BUS REGULATIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 199, 23 July 1926, Page 8

BUS REGULATIONS

EVIDENCE BEFORE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON July 23. The select committee of the House d'ealing with tho petitions presented on the subject of tho motor bus regulations continued its sitting. Mr Martin, manager of the Royal Motor Bus Company, of Auckland, endorsed the evidence of Mr Campbell. He said that his firm’s fleet numbered 29 and that tho company had a capital of £IO,OOO. He preferred not to give the capital value of the buses and was not willing to give the committee particulars regarding the financial position of the company. Hie service had been started because of the ’ unsatisfactory tram service to Onehunga. In the last 12 months the company had had one fatal accident, and it had involved a claim of £4OOO. Hie service had had the effect •of opening up a number of residential areas, and, it the buses went off the road, there would bo a repetition of the old football match at five o’clock every night. Witness said that people preferred to ripe in the buses. In answer to a question ‘‘Wouldn’t they prefer to pay the extra fare and continue to ride in the buses,” he replied that at the end of the month every twopence counted. Mr Gray, town clerk of the Mount Eden borough, said that the council objected to the regulations on the ground that they gave a monopoly to the Auckland City Council. The districts outside would be controlled by the Auckland Council, a position which amounted to taxation. The private bus service had been of great value to tho borough and had had the effect ot opening up a big area beyond the tram terminus. It used to bo a perfect nightmare to got out of the city at five o’clock. There had been continual demands by outside districts for improved tram services, and it was onlv after the advent of the buses that the services had been improved. '