TRAM FARES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18462, 17 August 1925, Page 8

TRAM FARES.

POSSIBILITY OF INCREASE. GENERAL MANAGER'S LECTURE. * Tho possibility of another increaso in tram fares was mentioned by tho General Manager of the Cnristchurch Tramways, Mr Frank ! Thompson, i a a locturo which ho gave on tho Tramways System before tho .E.A. on Saturday uight. Mr Thompson said tho tramways had conio in for a lot of criticism, but public criticism was quite proper when a service was publicly owned. Sometimes tho criticisms wero reasonable, and sometimes no:. In its first year tho Board undertook a capital expenditure of £120,000, as tho beginning of the present electric service, and tho capital expenditure now had grown to £l-.-200.000. In 1907, the passengers carried totalled teu mil. | lions, and tho revenue £86,0C0. For tho last year, tlio passengers totalled 2o millions and the rovenuo £266,000. Christchurch had 79 miles of track, whereas Duuedin had 25, Wellington -15, and Auckland 57. Tho population density per street milo was, however, much less in Christchurch than in other cities, and that put the Board at a disadvantage. Tho Christchurch trams had also to contend with the bicycles, and bow with tho private motor-car which was becoming the most serious competitor of all—much more so than the private buses. It might bo thought that the system had too much track, bnt th» Board, when it took over tho old services, had inherited a wide-Hang tpr teni, and later legislation relating to special areas had saddled tho Board with more track than tho central system at that time ought to havo carried Higher Price for Power. Last year the trams carried 25 million passengers, on ;i local population of 113.000, which meant that on aa average, every individual used tka trams 220 times in the course of a year. The Board recently was coppe!lcd to raise fares slightly to meet growing expenses, and the indications now were that the cost of power would he increased by £7OOO annually, as tlio old coptract with thu Government ted expired, and he did not know wjitt would happen when a further sMt increase in fares would have to M made to meet that additional cost. The operating cost per car mile waa lower in Christchurch than in oU|tr centres, but on the average, the farea were lower here, in some cases t«y much lower. There was also BpHh less overcrowding. The Board ksd tried the expedient- of reducing fares to increase traffic, fr>ut tho expqrkpm was that the additional traffic nothing like large enough to sate for the fare reductions, and largft losses wero made, and the aim now was 60 to adjust, revenue and tr*9c as to make the service pay its waj. •Mr Thompson dealt in detail with the different phases of the _Board*a and after answering mteral quest'ons, was accorded a vote of thanks.