Wider concession to pensioners sought

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33753, 28 January 1975, Page 16

Wider concession to pensioners sought

Further submissions for a concession on pensioner bus fares will be made by the chairman of the Canterbury Aged People’s Welfare Council (Mr P. N. G. Blaxall) at the Christchurch Transport Board’s meeting in March.

Mr Blaxall will present a case for a concession on fares not just for those in the board’s area but for those in the outlying areas of Christchurch. He has already met members of the board’s pensioner committee. The Minister of Health and M.P. for Lyttelton (Mr McGuigan) had also expressed concern that concessions available on the board’s buses

did not apply to age beneficiaries living in Lyttelton.

This was apparently because the borough was outside the board's rating area, he said yesterday.

He said he had wrtiten to the board suggesting that this was an anomalous situation which, particularly after the recent increase in fares, placed an unfair burden on beneficiaries in Lyttelton. He cited the case of a couple who had to travel to Christchurch for medical consultations. Their fare for the trip was $1.20. At this outlay trips to Christchurch would become less and less frequent for Lyttelton beneficiaries.

“They have to use Transport Board buses, because there’s no other transport available to them. They can’t even walk,” he said.

Mr McGuigan said that he had urged the board to review the situation and to grant the bus concessions to all beneficiaries regardless of where they lived in greater Christchurch. “I am sure that board members will recognise the unfairness of the present arrangement,” he said.