OFFER TO BUY G.O.C.

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 363, 25 May 1928, Page 13

OFFER TO BUY G.O.C.

Private Company’s Venture

RUNNING BUSES AT lOd. A MILE

THE disclosure lias now been made that after the Citv * Uouneil was forced to take over the G.O.C. bus services, I, 11 ' lv ’* li cn h as since lost considerable sums of money, the i assenger Transport Company negotiated to buy the service at approximately the price paid by the City Council, but the were - short-lived owing to the city’s attitude as stated by the tramway chairman. In evidence before the Transport Commission the Passengei Transport Company also tendered figures to prove tuat it was running its buses at a fraction over lOd a mile, compared with the city’s cost of 17d to 18d

Norman Reiridge Spencer, chairman of directors of the Passenger Transport Company, said that since questions were raised at the Transport Appeal Board, the company had kept a most careful check on its running costs, either to substantiate or disprove its statement that it could run buses for than Is a bus mile, while the £-ity Council estimated the cost at 17d. A check on every item had been kept from November, 1927, to March, 1928. inclusive. The results had been: Bus Cost XT . . . milage, per mile. November 72,180 9.93 d. December 74,586 10.2 d. January 74,586 11.58 d. February 69.774 10.64 d. March 74,586 11.66 d. . The reports showed that the average daily mileage was 2,406, and the average cost a bus mile for the whole period had been 10.7 d. Three charts were submitted to the commission showing the method by which the figures had been arrived at, and witness said the company had invited the City Council to send an accountant to examine the figures, and the council had done so. He asserted that the running costs had been increased during the period by purchase of new buses, erection of new accommodation, alterations to meet regulations, and very extensive overhauls. The company expected the costs to reduce again. Mr. E. 11. Northcroft said there would be a limit to the investigation of the company’s books by the council, which was a competitor. Mr. J. Stanton: We are not competitors. Mr. Northcroft: You are. At Ellerslie you force people to walk threequarters of a mile each way to drive them to your trams. Witness said tho lowness of the running costs resulted from good buying and organisation. OFFER TO TAKE G.O.C. Witness disclosed an important offer made to take over the G.O.C. services from the city council. lie said: In view of the information regarding the takings, which came out at the Supreme Court, and also the figures published by the City Council after it had taken over, my company was very anxious to take over the runs on the western area of the city. “A few days after the Compensation Court had fixed the prices to be paid by the City Council, Mr. J. V. Macky, secretary of my company, and myself, approached Mr. Allum with a view to purchasing the buses from the council at the price paid for them, and taking over their runs. “We went to Mr. Allum first, as a transaction of this sort takes a good deal of arranging before a definite offer can be placed before the council. “We were told by Mr. Allum that we might save ourselves the time, as there was no possibility of any such offer being accepted. He stated that as a question of policy the council, h; ving been forced to take the buses, was going to keep them. He said it might be considered if we ran feeder buses. In face of that we did nothing further.”

INDEPENDENT BOARD WANTED Witness expressed his company’s opposition to a board owning all transport, and considered private enterprise running buses without loss to the ratepayers to be a better policy. TThe company would, however, welcome an independent licensing board. Its operations had been greatly hampered by the licensing body owning the trams. In Ellerslie, for instance, the company could save over 5,000 miles a month of dead mileage if it were allowed a terminus

at Lake Road, but the licensing authority made it run the extra mileage to get a licence. Witness, examined this morning, said he could not agree to any board owning trams or other means of transport having any licensing authority. THE G.O.C. AGAIN Witness, replying to Mr. J. Stanton, said his statements as to Mr. Allum’s expressions were correct. They wrote to Mr. Allum, getting a reply to the effect that: it was unlikely the council would do anything until the commission sat. NOT LIKE A POUND OF CHEESE Mr. Stanton: Then you did do something further? You wrote to Mr. Allum after the interview?—We did. but we did not count that. We did not expect anything from it. We just wanted to put it on record. Witness said there was never any suggestion that tho interview with Mr. Allum should be unofficial. Mr. Stanton: Mr. Allum says that tho unofficial portion was your own suggestion?—lt would have been of no value to us. In reply to a further question witness said they wanted an interview. They could not bring a service as They could not buy a service as preciation was discussed, and there was a suggestion that the company would take over at the price paid by th Q council, with adjustments. The price was only a side-issue. They wanted the services. Mr. Stanton commented on the fact that about that time the company was being prosecuted for not collecting penal fares. Witness: That was a counterattack to our attack on the council’s running figures. A long discussion was then opened up on the subject of computing the costs of running buses. SLACK AND PEAK TIMES During the evidence some question was raised as to the facts on which the figures produced to show the running cost were based. Witness said he would not produce the waybills, as they disclosed details which they would not hand to competitors. However, he undertook to extract certain figures, including mileages, and to produce a further return. Mr. Stanton asked witness if the company’s expenses would not bo considerably increased if they had to run double the number of buses at peak periods. Witness said it would have little effect. In point of fact they rather prided themselves on their service, and ran more buses than they really should during the slack periods when there wero 13 or 14 on the road. At the peak there were 19 or 20. If they ran all the service justified at slack, periods they would have more than double at peak. Mr. Stanton: The city runs 136 per cent, more buses at peak. Witness: But they don’t give the slack period service that we do. Our people are satisfied. Witness said interest on share capital was not charged against the undertaking. It was paid in the form of dividends, and was not debited as portion of the running costs. The 28 drivers employed were not provided with uniforms. “.Do you know of any other bus company that runs for as low a figure as you do?” asked Mr. Stanton. Witness said he had seen English figures which ranged upward from 8d a mile. Witness said that he did not think publicly-owned systems operated as cheaply as private systems. “We wished to run bigger buses here,” said witness, “but we found that the English buses would not pass the regulations in New Zealand.” Witness pointed out that the average fare a mile with the company was 9d, and the buses seated 20. If they had to pay Is 6d a mile, that would mean that on the average every bus would have to have every seat filled all the time they were running l . In fact, it was impossible to make buses pay on that fare if the cost was Is 6d a mile. (Proceeding.)