Transport Board Deficit A Of £152,347 For Year

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28270, 7 May 1957, Page 19

Transport Board Deficit A Of £152,347 For Year

The deficiency roi the year ended March 31 of the Christchurch Transport Board was £152,347, having been estimated st £153,104. Revenue decreased by £11.610 and operating expenses increased by £3706 The revenue, at £530.686, watbetter than anticipated, said a report to yesterday j meeting of the board. The decline in revenue was arrested over the last three months. The resultant improvement in the anticipated revenue was offset oy the general wage order increase and petrol oil and other price increases. “It is evident tha‘ the decline is caused by the fall-off in patronage at off-peak periods, chiefly ’ on account of increased private- ' car registrations and the growth of suburban shopping centresand the T.A.8.,” said the report. Sunday passengers declined by ; 160,957 (£4067), trip card passengers by 219,789 < £4764) and race and show passengers by 1 50,445 (£2412). J Commenting on the increase of £3706 in operating expenses, the 1 report said the wage increase , under the Court’s order added . £6OOO to the year s wages bill. ’ The cost for a full year would > be about £16,010. Other un- ( anticipated increases also added - to the costs and the full impact 1 of the tramway award of Sep- . tember. 1955, added £4326. Economies had been made in other directions. “There is reason to believe that 1 the revenue should level out al 1 the rate we are now at,” said < the chairman (Mr C. C. Holland). I "What the expenditure is going to < be is a different story. The 1 drivers have now made claims i for new conditions which, if t granted in full, would cost us in I the vicinity of £lOO 000. I don’t c think for a moment they are |

going to get all that, but it shows how difficult it is going to be to decide the estimates for the coming year £3OO a Year Rise Claim “There are 350 members of the union, and, in a round sum, they are looking for another £3OO a year each. All of us would like another £3OO a year each. They are conscientious men. If they go to the Court, they will get something; but as to how much, one would nave to look into the crystal,” he said. The board was still carrying £45,000 annual charges on assets which were now non-existenl except for a few ouildings, said Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon. In 1963. when the loans were repaid, the board would get some relief. From the manage’ s report, it was apparent that the people were not going to the races and did their betting at the T.A.B. | The board suffered Mr E. J. Bradshaw congratu-l lated the management on coming out so close to the estimates, which, he admitted, he described 11 months ago as being "very tight.” The board was in no way placed where it had to be apologetic about the losses. Il was impossible for any transport body throughout the world to come out without a loss today. The board had come very close to covering operating costs with revenue. “Complacent—Not Happy” “We can be reasonably com-, placent but not happy,” said Mr Bradshaw. “The ooard’s duty, as operator of a public trans-; port system, is to see that it I operates at the most economical level and at the least cost; but 1 it realises that a growing area needs expanding services. The) board has to determine the costj of the services as Detween the property owners ana the users.”