TRAMWAYS AND ELECTRICITY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 171, 16 April 1942, Page 8

TRAMWAYS AND ELECTRICITY

Revenue Over £1,000,000

LAST YEAR’S OPERATIONS IN WELLINGTON A record revenue, reaching £1,000,000 for the first time, was received by the tramways and electricity department of the Wellington City Corporation for the year ended March 31, 1942. A report on revenue on expenditure was submitted to the city council last night by the general manager of the department, Mr. L. B. Hutton. • The tramways revenue amounted to £516,091, compared with £497,011 for the preceding year,’’ he said. '‘This is the first year that the tramway revenue has exceeded £500,000. After meeting all working expenses, capital charges, and special expenditure, there is a credit balance, on tramway operation for the year, of £14,270. "Passengers carried during the year totalled 49,904,685, an increase of 1,823,205 over 1940-41. This increase was not in any way regular. The issue of a petrol coupon is at once reflected in the passenger returns. On a recent occasion, the unfreezing of a certain coupon diverted nearly £5OO from the tramways department into the bowsers in one week. Excess traffic, in general, was restricted to the five working days of the week, but has now a tendency to spread to the sixth day as well. It is interesting to note that Sunday traffic has not increased materially, and this service has not yet reached the paying stage, despite the fare increase permitted by the Price Tribunal in January, 1941. At the same time as this increase was granted, the council had made application lor permission to increase fares generally, but this was declined. From the tramways point of view, the introduction of petrol rationing has been the deciding factor in whether accounts were squared or not. Without the additional 1,823,205 passengers, it is unlikely that we could have come out with anything but a debit balance. "Passenger fare revenue for the year amounted to £508,256 —an increase of £19,585 over the preceding year. Working expenses decreased by £1972.

“Compared with the preceding year, the bus revenue increased by £262, while working expenses and depreciation decreased by £205. After meeting all expenses, the loss on bus operations for the year amounted to £6970, as compared with a loss of £7437 for the preceding years.

k "The net financial result of the operation of tramways and buses combined for the year was a credit balance of £7300. Electricity. "'The electricity department's revenue for the year ending March 31, 1942, amounted to £450,556, as compared with £465,312 in the preceding year, a decrease of £14,756 The total working expenses, capital charges and appropriations amounted io £427,096, as compared with £418,449 for the year 1940-41, an increase of £8647. "The net result for the year's operation was a credit balance of £23,460, as compared with £46,863 in 1940-41. Figures are subject to certain adjustments which may be necessary when details of London transactions are to hand.

“Early in April, 1941, it decided that certain reductions in the domestic tariff and in the commercial lightng tariff should become effective as from July 1, 1941. An estimate of the value of these reductions on the basis of the 1940-41 figures was £27,500 for a full year. The proportion for the period July-March would, therefore, be £20,000. The figures submitted herewith show’ a reduction in revenue of only £14,756, and some explanation is necessary to account for the difference between £20,000 and £14,756. The explanation lies in the fact that in this last year, the council sold just, over 4,000,000 extra units. It lost valuable revenue through the lighting restrictions. The extra units sold are on (he lower ends of the tariff scales, and are brought about through extended commercial processes. It is yet too early to analyze unit sales in detail.

"There has been an increase ol £8425 in working expenses. Wages increase account in part for this, and co-incident with wages increase, there has been a rise in the price of practically all supplies.”