may be stranded by the cessation of the Marine Suburbs Bus Company’s Albany service. The company has intimated to the No. 2 Licensing Authority, the Devonport Borough Council, that the service will cease from to-night. The transport problems facing Birkenhead are of a type that may arise in any one of a score of districts under the present system, and they show the need for the establishment of a transport hoard.

jgIRKENHEAD citizens are further perturbed by rumours that the Marine Suburbs Bus Company may give three daj’s’ notice of its intention to terminate its services altogether. This would leave In operation only the Blue Star system, which operates under a penalty fare. Inquiry this morning revealed that the rumour is true. “We are not running after next Wednesday,” said the office of the company. Before the days of licensing the Marine Suburbs Bus Company and the Blue Star Company, a concern

started primarily by the Birkdale farmers, who wished their territory to be served, competed for the transport business of Birkenhead. When licensing was introduced the Marine Suburbs Company applied for a licence, which was granted, the fare being fixed at 4d. The Blue Star Company was refused a licence, and was compelled to operate under a penalty fare of 6d wherever it was competing with the licensed concern. To points immediately beyond the borough boundary, however, its fare was actually less than that charged by the rival company, and an anomalous and almost burlesque situation was thus created. SERVICE FOR CHILDREN The Blue Star people even petitioned to Parliament to have their case reconsidered, and in the meantime taxis licensed by the Birkenhead borough joined in the competition. So long as their passengers did not exceed six in number, they were immune from the attentions of the traffic authority. Meanwhile, also, the Marine Suburbs Company had instituted a service between Birkenhead and Albany, a distance of seven miles, and by arrangement with the Educa-

tion Department this became the official means of conveyance for children attending schools along the route. Next week, unless arrangements are made in the interim, the children will be without transport facilities. The Blue Star Company is willing to fill the gap, hut is handicapped at the outset by the fact that whereas the Waitemata County Council will not allow a bus weighing over three 'tons to run on its roads, the Public Works Department demands that buses used in transport services weigh at least five tons. The question now agitating the people of Birkenhead is: Will the Blue Star Company, on which the burden of all transport arrangements will fall, be permitted to drop the penalty fare imposed on it by the licensing authority ? There are at present seven separate services operating on the North Shore, the two at Birkenhead, the Waitemata Bus and Transport Company at Northcote, Cheltenham, Blue Bus and North Shore Transport Companies, working from Devonport, and the Brown’s Bay system, which charges a fare above 2s and therefore does not have to be licensed. Largest of these services is the North Shore Transport Company, which has the backing of the Devonport Ferry Company, and runs a model service of 32 up-to-date buses. CITY BUS SERVICES Transport problems on the city side of the harbour are in many instances parallel with those now apparent at Birkenhead. Recently Mr. L. J. Keys, proprietor of the city-Kohimarama-St. Heliers service, applied for, and was granted, the right to raise fares on account of the increased cost of petrol. The licensing authority’s acquiescence in the raising of the fares is now the subject of an appeal by the Tamaki Road Board, representing residents concerned. Another decision subject to appeal is that ruling out W. E. Parkinson's application for authority to run a service to Dominion Road, Mount Roskill and Waikowhai. Outside the City Council, which has a very large fleet of buses, the largest system under the control of the city licensing authority is the Passenger Transport Company, serving Ot.ahuhu, Mangere and Papatoetoe. Next comes the St. Heliers service, and then that of W. J. Wheeler, running to Penrose and Pukekohe, whose run is probably the longest covered by any regular bus system in New Zealand. Other private bus systems running in and about the city are Crawford’s, to Howick; Greave’s, to the Hospital and Pitt Street; Tolhurst’s, to Titirangi; and Taylor and Son’s, to Te Papapa. There are two unlicensed services, which charge more than 2s, and cannot pick up passengers en route, and these are Ivell’s, to Te Atatu, and Karew’s, to Waiuku. In addition there are a large number of unlicensed buses which appear at intervals to share in the race day harvests. It may interest their owners to know that the City Council believes these, too, could be made to pay licences.