The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1925. THE TRAMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 53, 4 March 1925, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1925. THE TRAMS.

For th« etfii*e that laefc* ctti*t*no*. For the wrong that need* For the future in the distance. And the pond that tp» im» d*.

The Mayor draws the attention of citizens to what is considered the serious effect of bus competition on tramway finance, and warns them that theirs is the ultimate responsibility for the success of the tramway system. Strictly speaking, he is justified in placing this responsibility there. The Council can but- do its best to make the system pay;.if the public will not use the trams no skill or devotion in management will make up the deficit. However, it is very little good appealing to the public to use the trams instead of buses. Few persons respond to such an appeal. Regardless of consequences, the public will use the kind of transport it prefers. It may be a stupid preference; but there it is. "We see this preference in other directions. It was no use the Government using the farmer's share as a taxpayer in the railways as an inducement to him to send his wool to town by rail and not by motor. It- was only when the Railways Department made a special effort to get the business from the motor that the farmer went back to rail transport. Similarly shareholders in co-operative concerns often do business with rival concerns because these offer better terms. One finds ratepayers in the city of Auckland championing the Council's competitors. (It has even been stated that tramway employees ride in buses.) These ratepayers are not impressed by the argument that if the trams do not pay their rates may have to be raised. They support the buses because they find them convenient and because they.think the competition has improved the tram service. We have no brief for tfie buses, and we should be as sorry as the Mayor and the Council ir financial distress overtook the tramway system, but we must point out to the Council that the buses are patronised as they are because they meet a public need. That is to say, they are supplying something that the trams did not supply. Therefore to speak of bus competition generally as "wasteful and unnecessary" is an exaggeration. Also it is common, talk that the tram service has been more satisfactory since thia competition began, .. .. .

Besides, the public does not concede that the Council's best is the "wisest. Many citizens think that- the Council could have competed more vigorously againEt the buses when they -started, and that in certain details the measures that have been taken are "weak. The Council has shrunk from reducing fares, but this might have proved the best policy. There are certain other things it is entitled io do. It should tax buses (as it is now trying to dol for the use of the good roads it provides, and it should see that on the bus services timetables are properly kept. It is also entitled to exercise a limit-ed supervision over routes. Having done these things, it must meet this competition a? best it can. It is possible that the position is not really so bad as i= suggested. TTe shall know more when the figures for tlie full year are presented in a few -weeks' time. In the meanwhile the Mayor says that expenses can be met for this current year, but that the difficulty will be to make the accounts balance in the next period. We i-.ay ask whether it will continue to be necessary

to spend money on the permanent way at the rate of £70,000 to £80.000 a year. Surely the Company's arrears in this respect have been overtaken by now. The expenditure under this heading ■""orks out this year at £2500 a mile. There is also this possibility on the other side—that the Council's competitors may find that the item of depreciation is considerably greater than theT had anticipated.