THE TRAMWAYS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19153, 9 November 1927, Page 16

THE TRAMWAYS.

NO RATE—USERS TO PAY. CITIZENS' ASSOCIATION POLICY. The following statement on tramway policy is supplied by the Citizens' Association :

The broad principle laid down by the Association in reference to this question is that the tramways, being a publicly-owned utility service, all operating costs and standing charges should be borne by the users without having recourse to rates. The aim of the Tramway Board has always been, and rightly so, not to make a proiit, but to provide a universal means ot transport at cost price, and up to the present that has meant fixing fares at what has been deemed to be the lowest possible figure consistent with making both ends meet. Bicycles, motorcycles. and now motor-cars and buses in particular have come on the scene to assist in giving Tramway Boards many sleepless nights and to make them wary of rule of thumb methods. One such method is to strike a rate for the trams, an easy way to balance accounts for the year, but on examination a manifestly unfair one, for it would moan that a certain section of the public, the financial backbone of it indeed, would be called upon not only to pay their own fares but in effect to guarantee the undertaking for the benefit ot' users generally Thoy .would pay fares plus rates, while a large proportion of the users —the non-ratepayers —would bask iii the sunshine of fares only. This is obviously ■wrong. A considerable section of the community is represented by young people of both sexes who are earning good wages, and this section not less than any other should pay its failshare

Tlie tramway system is for the benefit of the public as a whole, and all who use it should pay for its maintenance. Jn no other way can the incidence of cost be made to fall more fairly. If the Board is dependent on fares alone it dare not watch them with anything but the closest scrutiny, but a rata would tend to make thom almost a secondary consideration. The Citizens' Association slogan therefore is "No tramway rate —let the users pay!"

Adjustment of Fares. All fares should be equitably adjusted so that no one part of the City is carrying an undue part of the burden. The tramway rails are laid over a distance of 53 miles 44 chains, the length of single track totalling 78J _ As everyone knows, the service radiates from the densest part of the City outwards, and a large part of the cost of the undertaking is due to the fact that the outlying suburbs are so well served. Care must therefore be taken to ensure that the people in the suburbs pay an ordinary* fare which will bear the same relation to cost per car mile as do the fares in the inner area. At the present time the cost per car mile is 1 l-5d per passenger, and if ordinary fares are allowed to fall below that figure on any part of the systeih the people may well tremble for the future of their undertaking.

Unnecessary Restrictions on Concession Tickets. Concession tickets, which were introduced at the instigation of certain Citizens' Association members of the Board, have been found to bo a sound move, but it has been felt by these members and by the Association as a whole that these tickets are governed at .present by certain unnecessary restrictions. Broadly speaking, the concession should represent as near as possible the cash discount which the Board can afford to give for being paid in advance. It is felt that the Board having been so paid for, say, a dozen I rid6s, should encourage the holder to use them not necessarily within tho but as soon as possible, by allowing him to pay for himself, his family, and, if he is so altruistically inclined, his friends. The work of conductors would be to that extent facilitated, particularly in crowded cars at rush hours. Some argue that the tribe of the dishonest non-paying joy-rider might thus l>e increased, but most things in this world are fraught with a certain risk. Let the Board at least give the risk a trial, and let the joyrider aphis be spra,yed with a devastating Magisterial fine. After all, there are not so very many of him. Entice every citizen into his own trams, and, within the limits of the financial stability of the undertaking, make it easy for him to pay in advance and to use his concession ticket with all speed, and convince him by fair treatment all round that he is getting proper value for his money.

Penny Sections. A seductive cry indeed is that of reduced fares. Many arm chair critics tell us that reduced fares mean more traffic, bigger income, and a buoyant balance-sheet. The facts as gathered from Australian and New Zealand (jities are to the contrary, as replies to a questionnaire sent out by the local Tramway Office to the respective tramway authorities clearly, if somewhat sorrowfully, state. Reduced fares have, in some cases, meant more traffic, but in no case have they meant a larger income. In fact, in most cases only increased fares have saved many Boards from a parlous position. The reference here to increased or reduced fares means, of course, an increase or reduction of fare in relation to a fixed, and not to an increased or reduced distance. Christchurch will shortly have before it the result of two different experiments tried by Auckland and Wellington respectively. Auckland is trying a reduced section for a penny, and Wellington is trying an increase in fares. Meantime, the Citizens' Association stands for the trial of an experiment which will be allied to, and not divorced from, the question of cost per car mile. That is to say, if the cost per car mile is, as it .is in Christchurch, 1 l-sd, then there is a distance less than the length of present sections for which a charge of Id can be made without upsetting the equilibrium of the tramway balancesheet. The Citizens' Association candidates, if elected, are pledged to devise a system of penny sections with special reference to an overlapping central city zone. Many a man at present will push his 2d deeper into his pocket and walk rather than pay 2d for a half or three-quarters of a mile, but under a properly devised system of altered sections, the wise man and his two separate pennies will be easily and happily parted. The Association feels that in the business area of the City in particular, there is a prospect of a considerable increase of revenue from the introduction of such a system.