TRAMWAY FINANCES.
EFFECTS OF COMPETITION,
(To the Editor.)
There is widespread disappointment at the decision of the Transport Board to raise the. price of the workers' weekly tickets, but' people should remember that until the Government takes over everything even a ■public body must consider the likelihood of competition. It cannot very well raise the fares for casuals, for a large proportion would respond by travelling by motor. It cannot raise one-section fares, for the people concerned would walk. On the other hand, the workers, who save nothing on the weekly tickets unless they travel "at least three sections, have no option but to pay up and smile, for they cannot walk that distance twice daily, and they have 110 motor cars. The Transport Board must of necessity work on the same principle as the Power Board. The latter charges us threepence per unit for lighting, for it knows that we would not revert to kerosene lamps or candles, or even gas, whereas it charges us three-farthings for radiators and other heaters, for it knows that otherwise we would use fires or gas. Furthermore, it charges our private houses three-farthings less 10 per cent, or 0.675 d net per unit, to meet this competition, and go to all the trouble and expense of collecting it monthly, whereas its manager tells us in Friday's "Star" that it charges the tramways 0.74 d per unit, which is more than to private houses, although there is 110 work involved in collecting it, and although presumably the cost of reticulation is much less. ]t would appear that they should pay less, and then the workers' tickets might not have to be raised, for they are the board's best customers, they take the supply during almost the whole 24 "hours, and it is hot reduced in summer, like the radiators are. VIATOR.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 185, 6 August 1936, Page 6
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307TRAMWAY FINANCES. Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 185, 6 August 1936, Page 6
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