Can the buses stand up under today’s strain?

Press, 24 June 1981, Page 21

Can the buses stand up under today’s strain?

By

JOHN DURNING

The future of the Christchurch Transport Board is strewn .with potholes: • Subsidised by more than $6 million of ratepayers’ money;

9 Losing patronage at a million rides a year;

• Facing an escalating fuel bill which, during the last financial period, increased by 69 per cent.

It is no consolation to the board knowing that transport operations throughout the country are beset with financial problems. In the last 12 months Air New Zealand is thought to have lost $45 million and the Railways double that amount. Even small bus operators such as Midlands are seeking assistance from local authorities to keep their services at present levels.

Il is 20 years since the board made a profit, and its situation sharply deteriorated in the last few years.

' Commuters were loyal to the buses and trams of Christchurch until the mid--19505. when cars moved out of the luxury class and suburban outlets started to

take.’ away some of the shoppers from the centre of the citv. .

Christchurch is flat and, therefore, conducive to walking and cycling. Only on wet days and for extreme distances do these options become less desirable than busing. And as soon as people find an alternative to travelling by bus there is another empty seat on the “Big Reds.’’

Mild weather during autumn is thought to be a prime reason for the 13.6 per cent decrease in patronage during April and May this year compared with 12 months ago. Not since 1910. when operating expenses for the year w’ere $118,850, has the Transport Board carried fewer than the 13,179.663 passengers who were ferried about the city last year. Gone are the rosy days of the middle and late 1940 s when 32 million residents used the buses each year and the board made a profit of 50 per cent. To survive as a competi-

live- alternative, to- .other transport modes, revenue must be increased by attracting more passengers rather than trimming services and routes to save money. . LG L .

The board faces two peaks a day, with Idrig periods in between, during the evenings and at week-ends when the service is under-used.

By trimming services, people would .be forced to find alternative means of transport/ patronage • would drop further, and the vicious circle would start all over again. The system would collapse around its own inefficiency.

The board has opted to try to increase patronage while keeping services and fares at present levels. Nothing causes a downturn in patronage quicker than an increase in fares. A tariff increase last year met immediate consumer resistance. This year the board decided to hold fares but increase the taxpayers’ levy by 59 per cent, an average of $25 per household.

Rate ■ increases next year are expected to be 40 per cent if •fates, are frozen. A' 10 per cent rise in fares will mean rates will increase 33 per cent and an extra 20 per cent in fares will push the Transport Board levy on ratepayers up by 26 per cent.

To increase patronage, it appears the board will have to break up the love Christchurch people have for their cars.

To make travelling by bus as an attractive alternative, the service must be made more flexible, or transport by car less easy. New routes are one way the board hopes will make the bus system more flexible. At the end of the war, when trams were in operation, the transport system resembled the spokes of a wheel, with everything radiating from the Square. Since the advent of buses the

spokes have remained, with a few extensions on the end to cater for a growing city. What has changed, however, is the importance of the city centre.

The emergence of suburban shopping centres and the growth of industrial areas means that the spokes of the wheel are becoming less important as people bypass the centre. To best determine how to profitably exploit these changing patterns, the board has invested in a computer model which can give projected patronage on a proposed route, the number of people expected to travel ou it. the size of the fleet required, and the viability of the service. Both staff and board members are optimistic of the effects new route patterns will have on patronage. One new route which appears attractive is for a service

from Bishopdale across to Hornby. It is expected that the model will be completed by August, with perhaps another 12 months before' thb imple : mentation of new routes; if any, are found desirable.

In the long term, possible alternatives to. the existing pattern are diverse. Minibuses could be used to feed off the main ' routes; in the evenings and at week-ends subsidised taxis could be used to service areas of low demand; and a dial-a-bus service could be employed to cater for people organised enough to know their travel plans well in advance. Competition with the motor car will always be the transport board’s biggest hurdle. Mr Neil Anderson, deputy chairman of the board, would like to see the centre of the city, bordered by the one-way system, turned into a pedestrian precinct with only essential vehicles allowed. Mr Anderson is adamant that the “pedestrianisation”

of the city centre would increase turnover for businesses in the zone by a minimum of 10 per cent and up to 40 per cent.

If cars cannot be banned from the inner' city, Mr Anderson believes the ease of access vehicles have today could be stifled. One of the easiest methods ( would be to restrict the amount of parking available. In fact, the beard is at present considering objections to car parking buildings planned for the middle of the city and extensions proposed for shopping malls in the suburbs. Alternative fuels do not hold out much hope in defeating the ever-increasing fuel bill. Storage cylinders for L.P.G. and C.N.G. would reduce the carrying capacity of buses by up to a third. Methanol-ethanol based fuels could be the best option as they can be used on a diesel engine and the weight factor is not so severe.

The electrification of the bus service using overhead

wires is not favoured, and as yet there has been no breakthrough in the manufacture of a light-weight battery.

Under the Urban Transport Act 1981, the Canterbury United Council has been given power to prepare a comprehensive transport plan for the area. This is the first time there has been any real recognition of the interrelationships of modes of transport. All transport modes will be covered by the plan which will be incorporated into the regional plan. At this stage the committee is in its infancy but there, is scope for wide integration in the urban area.

What will ultimately decide the future of the Christchurch “big red” buses is the number of people who travel on them. If every person in Christchurch used the buses for a return trip once more every six weeks then there would have been no need to levy ratepayers the extra $2.4 million required in this year’s estimates.