DECLINE IN BLS PASSENGERS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29189, 27 April 1960, Page 18

DECLINE IN BLS PASSENGERS

Private Cars Used More In Auckland "The Press” Special Service AUCKLAND, April 26. The deputy-chairman of the Auckland Transport Board and chairman of the finance committee, Mr H. G. Beechey, holds little hope of reducing the £106,000 which the board levied on local bodies last year. The picture at the end of last financial year on March 31 was not as bright as the board had hoped, he said. It would be a fortnight or three weeks before final figures of revenue and costs for that period and estimates for the current year would be available, and until then it was difficult to predict accurately what the levy would be. At best, Mr Beechey said, there was only a 50-50 chance of the levs being less than last year. There had been a revival of the trend for people to use private cars instead of buses, Mr Beechey said. This had caused a decline in the number of passengers carried. The decline had not been steep, but the trend was disturbing. A reduction in the number of short-distance passengers carried had also adversely affected revenue. More people were travelling longer distance, but not enough to compensate for the loss of one-section and two-section fares.