REMARKABLE INCREASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 259, 2 November 1931, Page 3

REMARKABLE INCREASE.

TRAVELLERS ON TRAINS.

CHANGE IN FIVE WEEKS

ATTRACTION OF LOWER FARES.

■A 75 per cent increase in five weeks, and the figures are still mounting. Such is the remarkable result in the Auckland district of lower fares on the trains. Every part of the system reflects this upward trend, though it is in the suburban area that it has been most obvious.

When the fares were reduced on September 20 it was predicted that people would be encouraged to patronise the trains, at the expense of other means of transport, and that, even at the lower scale, the Department would receive a higher revenue. This prediction has been partly fulfilled, but it is understood that the increase in revenue is not as great as the figures would suggest. One reason is the greater use of the workers' weekly concession and other cheap tickets.

A return prepared by the Railway Department in Auckland shows that 27,836 ordinary tickets were issued for the week ended on October 24, compared with 16,482 for the last week of the old fares. In the intermediate weeks there Avas a progressive increase, as shown by the fact that 18,409 tickets were issued for the week ended on September 26; 23,574 for the week September 27-October 3; 24,667,-October 4-10; and 22,052, October 11-17.

For the week ended on October 25 of last year 25,726 tickets were issued, and for the last week the old station was in use, the period November 9-15, the figure was 25,474,

As far as the suburban stations are concerned, the Department's returns show that 14,01S tickets were issued last week, compared with only 656T for the week ended on September 19, and 10,311 for the corresponding "week in October last year.

To cope with the increase in passengers, the Department has added carriages to a number of trains and ie keeping a watchful eye on several others that are reported to be well filled for the first time for many months. It cannot be said that the latest figures approach a record. In the heydey of the railways, prior to 192.9, the morning and evening workers' trains, were regularly filled; but in the past few years many passengers have been diverted to the buses.