MOTOR SERVICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 185, 7 August 1935, Page 5

MOTOR SERVICES.

WATCHING THE FARES

SOME THOUGHT EXCESSIVE TWOPENCE A MILE AS BASIS. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. Under the shelter of monopoly due to the license, there is a danger that service car proprietors may be charging too high a fare on their routes, and. this question has been brought to the notice of district transport licensing authorities by the Transport Co-ordination Board, which in its recent public statement suggested that where there is a good average loading and the road presents no particular difficulty, a fare of 2d per mile should afford operators a fair profit. Anything above that figure would require proof of special circum- j stances to justify its continuance, and j as schedules of fares can be included in the conditions of a license the matter can be firmly handled by these authorities.

Investigations into the position have disclosed an extraordinary difference in the fares per mile charged on various routes where the service given appears to be of the same character. Many instances are known of fares from 3d to 5d per mile, the apparently excessive charges being more noticeable in respect to intermediate points in a longer run, the through fare being in line with the Transport Board's idea of what is reasonable. Of course, there may be instances where 3d to 4d per mile could lfe justified, but when the license is next renewed the evidence will have to be tendered to satisfy the licensing authority. Particularly in non-competi-tive areas where between 3d and 5d per mile is charged will there be a case for investigation.

Public Right of Appeal. In theory the Transport Act gives a right to "twenty-five or more adults of any locality affected by any decision of any licensing authority" to appeal against that decision. Thus the fares schedule of an approved service could be questioned. However, apart from the initial difficulty of getting 25 or more persons in a sparsely populated area to combine on the question, there is another handicap, that they must deposit a £5 fee before the matter can be considered by the Transport Coordination Board. The expense of; bringing witnesses to the place of hearing would be the final difficulty which, in practice, reduces this right to vanishing point. Examination of Costs. To contend that fares are reasonable because the public pays them will in future hardly convince the authorities. A comparison with railway fares is not sound, as the relative services are so | different. Officers of the Transport Coordination Board have recently been, engaged in the examination of accounts of licensees of passenger services. Costs may be found to bo above the average and if the licensee seeks advice with the object of reducing expenses, the officers are willing to help with suggestions for improved methods.

There is a suggestion that as the licensing system is , now working smoothly the time has come to avoid the annual disturbance of business due to the necessity of seeking a renewal and to grant licenses for periods up to three years. If the policy is thus changed, the necessity for attention to fares is more evident. District authorities will no doubt in future refuse to regard their duties as limited to deciding if a service is necessary or desirable in the public interest and that the vehicles are fit for passenger use.