LOWER CHARGES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 144, 15 December 1933, Page 10

LOWER CHARGES

POWER AND TRAM FARES

CITY COUNCIL PROPOSALS

IF LEGISLATION PASSES

The City Council last evening approved of important proposals made by the general manager of the tramways and electricity departments, Mr. M. Cable, whereby, further reductions will be made in charges for electricity, both for commercial lighting and for domestice purposes, and tramway fares over short distances will be made more attractive. Tho proposals, however, are to be given effect to only if legislation empowers the council to suspend its contributions to the renewal fund accounts for three years. The council hopes that this legislation will be secured during the present session. In anticipation of the Legislature before the close of the present session sanctioning the council's application for the suspension of the provisions in the Wellington City Trading Departments Reserve and Renewal Fund Act, 1917, and its amendments, he thought the timo now opportune to formulate proposals whereby the relief obtained to the finances of the two undertakings can best bo passed on to the public. ' Mr. Cable recommended that the commercial lighting demand- tariff charge for low rate units should be reduced to one penny, in conformity with the rate in Christchurch and Dunedin; and that to promote the greater use of electricity for heating and cooking in private residences the domestic tariff should be improved by reducing the one penny rate to three farthings. He estimated that these two reductions in the tariff will represent a concession to the public of Wellington of about £20,000 per annum. The alterations should apply to^lll accounts rendered on and after February 1. REDUCED TRAM- FARE. An investigation of the tramway passenger traffic, said Mr. Cable, revealed the fact that the greatest falling off in the number of passengers carried during the past three years had been the one section riders. In order to bring about a revival'of the department's business it was desirable that a more attractive fare should be adopted to stimulate a greater use of the cars by short distance riders. He therefore proposed:— The introduction of a ten-trip one section concession ticket at one shilling, which represents a 20 per cent, reduction oh the existing concession rate and is equivalent to about £15,000 per annum. This tickot would take the place of the present Is 6d twelve-trip ticket, and as the rate per section would work out slightly more favourably to the twosection users than the 2s 6d twelve-trip blue ticket, it is proposed to withdraw these two tickets when the new ticket can be made available, about the middle of January. With the adoption of the. new fare the concession faro scale available on the tramway system will be as follows: Average ■ per mile. 1 section 1.2 d .96(1 2 sections 2.4(1 Md 3 sections 3.5 d ,93d 4 sections 3.5 d .VOd 5 sections 3.5(1 ,55(1. Tho above proposals are put forward, concluded Mr. Cable, on the clear understanding that the renewal fund legislation will be obtained by the council. RENEWALS AND RESERVES. Moving that approval bo given to the recommendations, the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said that this important matter had received full consideration. Some time ago it was decided to set aside.2 per cent, for reserves and 2 per cent; for renewals. This had the result of establishing such a sound position in the two electrical undertakings that the council was now justified in asking that the provision for a renewal fund should be removed, for a period of years. Tho result was that that proposal was passed by the council a few months ago, and they anticipated that the necessary legislation would shortly be given effect to. The result would be that tho. provision for renewals could he set aside. HEATING AND COOKING. In the charge for electricityi for heating and cooking in private residences, there would be a reduction from Id to Jd, a reduction of 25 per cent. It was felt that if these two proposals, if carried, would not only give considerable relief to the consumers, but would stimulate the demand for services. The total estimated cost was approximately £20,000 a year. TRAMWAY FARES. j ■In connection with tho tramways department, renewal funds "would be unnecessary, although they would retain provision for reserves. The considerable reduction in the charges for shortdistance fares would, it was felt, result in a considerable increase in traffic. When the new one shilling ticket was issued, there would be no other ticket in use.but the 3s 6d concession ticket. The estimated cost jto the department would be £15,000 a year, but it gave a splendid opportunity to try out the big reduction in short-distance riding, and they felt that the experiment would succeed. SUSPENSION WARRANTED. Councillor B. McKeen, M.P., said, that the suspension of the contribution to renewal funds for three years was fully warranted and would mean that in that period an additional £72,000 would be made available to the tramways department and £66,000 to the electricity department. As the change-over had only just been completed, he suggested, there should be no heavy outgoing for renewals in the electricity department for some time to come. He hoped that it would bo possible to revert to the penny fare on the trams, and no doubt that would ultimately come again. Referring to bus operations, Councillor McKeen said that in past years the position had appeared rather worse than it had been in fact, on account of the heavy depreciation allowed for, to such an extent that a fairly largo sum had now been built up. He congratulated the Mayor and the committee and management on the scheme brought forward. Councillor P. M. Butler suggested that consideration should also be given to the reduction of the 3s Cd universal ticket to the original 3s, which suburban residents had been told would not be increased. Instead of resulting in an increase in revenue, it had led many former tram passengers to purchase bicycles or ■to walk through the new tunnel. SALE OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES. Councillor Butler said that he hoped that the council would give consideration to the establishment of an up-to-date electrical showroom for the display and sale by the corporation of electrical goods to its own consumers. Such a course had been followed with marked success in Christchureh. Palmerston North and other centres had followed a similar course successfully. In conclusion, Councillor Butler said that he would like to have an assur-

ancc from the Mayor that at the earliest possible date the long-distance tram fare would bo reduced to its original 3s for twelve rides. CONTRIBUTIONS TOO GENEROUS. Lower tram fares would induce more traffic and improve revenue, said Councillor C. H. Chapman, M.P. There had been a" debit .balance on the tramway operations each year since 1927, the total for the six years being £27,000, but in the same period the amounts paid to reserves and renewals came to £221,934, so that although there had been shown debits over the whole period, when consideration was given to the renewals and reserve funds the department showed an overwhelming credit balance. He had been for a long time of the opinion that the contributions to renewals and reserves had been too generous. It was high time that electricity charges should bo reduced, said Councillor Chapman. Since 1927 the net surpluses had approximated £240,000, and in the same period an equal amount had been set aside to renewal and reserve, so that the electricity department had earned nearly half a.million pounds. A considerable sum had been diverted from tho department for the relief of distress and in the circumstances it was difficult to quarrel with that course. The report 'indicated that the genoral consumer was being given greater consideration than ho had in the past, said Councillor R. Semple, • M.P. Long before the unemployment problem arose large sums had been taken from the electricity department for other purposes. He agreed that one could uot quarrel with the use of,the funds for relief purposes, but had the department's funds not been taken for other purposes, reductions in charges could have been made long ago. He quite agreed also that the council should consider the establishment of an up-to-date showroom and the undertaking of a systematic canvass on behalf of the council, to induce; people, particularly those erecting new. buildings, to use the Corporation's electricity service. MISTAKE IN INCREASING FARE. A mistake was made in increasing the price of the universal tramway concession ticket from 3s to 3s 6d, said Councillor Semple, and it would be wise to put the fare back to 3s as soon as possible. Unless' suburban residents could be. induced back to the trams they would have in Wellington a bicycle wave that would upset tramway calculations substantially. In Auckland he had seen Japanese bicycles—and quite good machines, too—on sale at £2 10s. The Railway Department had discovered to its cost thai increased fares drove revenue away, and that was equally true in the council's tramway service. FARE REDUCTION CRITICISED. Councillor T. Forsyth said he agreed that as far as the electricity figures were concerned reductions were warranted, but he did not think that the financial position in the tramway department justified fare reductions, and he was sceptical over.the result. The present charge of 3s 6d per ticket gave by far the cheapest travelling in New Zealand, and those who paid it were not complaining that they did not get full value for their money. Mr. Hislop said that the fare worked out at about a halfpenny per m^le. Following the increase from 3s to 3s 6d there was for a time a considerable increase in revenue, but the revenue fell again in accordance with the general decline. Two-thirds of the drop in revenue was on short distance runs, and as for people walking through the tunnel, was that not rather the fault of the tunnel than of the trams? The report was approved.