Rise in bus fare

Press, 17 June 1988, Page 12

Rise in bus fare

Sir,—Early this year the cost of a 40-ride bus ticket for my child increased from $l5 (37.5 c a ride) to $lB (45c a ride). As from Monday, June 6, the Christchurch Transport Board is introducing a new 30-ride ticket for school pupils. This is to cost $lB, which is now 60c a ride. In the past there was a discount for buying the school bus ticket; this is not the case any more. Surely it is easier for the bus drivers to click a ticket than to take money and give change? There is very little incentive now to buy a school bus ticket or, indeed, to send my child on the bus to and from school. Is the C.T.B. trying to attract more users, or discourage them, with nearly 40 per cent fare rises in less than six months? Would the C.T.B. rather we organise car pools to get our children to school than use the big reds? — Yours, etc., ELIZABETH MARSHALL. June 3, 1988.

[The general manager of the Transport Board, Mr M. G. Taylor, replies: “The first increase, of 20 per cent, introduced on January 4, was intended to do two things. It had to make a contribution towards covering the .increases in costs that the board, like everyone else, will have to cope with this year. It also had to make progress towards the target of making revenue from fares cover not less than 50 per cent of operating costs. This target is a requirement of the Canterbury United Council, which is now the body responsible for determining by how much bus fares shall be subsidised, and for finding the money to pay those subsidies. The second change, introduced on June 6, raised the per trip cost of school multi-trip tickets to the same as child cash fares. When it is realised that the cost of transporting a child is no less than the cost of transporting an adult and that, during the morning peak hours, something like 10 per cent of the buses on the road are needed solely to provide capacity for school pupils, the increase in per trip price from 37*/£ per cent to 50 per cent of the adult cash fare is fully justifiable. Indeed, were it not for the fact that the law of the courtly forbids charging any

more than 50 per cent of the adult fare to anyone under 15, all riders in peak hours, irrespective of age, should be charged full fares. Finally, it should be noted that, this year, the fares complained of will still only cover about 40 per cent of the cost of providing timetable services.”]