Half-price bus fare plan

Press, 14 July 1982, Page 6

Half-price bus fare plan

The Christchurch Transport Board will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss a proposal that ail off-peak fares should be child fares, roughly half adult fares.

The proposal is aimed at promoting the use of buses and justifying a Transport Board claim to $3.2 million in grants from the Government's Urban Transport Council. The board has estimated that it would cost about $923.0(10 in lost revenue in a full year, but it does not know how many more passengers it would promote

It is made in the light of a 6.1 per cent drop tn passenger journeys in the month to June 20 compared with the same period last year, although revenue is up because of fare increases.

The fare-cut plan was put to the board yesterday by Mr G. Stone after a meeting the day before of the Canterbury United Council’s urban transport committee, which disburses the grant. The Transport Board's chairman. Mr J. Mathison, said he hoped the matter, could be dealt with at once. Other members of the board, however, were unhappy that they had not had time to consider it and after some

discussion decided to hold the special meeting next week.

The proposal is that only child fares be charged to ail passengers on buses between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and after 6 p.m. on week-days and at all times on Saturdays. Sundays, and statutorv holidavs.

Introducing the proposal. Mr Stone said that in view of the continuing and undesirable loss of patronage something had to be done. The idea promoted the use of buses at a time when their use was lowest. It was necessary for the United Council's urban transport committee to have a positive proposal to take to the Urban Transport Council in Wellington in order to secure the full allocation of available funds.

Mr Stone suggested that the proposal be put into effect as soon as the board had an assurance that grants sufficient to offset the loss of revenue would be available from the Urban Transport Council. Mr Mathison said that the board's urban transport grant was made on condition that it improved services.

He said that the board had to do something to arrest the decline in patronage. He was convinced that the boards charges were too high in the

present difficult economic situation. "I know a lot of people will not pay 30c to travel from Sydenham in an offpeak period. They would sooner walk." he said. Mr C. L. Sugden, who had urged that the fare-cut decision be delayed, said he did not think a fare cut would IlClp. , >4 Earlier, the board was told that delavs in the payment of grants already agreed to by

the Urban Transport Council were costing the board $lOOO a week in overdraft interest payments. Mr Mathison said that the overdraft incurred in anticipation of the grants was now $386,000 and rising at the rate of $33,500 a week. He said that after last Monday's urban transport committee meeting he now expected a cheque within three or four weeks.