TAKAPUNA TRANSPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19396, 3 August 1926, Page 6

TAKAPUNA TRANSPORT.

Sir,—With all the divergent opinions as to the advisability of the Borough Council acquiring these trams, no one up to the present seems to have discussed the question whether they could he made a commercial success from the ratepayers' point of view. It is .admitted that to purchase and electrify the system would cost £150,000 and assuming this figure to he correct what returns can- reasonably be expected from this outlay ? The population of Takapuna at the last census returns is given as 4555. Now if we take one-third of this number as potential weekly ticket travellers at 6s per week it gives us, roughly speaking, £453. Suppose now we add 50 per cent, to this amount for casual and holiday traffic, say £277, or' a grand total gross income of £730 per week. What the working expenses would be I don't know but I should think they would not be less than 60 per cent, of the gross income, which would reduce the net income to £292 per week. The question now arises what would be a fair return on the £150,000 capital and in estimating this we must bear in mind we have made no allowance for maintenance or sinking funds. If we say 10 per cent, which seems to me to be insufficient, we get practically £289 per week, while the net income from the trains might be ££92 per week, which would leave a balance in favour of the trams of £3 per week. No doubt some of your other correspondents may be able to revise these figures but I have endeavoured to be quite fair to the council; in fact, I think I have been generous in assuming they would carry over 1500 weekly ticket holders night and morning. What the position might be in a few years time I cannot say but at present it does not appear to me to be a commercial proposition at all. Milford Beach.