Lyttelton ferry

Press, 5 August 1980, Page 16

Lyttelton ferry

Sir, — While I agree with D. Scott, (August 1) that Mrs Hercus could be low in her estimate of $22 return fare Lyttelton-Wellington by ferry, his estimate, although high,’ is still lower than the return air fare of $104., However, I would suggest a more reasonable cost comparison would be to use the $45 return fare using the rail-ferry link through Picton. Given'that an .overnight ferry could have a sliding scale of fares, according to type of accommodation provided, the fare could easily be as low as $3O return, rising to $6O. Even at these prices it would be cheaper than air travel . arid much more convenient than the route by Picton, which means leaving at 7 a.m. and takes all day. — Yours, etc., ■ - JUDY M. WATERS. August 3, 1980.

Sir, — M. J. Arthur (July 30) and D. Scott (August 1) are quite right ir. their views over the Lyttelton ferry trial run. Mrs Hercus may be joking, but I believe her estimates of costs of running the service are typical “pie in the sky” financial views of the Labour Party generally. As past history has shown, Labour makes a good Opposition, when it is unable to carry out unplanned, muddled, totally unresearched, impractical theories. But when it implements many of them, when in office, we see the disastrous distortions to the economy which . show how unrealistic many of Labour’s ideas are. — Yours, etc., G. G. MARSHALL. August 1, 1980.