BUS REGULATIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3768, 1 June 1926, Page 28

BUS REGULATIONS.

POSITION IN CHRISTCHURCH CHRISTCHURCH, May 25. The omnibus proprietors in Christchurch iiave offered to sell all the buses now in competition with the trams to the Christchurch Tramway Board, but the offer has been declined, says to-night’s Sun. An important outcome of the decision of the board is that the proprietors are likely to continue in competition, the indications being that they claim thr.t certain conditions or the new regulations, which take effect on June 10, cannot, be enforced. It Js learned that a representative of the owners waited upon the Works and Traffic Committee of the Board and offered to sell all the Duses in competition, the number of these being 12. The committee was then informed of the stand which the proprietors intended to take in the event of no Battlement being reached. “The regulations would drive iw off the road,’’ said a bus proprietor who was approached by a reporter. “But is it not a fact/* asked the reporter, “that the proprietors claim that there is a flaw in the regulations ?” The proprietor hesitated for a moment before he admitted that such was the case.

“Mind you,” he added, “I suppose the Government could nave fresh regulations made later. The Prime Minister is a hard man and he does not like being beaten.’'

The reporter also approached Mr H. J. Knight of the White Star Motors, who, it is believed, represented the proprietors when they approached the Tramway Board. It was obvious that Mr Knight was surprised at the knowledge of the subject possessed by the reporter. “1 am unable to give you any information whatever, ’’ he said, “for any negotiations we had were in private—at least such is my impression.-”

“You can say that we held out the olive branch to the board, and it would not take it,” said a proprietor who was present at the interview. “The board’s decision will cost it more in the long run.”

Mr Knight remarked that full arrangements had been made throughout New Zealand to bring pressure to bear on the authorities over the regulations. Public meetings would be held throughout the Dominion and their resolutions would be forwarded to a Conference of proprietors in Wellington which would make representations to Parliament. The public meeting in Christchurch to-morrow evening was part of the programme. Mr Knight refused to discuss the question of the validity or otherwise of the regulations, a copy of which he had before him. “It may be,” he said, “that we hold a certain opinion, but we are not going to give our view thereon in advance to the Government.”

REGULATIONS ENDORSED BY TRAM WAYS CONFERENCE. WELLINGTON, May 26.

To-day representatives from the principal tramway systems in New Zealand met in Wellington and discussed matters relating to the licensing of buses and the working of a uniform method of granting these. The following statement was (ho outcome of their deliberations:— 1. Down to the present date no system of passenger transportation has been discovered which can compare with electrio tramcars for reliability, freedom from accident, cheapness and general efficiency. This is the carefully considered opinion of experts in passenger transportation, not only in New Zealand, but also in England and the United States of America. The tramways Committee of the city of Manchester reported, inter alia: A motor bus cannot be considered either as a practical substitute for a tramcar for the passenger transportation of the city and ditrict, or for a central area only. The Highways Committee of the London County Council an> dorsed the foregoing, and there is abunil ance of American opinion to the same •fleet.

2. The electrio tramway systems already is existence in New Zealand hove cost the Community approximately £6,000,000.

3. Tramway installations are authorised bv Orders-in-Council. issued under the Tramways Act, 1908, which strictly regulate all matters relating to public safety and convenience, and, in addition, require the tramway authorities to maintain approxi mately one-third of the roads over whien they travel They also in many instances contribute substantially towards the local rates.

4. Obviously it is in the public interest that the tramway systems should not only continue to exist, but also that they should be maintained at their maximum efficiency.

5. Wih the advent of unrestricted motor omnibus competition the tramway systems are threatened with serious financial loss. Consequently, there can be no funds for efficiently maintaining the systems unless rates be levied for the purpose. 6. The motor omnibus regulations are expressly designed to prevent such loss, and to enable the tramway systems to f.motion efficiently. 7. Motor omnibus proprietors and their supporters admit that the regulation of passenger traffic is necessary. 8. Except in matters of !e',ail only the regulations to which strong objection has been taken are: (1) regulation 3, which relates to the appointment of the licensing authority, and (2) regulation 10, which iequires omnibus proprietors in certain cases to charge a fare greater by 2d than the tram fare chargeable for the same journey. 9. With respect to appointment of a licensing authority, (a) it is obvious that some body must be clothed with this duty and that some principle must be laid down for the guidance of that body in out its duties. It may be pointed out that a local authority has all the requisite machinery and organisation -'or the ourpoe (b) No provision is made is to the mot of administering the regulaci) h. (c) The local authority, is bound to act judicially, (d) There is the right of appeal to the Transport Appeal Board from its decisions, and the Appeal Board is •ep-esentative of all the interests, including the interests of the motor omnibus proprietor-,.

10 With respect to licensing, the posh tion of the tramway authorities is: If licenses are granted, and to the extent to which they are granted, the tramways must face the competition of motor omnibuses, whilst if licenses are refused the tramway authorities must pay just compensation. 11. For the reason that unrestricted competition between tramcars and motor omnibuses is economically unsound it is essential, if a tramway system is to be efficiently maintained, that no licenses should be efficiently maintained, that no licenses should be granted where the existing facilities are sufficient, and that, where such facilities are insufficient, licenses should be granted only to such a number of omnibuses as will provide sufficient facilities. As a general rule, motor omnibuses can be used economically, only as supplemental to tramway services.

12. 'With regard to the 2d extra fare: (a) This is the only satisfactory method which has been evolved whereby unnecessary and wasteful duplication of services can be prevented, road space can be conserved for regular traffic, and pirating and other undesirable practices discouraged. (b) The system works well in England where similar conditions have arisen, (c) No substantial hardship is involved, as all the districts not served by tramways are still open to motor offlnibus traffic.

13. The community has established a prior right to traffic on the routes of its own tramcars. Their services have been in existence for some years, and are efficient, permanent, reliable, and cheap. They are owned and controlled by the community; the profits, if any, belong to the community, and the losses are a community burden. 14. The tramways have encouraged the settlement of population in the suburban areas—in many cases at a loss—by establishing a system of transportation of a permanent kinu.

15. Where maintenance is adequately p ovided for in tramway and in motor omnibus undertakings, the tramcar is in a position*to convey passengers at about 50 per cent, less cost than tha omnibus. 'O. The tramway systems are large consumers of electric current, the sum paid by tramways throughout the Dominion for current being approximately £250,000 per annum. This large consumption is an important factor in cheapening the supply of electricity to the public for general purposes.

17. Motor onw'l'iises depend for their power upon petrol, which must be imported from outside the Dominion, and the price of petrol is determined by the industrial, political, and economic conditions of other countries. 18. It would be manifestly unsound from a business point of view to permit our useful tramways to become inefficient by reason of the competition of a system which cannot possibly provide an equal advantage. AN AUCKLAND RESOLUTION. AUCKLAND, May 26. At a conference between representatives of the local bodies and Labour members of Parliament, ii» reference to the motor bus regulations, Mr Harris urged a postponement until Parliament had met. The meeting resolved unanimously, after the members of Parliament had retired: — "That this meeting of local bodies’ representatives requests the Government to suspend the coming into operation of the motor bus regulations till September 30, in order to avoid hardship, and that the whole question be reviewed by Parliament.” A CHRISTCHURCH. PROTESTCHRISTCHURCH, May 27. A strong protest against the new regulations for the control of motor omnibuses was voiced at a public meeting last night. 'lhe Mayor occupied the chair, and there was a moderate attendance. The following resolution w as carried : That this public meeting of represen tative Christchurch citizens protests strongly against the recently-gazetted motor omnibus regulations on the grounds that they are unduly harsh and are calculated to eliminate private enterprise to the detriment of the public welfare.” DISCUSSION AT WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, May 27. The Mayor of Wellington to-night pro mised that the City Council should have an epportuntiy of discussing and intimating its attitude on the motor bus regulations, which, so far as the city was concerned, would come into operation on June 10 Cr Wright asked the council to consider the non-imposition of the extra 2d fare the buses were compelled to charge over the trams, because many of the buses that were running over the main routes would shortly have to cease operations. i The Mayor said that it was not proper that the counci should discuss the question at present. The purchase s> f he buses might be involved, and the matter should be discussed in committee. GRAVE CONCERN. WELLINGTON, May 27. The annual meeting of the Aard Motor Services Association expressed grave concern at the recent) v gazetted bus regulations, and it decided to communicate its views to the Government. POSITION MISUNDERSTOOD. CHRISTCHURCH, Mav 28. Evidently the authorities in Wellington who have charge of the administration of the new motor omnibus regulations have found it hard to grasp the fact that the Christchurch City Council does not run either tramway or bus services. It was because of this difficulty that the conference of local bodies convened bv the Riccarton Borough Council for the purpose of appointing a representative of the local authorities to the Transport Appeal Board in No. 10 motor omnibus district proved a fiasco this morning Late yesterday afternoon the town clerk of Riccarton received a telegram from Mr C. J. M’Kenzie, acting-under-secretary of Public Works, advising him to postpone the conference, but the advice was received too late to -nablo the local bodies concerned to be notified. Consequently, the delegates attended at tho City Council Chamber this morning. After the matter had been explained Mr Nicholson said that he was quite satisfied the position had been met by the appointment of the City Council’s representative. Other delegates concurred with this view and the gathering dispersed. CHRISTCHURCH BUSES. CHRISTCHURCH, May 28. A statement of the position in connection with the recent offer by the Christ-

church motor bus proprietors to sell to the Tramway Board was made this morning by Mr Frank Thompson, general manager of the tramways. “The offer,” said Mr Thompson, “was confidential and the board treated it as such, and is in no way responsible for the publicity, that it has since received, but now that the fact has been published the Tramwya’s Board’s position snould be more clearly set out. In the first place the offer was for 13 buses, and the board had to purchase the whole lot or none at all. A few of the buses included in the offer were not in possession of regular route permits from the City Council. Another point was that, while the owners of these buses doubtless would have been prepared to guarantee that they themselves would not enter the field again, there was nothing to prevent other persons coming along in the hope that they would be bought out by the board. Obviously the hoard could not commence a policy of that kind. There is this further to bo said, that if the new licensing authority, acting under the new regblations, refused any of the existing permit holders a license to operate, the Tramway Board would have to pay just compensation if the refusal meant that the tramways will benefit.”

A LABOUR RESOLUTION. WELLINGTON, May 29. “That this council whole-heartedly endorses the motor omnibus regulations introduced by the Government, and strongly urges that no modification of the regulations as at present drafted should be acceded to by the Government, believing as we do that the regulations are in the interests of the people as a whole.” This motion was carried at the last meeting of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council, following a lengthy discussion of the whole position. The secretary of the council, Mr W. Bromley, stated that while the Trades Council was endorsing the regulations, which were undoubtedly aimed at putting private enterprise out of action, members felt conscious of the fact that they came into existence only to supply the need which should have been met, especially in Wellington, by the City Council before private enterprise came into it at all. Mr Monteith some time ago drew attention to the necessity of making provision for feeders to our tramway system, assuring the council that if that were not done private enterprise would do the job and would create serious competition with municipal enterprise. That statement was ridiculed, said Mr Bromley. Events had shown, however, that if the council had done the thin*? in the first place a great deal of trouble would have been saved. Mr Bromley stated that the laxity of local bodies had almost compelled private enterprise to t e p in.