LOSSES ON TRAMWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21037, 23 November 1931, Page 10

LOSSES ON TRAMWAYS.

POSITION IN WELLINGTON. COST OF UNIVERSAL FARE. in rncntinning that if- was proposed- to hold ;i, special meeting of the Wellington City Council 141 is week especially to consider tramway matters, the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, stated at a meeting of the council last week that Irani way finance was not reviving as was hoped. At a meeting of the committee the position was discussed, and it was clear that a remedy would have to be found for the existing state of affairs. LTp to Ihe present the tramways had lost £13,300 in the current financial year, and four months of the year had still to go. ]f the loss went on at the same rate it was clear, said Mr. Hislop, that the trams were, unless there was a substantial improvement, going to make a loss of £20,000 on the year's working. The tramways department had nothing with which to meet such a deficit other than meeting it out of the rates, and plans must be devised to meet the difficulty.

Ono suggestion was a further curtailment. of the service, and track maintenance. by which a saving of £9OOO would be effected—for this year only £2OOO. "I feel personally." said the Mayor, '.'that it would not be satisfactory to go in for any further curtailment of services, especially" as such would mean inefficiency and the dismissal of 48 men. for the £2OOO saved this year will not, see us round the corner. ' Another alternative is to readjust the fares to meet tho position. The threepenny universal faro is the lowest operating in this country. It costs us Id a, mile, and .we get Ad a mile for it. 11 lie population in the outlying suburbs has grown with it, but tho unfortunate thing is that the more people who use the uni versal fare tho bigger the loss. Tn other words, it means that we are selling goods at less than they cost to produce." Up to the present the one and twosection traffic had boon able to counter that loss, continued Mr. Hislop, but now it was apparent that those sections were not able any .further to bear the burden. So the council would have to consider what to do to fill the gap. if tho council raised the 3s universal twelve-trip faro to 3s 6d it would add another £12,000 a year. "Wo can't allow the trams to be run at a loss at the expense of tiie rates," said the Mayor in conclusion.