HEAVY BOOKINGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27573, 15 December 1950, Page 6

HEAVY BOOKINGS

Holiday Travel Services Holiday travel bookings are heavier than ever this year, and there are few seats left on trains, buses or air services for people who have decided belatedly to travel. The bookings on the air services are much heavier than last year, and the days immediately ’ preceding Christmas are fully booked. This year, however, more Dakotas are on the run, so that fewer aircraft will carry more passengers than during the last Christmas rush. With full passenger loads, the aircraft will not be able to take the normal cargo consignments from Taieri, and a daily freighter service is to be run by NAC from December 18 to December 23. Rail bookings were stated by a railways official to be “ on a par with last year,” but the railways have been able to accommodate most people so far. Central Otago and Timaru are destinations which have been heavily booked, and a full schedule of special trains has been arranged to cope with the holiday traffic. Surprisingly, perhaps, the Canterbury centennial events do not seem to have attracted additional passengers, for there has been no abnormal booking on the expresses before the week-end. Special trains are, however, being run from Timaru to Christchurch. Bus bookings are comparable with rail bookings, and extra buses will be required on popular routes over the holidays.