CITY TRAM FARES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26842, 5 August 1948, Page 8

CITY TRAM FARES

PROPOSED INCREASES MR SILVERSTONE’S VIEW OF LOSSES There were 12,000 private motor cars in Dunedin and each took two people into the city every day. This was the chief contributing factor in the Corporation transport system showing a loss, said Mr Mark Silverstone, at the conclusion of a district Labour Party branch meeting last evening. The tram service was a social one, he maintained, and in order to run it efficiently there should be a direct levy on all ratepayers. Everyone should share the burden alike, Mr Silverstone said. That was the fairest way. People might pay 3d under duress, but they would not pay more. They would walk.

It was the axiom of the council that “ those who ride shall pay,” but, Mr Silverstone asked, why should a portion of his rates be taken to repair roads in Kaikorai?

The trams were not paying because the people did not use the service. They were paying in Auckland under a recent increase. There were 12,000 cars in Dunedin, and if each took a passenger to the city it meant 24,000 were so transported daily. If these people used the trams the resultant revenue would wipe out the deficit and show a profit. “ The system cannot be made to pay, and the Transport Committee knows it,” Mr Silverstone said. “If a further increase is granted it will mean that every worker will demand that his employer pay his tram fares. “They will not get all they want out of an increase if one is granted, and will show a deficit again next year. They will be compelled to go to Parliament and ask for authority to levy on the rates,” he concluded. “That is the just way.” '

There were 21 people present. The chairman was Mr D. Copland.