RAILWAY BUSES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 7, 3 October 1929, Page 13

RAILWAY BUSES

EXTENSION OF SERVICES PAST YEAR’S LOSS MINISTER’S NOTE OF CAUTION

A note of caution in regard to the development o£ road motor services was sounded by the Minister of Railways (Hon. W. B. Taverner) in his annual statement presented to Parliament yesterday. The report of the general manager (Mr. 11. H. Sterling) shows that there was a loss of £9327 on the year s operations of this branch. . . “We are by no means in a position to say that the road motor operations now being carired on in the community are on a sound basis, and I feel that any action on the part of the Department in the direction of embarking on road-motor operations to any great extent requires careful examination as it might have serious results on the Department’s financial position,” said the Minister. “I can quite realise, however, that there may be cases where the Department could, with advantage to itself and for better service to the community, undertake road-motor work; and when a case is clearly established for sound working on these lines then I think there is no good reason why the Department should not undertake the work.

“I am impelled to make these observations, because there have been suggestions that the Department should not carry on road-motor services. I do not think that the matter can be carried to the point of absolute prohibition of any such action on the part of the Department; first and foremost the Department is a transport institution, and its duty is clearly to give the transport service for which it is provided by the cheapest and most efficient means. Only when a road proposition is definitely ascertained by examination of ail the facts to be the cheapest and ■most eflicient means, and not till then, should the Department turn to that form of transport to enable it to carry on its services.” Protecting Business. The opinion was expressed by the general manager in his report that bus services must inevitably grow.. The improvement in the roads and in the design and efficiency of road-motors would necessitate the Department undertaking road services in order to protect its business and to effect savings in providing the various facilities. The total number of passengers carried by the Department’s road-motor services during the past year was 2,919,605, of which the Hutt . Valley service was responsible _for the largest pr0p0rti0n—2,336,651 passengers. The balance of expenditure, including interest and depreciation, over revenue in the road-motor service accounts was £9327. Of that sum .the Hutt Valley services accounted for £7300, the Hastings-Napier service for £6OO. the Christchurch-Midland service for £lll4, and the Oamaru-Tokarahi service for £3BO. In most, cases the losses were mainly attributable to the high maintenance costs owing to the unsuitability of some of the buses acquired from private concerns, the requirements. of the motor regulations and the imposition of the petrol tax. By way of set-off against the debit on account of the buses, there was the saving on account of adjustment of train services which was made possible by the running of the buses. The saving was estimated at £5OOO per annum.

Hopes for Future. “The immediate care of a road-carrying organisation is one that is becoming a work requiring a great deal of specialised knowledge which can only be gained by a person devoting himself only to this type of transport and building up an organisation that will -make for efficiency and economy,” Mr. Sterling added. “To that end a bus-manager has been appointed whose duties will be to control the whole of the operations connected with our road-motor services: and with the advance in knowledge and experience that we will get from the specialised work, of the bus-manager and the organisation under him, coupled with the improvements that are being made in the bus fleets, I feel confident that we may look for better financial results from these services in the future.”