The Press Tuesday, December 23, 1924. Tramway Finance.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18263, 23 December 1924, Page 10

The Press Tuesday, December 23, 1924. Tramway Finance.

The public will read with interest toiiav the gloomy story of the tramway finances which was presented to the meeting of the Tramway Hoard yesterdav, and having read it, they will find themselves asking what the Board means to do about it. AH the recent concessions to the public, it appears, resulted in a dead los-. The cheaper "concession" card for one-section rides brought more business, but it seems to have induced so many people who paid the cash fare of twopence for a single-section journey -to savo their pennies that the revenue from the first and second section sales decreased by £233 during the four weeks ending November 16th. The new seaside ex- ; enrsion tickets, which were made available for seaside residents, led to an increase of business, but a loss of revenue. The special excursions arranged during the school holidays not only failed to pay running costs, but caused a los 3of revenue from the ordinary time-table cars. In the two last mentioned cases the loss was due to a miscalculation which need not have been made. The second portion of the report presented to the Board is occupied by a not very clear analysis of transport cost, but it includes a table which is very easily intelligible. On practically every line the sale of every ticket for a single ride of any number of sections, yields a profit, which on the whole is very small, probably not tnore than a fifth of a penny per passenger. But in every caso a loss is made on the concession cards, and this loss is substantial, ranging from .28 of a penny on the twopenny section to nearly fourpence a r\de in the case of a passenger to Sumner. Do what it can, in fact, the Board cannot escape into a state of financial ease, and it is saved from the misery of a deficit only by the revenue it receives from "advertising, rents, "street Watering, mails, special trams, "discounts, etc." The financial position of the system, that is to say, has become unsound, ahd thcro does not appear to be much prospect of improvement—since the Board apparently does not contemplate the possibility of looking for Tclief to the expenditure side of its accounts—unless some helpful change in practice is made. In the circumstances one cannot but feel relieved that tho system is not under the control of the Babour Party, whose policy was to be lower fares and higher expenditure. The Board has not yet decided upon tho course which it should follow in pursuit of such financial stability as will prevent the tramways from becoming a burden upon the taxpayers, but it has adopted a report favouring a policy of direct competition with the motor-bus. Hitherto the motor-buses have attacked the tramway traffic only on special occasions, sneh as race-days, but it is more than possible that -they will in time invade the transport business on other days. Some of the members of the Board have appeared to think that the financial problem can be mot, on this side, by securing the statutory prohibition of private competitors, but it is not likely that the public would agree to this. More wisely the Bctard has decided to obtain motor-buses of its own for the service of extension districts and for use on race-days. This is at least a step in the right direction, but several stops are evidently necessary before u thoroughly sound financial position can be attained.