RAILWAY EXCURSION FARES.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1920, Page 6

RAILWAY EXCURSION FARES.

A CURIOUS ANOMALY, INCREASE ON SHORT JOURNEYS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Stratford, Last Night. Many people who went to the railway station to-day and asked for return tickets for New Plymouth, to travel on the special train, received something of s shock when they found that the return fares from Stratford at holiday excursion rates are practically the same i.s the ordinary rates. The distance between Stratford and New Plymouth by rail is 30 miles, and the fares, since the recent increases, are as follows: ! Pirst-class return, ordinary, 9s lOd, excursion, 8s lid; second-class return, ordinary, fis lOd, excursion, 6s Bd. It will thus be seen that the fact that holiday excursion fares are to be charged will not be much of an inducement for travel, the difference in the first-class being only lid, and in the second-class only 2d. Before the recent increases, the difference betweeu ordinary and excursion fares were more marked, amounting to 2s 2d on a first-class fares, and Is 6d on ft second-class fare. The difference between the old and new excursion fares amounts to 2s on both first and second-class fares. The difference Ds lid and 4s Bd, respectively. The explanation of this anomaly appears to be that when the Railway Department made the recent increases, they made proportionate increases on the ordinary fares according to the distance for which the ticket was to be j issued, but made a flat rate increase of I 2s only on excursion fares without any I reference to distance. An instance of [ how this works out is shown by the : present excursion rates to Auckland, a ! distance of 415 miles. Before the increase the excursion fares were 71 s Bd, first class returr and 61a 2d, secondclass! return, and with the increase the rates are now 93= 8d first-class, and 63s 2d second-class. Ti will thus be seen that the difference on the distance of <QS miles is exactly the same as for 30 miles, and it would "»em that the Department in drawing v.p its new scale Jiad sought to give an advantage to the long distance traveller at the expense of the short distance traveller.