Bicycle racks

Press, 20 August 1981, Page 12

Bicycle racks

Sir.—l am appalled by the attitude of the general manager of the Christchurch Transport Board implied by his reported statement against fitting bicycle racks to the Lyttelton buses, printed in “The Press" this morning. That this sort of comment: “Why should the board have to put out this money for people who have opted not to use the board's services,. until they get into trouble with someone else's restrictions." should be advanced by the marketing committee causes me grave concern. If the potential market cannot be spotted by this committee then perhaps the answer to the question of the board’s financial losses may be apparent. I acknowledge that a response to this criticism may be that the market is considered too small to service the investment that the installation of these racks-would require. Has the board considered surveying the Lyttelton residents to assess the patronage? — Yours, etc., JOHN R. ATKINSON. Julv 29, 1981.

[Mr M. G. Taylor, General Manager, Christchurch Transport Board, replies: “It appears that your correspondent is ‘appalled’ by statements attributed to me in a leading article published in your paper on July 30. I am equally appalled by the way your leader writer paraphrased my written submission to the board's marketing committee, thereby creating ‘statements’ that I did not make. The conclusion to my submission was: ‘I do not think it reasonable that this board should be expected to spend something like $lO,OOO — plus a furtner $6OO odd each year — to provide relief to a problem not of its own making, being experienced by a very few people who, by the' fact of choosing to cycle, have opted not to use the regular bus service.' It is my

cohtention that this statement, taken in its entirety, gives to a reader a different perspective on the matter from that which would be gained from reading your leading article. It is now a matter of record that a majority of the members of the marketing committee on July 28, and of the Board on August 11. agreed with my summary and decided to abandon the proposal for a trial of cycle racks fitted to the backs of three buses.”]