TRAMWAY FARES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17097, 28 February 1919, Page 7

TRAMWAY FARES.

Sir,—One of your correspondents suggests a flat rate of twopence in connection with the movement for an increase in tram fares, a proposal which is so farreaching as to be practically a revolution and deserves the serious consideration of citizens before being adopted. At the present time our business centres have been built up by the tram fares obtaining in the_ various districts, and wherever there is a junction where penny fares prevail there we find growing up business centres of more or less importance. This is particularly noticeable at Pitt Street junction, the top of Syraonds Street, at the point of intersection of the Mount RoskiJl and Mount Albert lines, at Three Lamps, Ponsonby, and at various other junctions of similar character. These conditions are the result of the 15 to 17 years during which the present tramway system has been in existence, and it is a result which from many points of view is satisfactory, as it has helped to spread the business of the people over a large area i and has prevented its centralisation in one or two places. But when the proposed twopenny flatrrate system comes into operation there is every reason to suppose that all this will be changed. It will mean an inevitable increase in the tendency, \ which is at present all too strong, of busi- ; ness to Queen Street and its immediate j neighbourhood, and will also inevitably destroy, to a large extent, the businesses j now in existence near the present penny intersections of the tramway system. For there can be no doubt that when a person can get for the same fare, twopence, to the large Queen Street shops he or she is not very likely to be attracted by the smaller shops in their own districts even.though, as is often the case, better value mly there be obtained. Then in several d'stricts there are concessions which are very highly valued, such as the halfpenny fare from the Three Lamps to the Ponsonby barn, of which great use is made by the residents, and with which they will very reluctantly part, but under the new scheme all these are bound to be destroyed, to be replaced, with one or two exceptions, by a cast-iron flat rate of twopence. Another point deserving the attention of citizens is that while only something like £10,000 are required to meet the increased wages demanded by the men. such demand being the fons et origo of the proposals now under review, the proposal, if adopted, means an increase in the tramway company's revenue of almost one-third, the expectation being for an increase of some seventy thousand pounds on a present income of about three hundred thousand pounds. Of course, I know that it is hoped in some wav to secure the surplus of £50,000 to £60,000 to the service of the City Council, but I am not sure that that would be a good thing or likely to commend itself to the general public as a desirable thing under present conditions of tramway ownership and from other points of view which will appeal to those who take an interest in these matters. These are some of the reasons, together with the fact that it has not yet been satisfactorily proven that the Tramways Company is not able to meet the present demands of the men, which have impelled me to oppose the hasty conclusion of this matter. H. N. Bagjtall.

February 27, 1919.