Temuka firm gets transport licence

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 14

Temuka firm gets transport licence

A Temuka-based transport company has been granted a licence to carry passengers from South Canterbury to sports fixtures and theatrical events in Christchurch. The licence will allow Ritchies Transport Holdings, Ltd. to provide a service which has in the past been run illegally by some South Canterbury transport firms. Provision in the Transport Licensing Regulations, 1963, enabled private parties - not individuals — to be carried to sports and theatrical functions. Individuals could not be carried because the trips could not be advertised and no-one was allowed to receive remuneration for organising the trips.

Evidence showed that in the past, individuals had been catered for by various tourist organisations which had advertised that they would organise a trip to Christchurch to attend a particular function, at a price that would include both tickets to the match or show and the bus fare. Having sold the required number of tickets, the tourist organisation would hire a bus for the

journey on a contract basis. The No. 9 Transport District Licensing Authority, Mr D. L. Hogan, said that'such trips were outside the provisions of the regulations, and that most, if not all of the passenger service operators in South Canterbury, did not have the necessary licences to provide them.

"This did not seem to have been any barrier to the trips being done in the past,” he said.

In granting the licence, the Authority said that the service would be in the public interest and would not materially damage other licensees.

The Timaru City Council and Atkinson and Dossett, Ltd, objected to Ritchies’ application because they feared the company would misuse the licence. A list of convictions incurred by the applicant and its subsidiary companies was produced by the Ministry of Transport. The Authority said that Ritchies “only just” avoided refusal of its application because there had been no conviction since July, 1981.

and that the company had not been alone in breaching the regulations.

He warned, however, that if Ritchies continued to offend at the rate it had in the past, he expected the Ministry of Transport to ask for a review or inquiry into the use of the licence. Objections were also

received from Mount Cook Freightlines, Ltd. and New Zealand Railways Road Services.

The licence was granted subject to several conditions. All passengers had to be members of a party organised by a bona-fide travel agent on a trip pre-ad-vertised in a newspaper. Passengers from Timaru could be picked up only at the North Town Hall. No trip could exceed 24 hours, individual . fares could not be charged by the licensee, and no more than three vehicles owned by Ritchies could be used at any one time. The Authority said that the company had a large fleet of buses, and he did not want to create a monopoly for such a service.