The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1929 CUTTING TRANSPORT LOSSES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 576, 31 January 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1929 CUTTING TRANSPORT LOSSES

QO far, the new Transport Board has not had sufficient time to prove whether its best work will be better than the City Council’s worst, or whether the board’s poorest efforts will be equal to its predecessor’s best service. Meanwhile the intentions of the improved administration are excellent. This was demonstrated last evening by the board’s decision to make preparation for securing profitable business from the extension of tram routes to populous residential centres both in the city and in nearby suburbs which long ago should have been provided with tramway services, and also to east off as from the end of March the incubus of extravagant buses in the Western district. The board deserves ready commendation for its initial policy and economical purpose. It is something to the good of the whole community to stop a loss of about £50,000 a year on bus services which neither please nor pay anybody. There may be some temporary hardship for many of the residents in the areas running steadily toward the Waitakeres, but if there be quite as much merit in private enterprise as has been claimed often enough for it, the withdrawal of the board’s unprofitable buses should provide an opportunity for meritorious exercise. Then, the Railway Department, with its new ardent enthusiasm for attracting business, might well make an effort to improve its train services to and from the Western suburbs. Even laymen with no hope of gaining a salary of £3,000 a year can see scope for improvement in that easy-going sphere of the department’s activities. In any ease, the Transport Board could not in reason continue any longer than the remaining months of this financial year a bus service which greedily consumes public money without giving any satisfaction at all.

There are many difficulties confronting the Transport Board, hut such problems as there are to be tackled resolutely need not daunt its members, who still are close enough to unprofitable experience to learn quickly and completely that the old ways of inefficient administration must not again be followed. They must realise that Auckland has leaped far ahead of village boundaries and habits and that its people want the best facilities for getting about their growing city. They are paying now on a basis of charges that entitle them to the enjoyment of first-rate transport services, but have to be content with something less than the best standard.

As for the comprehensive programme of new works, including belated extensions which guarantee rather than merely promise a substantial profit, the board should not be too impulsive in putting its full policy into jmactice. A firm grip on expenditure at the outset of its career should be maintained. Prudence ought to mark the course of the board’s experimental stage. Instead of attempting to borrow £600,000 or more for a three years’ programme of development, it should give consideration to a more moderate scheme for a start. It looks as though it would be commendable wisdom to begin with a loan of say, a quarter of a million sterling for the most essential extensions and the purchase of new rolling stock, and concentrate on these improvements and necessities within the first year of the board’s service. If that were done all the ratepayers concerned would then know the real calibre of the new administration. Good work would encourage confidence and quicken the pace of progress. It is perfectly true that the board has a hard time ahead of it, but it should be fortified in agreeable knowledge that the wretchedly bad times are behind it.