MORNINGTON TRAM AND BUS SERVICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22268, 22 May 1934, Page 12

MORNINGTON TRAM AND BUS SERVICES

TO THE EDITOR Sir,—Words fail to express the indignation and disgust which one feels on reading the report which is to be presented to the next council meeting on the Mornington services. Common sense and a knowledge of the district show that no bus service can serve both sides of the district and the new proposal is only adding another folly to the one we have. It shows the most sublime ineptitude on the part of the Tramways Committee and an utter ignorance or disregard of the requirements of the district. No doubt the bus service between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. will be useful for carrying the Belleknowes people to work at 8 a.m. or earlier and will 6ave them from having to tramp it through rain, snow, and frost. as they, have to do now. It is safe to say that the Mornington people are reasonable in this, that they do not all want to be carried to their own doors, but they do want to be carried nearer, home all the time without having either to put up with a crazy, erratic, and intermittent bus service or, in the alternative, to walk. A bus service can only be a dead loss without service and I venture to say that the new idea put into action will not last two weeks because it is useless. Ou the other hand the present . tram showed a net profit of £2400 for the past year. Compared with the other tramway returns that is £2OOO too much. A progressive council would see that the surplus £2OOO of which we are robbed, would pay 5 per cent, on £40,000 to inaugurate a necessary service whicu would comply with the wishes of the people as expressed by their vote. I understand that in other towns the tramway service precedes settlement. In Mornington H is miles and ages behind. I expect that it is useless to expect a useful scheme from a body of men who do not see the necessity for a verandah shelter over the miserable den which they call a ticket office—a place which is a disgrace to the city. Allow me to express an emphatic' protest against the deliberate insult to the people of Mornington that is conveyed in the new proposal.—l am, etc., Mornington. May 21. J V