C.T.B. members rebuke Purves

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 9

C.T.B. members rebuke Purves

By

PAM MORTON

A Christchurch Transport Board member, Ms Linda Purves, came under fire from other board members yesterday after speaking out against comments made by a staff member on service cuts. Ms Purves had disputed claims by the board’s manager of bus services, Mr Tony Francis, that service cuts were forced on it by the Transport Law Reform Bill N 0.2, which calls for a commercial market She said Mr Francis had stated in newspaper interviews that the C.T.B. would make “savage cuts across the board” and that he expected only a quarter of the board’s existing services to survive under a rationalisation programme. At a meeting of the board yesterday, the chairman, Mr Pat Neary, said he was unhappy that a staff member had been singled out and

criticised in the public arena. Another member of the board, Mr lan Rivers, described the comments as “totally irresponsible” and Mr Warwick Ainger said the comments were in bad taste. In defending her statement, Ms Purves said she was criticising the comments made by Mr Francis and not him personally. “As a member of the staff he has gone out and said these things. Do we as a board agree with some of the things he has said? “I want the public to know that we as a board are not standing behind these statements.” Mr Neary said the board had distributed a pamphlet saying there would be a considerable decline in the number of buses once deregulation was introduced to the industry. Ms Purves said she had taken Mr Francis’s comments to mean that there might not be a future for the

public bus system. “I believe in public transport and I want to see it continued.” The board’s general manager, Mr Max Taylor, said the comments made had been based on speculation if the Government’s intention was to come to fruition. “Thfe object in these statements was to alert the public to the very real possibilities if the transport bill does go through.” Mr Neary said the main point at issue was that criticism of staff should not be made openly in the news media. After the meeting Ms Purves said she was unrepentent. “I want to be able to live with myself. As far as making statements, they’ve tried to muzzle me before but it hasn’t worked. “I’m prepared to take some flak if it means the public are going to get a better service.