Bus Season Ticket

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30393, 18 March 1964, Page 16

Bus Season Ticket

Sir, —It would take 20 reasonably active people boarding a bus each with the sort of ticket that only needs punching by the driver, about one and a half minutes to get into the bus. It would take them twice or three times as long if each paid the fare, allowing for fumbling in pockets and handbags, dropping the odd threepenny bit on the floor, getting change from the driver and so forth. In a recent report to the Minister of Transport on existing traffic chaos in the United Kingdom, the maximum possible use of public transport was held to be inevitable to counteract the overwhelming demands on road space made by the private motorist. To this end, it was suggested that season tickets covering unlimited travel on local transport services should be introduced, thereby saving an enormous amount of time and immeasurably increasing the carrying capacity of the buses, etc.—Yours, etc., M.T. March 1, 1964.

[The general manager of the Christchurch Transport Board (Mr J. F. Fardell) replies: “The time of loading a bus full of passengers rests largely upon the co-operation of the passengers in stepping smartly on to the vehicle and tendering their exact fare or nearly as correct fare as possible. A good operator can issue cash fare tickets as fast as reasonably active passengers can board the bus, if the exact fare is tendered. Concession cards which can be punched are available, which makes for a slightly speedier operation. The issue of these tickets is such that there would be no greater speed with the introduction of season tickets, which would have to be checked each time to see that they were current. It will be agreed that the question of speed of loading depends on the passenger having the correct fare or concession card ready. With any system of fare collection, if the passenger has to halt before the operator, open a bag or put a hand into a pocket to take out either the cash or ticket, then delay will occur. To alleviate this as much as possible the board employs groundsmen at the major busy stops at the height of the peak, so that fares are collected before the bus arrives at the stop. Investigations are at present in train with a view to speeding up fare collection.”]