Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, NOV. 8, 1926 COSTLY TRAMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17185, 8 November 1926, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, NOV. 8, 1926 COSTLY TRAMS.

Willi the renewal of interest in the question of whether or not the tramway service in Gisbonie should be discontinued on account of the excessive cost of operating the system, and the need for heavy additional capital outlay to maintain the service in a state of efficiency, it is of interest to compare the results obtained in Gisbonie with those of other centres. Unfortunately, these eomparisions, in every respect, are detrimental to the local service. It Ims boon contended that the failure of the service in Gisbonie is, not peculiar*, and' that in other towns trams have had to face .similar difficulties. That this is not the case, and that Gisbonie has an unenviable record that is not even approached by any other centre, is made clear by figures which appear in the Local Authorities' Handbook, an interesting publication issued by the Government Statistician. When it is stated that tho Gisbonie trams' are more costly to run, per car ynile, than any others in New Zealand, and that the revenue, on the same basis, is considerably lower than that of any other service little more remains to be said. That, however, is the position. The Statistician's figures show that the Gisbonie tram service costs 22..'!7d per car mile t<> run, while the average'of all tram services in New Zealand, calculated on the B.uno basis in each case, is only I7.tiod. It is interesting to note thai", the excessive running costs are not account-

ed for by the suiallnoss of the service, or the spursity of population. Refutation of such a suggestion is contained in the experience of New Plymouth, an even smaller town, where the running costs are as low as 11.0-td per car mite, or little, more than half the cost in Gisbonie. It. is possible, however, that the nature of the Gisbonie service accounts in some measure for 1 he hiji'lt cost of running, us car maintenance in Oisborne is a great deal higher than in some towns where more ear.- are used, and much higher revenue received. The capital charges on the Gisbonie trams per car mile are also on a much higher plane than the average, the respective iigmes being 8,4 Sd and fi.SMh The figures show that*too capital and operating costs of the Gisbonie trams are not only the highest in the Dominion, but are' also 7.32 d per mile more than the average. This being so, the service, starts on with a handicap of that amount, compared with other towns, in soeking to obtain a rovenuo suffi-

cicnt to meet the expenditure. Far from securing the additional 7.32 d per mile required, the service actually loses 8.7,(d per mile compared .with the average for all services. Gisborne trams only returned 14.72 d for each mile nni, Other services elsewhere averaged 23.46 d per mile, a difference or' 8.73 d. Thus it is that compared with, all the other services in New Zealand, the'Gisborne trains are handicapped to the extent of over Is 4d per mile; their handicap is greater than the total receipts. The revenue of the trams is,.of course, dependent upon two factors, the number of passengers carried, and the fares charged. Where tne population is small it is almost to be expected that the fares will be made high in an endeavor to -tfi'-set the small number of users. It is not surprising then to find that on a basis o"' a section of 100 chains Gisborne is charging higher fares than am other service in the country, the fare being 3.13 d, compared with 2.98 in Napier, the next highest, and 1.27 d in Dunodii:, the lowest. The manner in which the restriction o.f the service to two localities, and the small population, is reflected on the passengers carried is shown by the fact that Gisborne trams carry an average of ( ! .44 passengers per car mile, or more than 30 per cent, less than the Dominion average of 9.51. On this point the Government Statistician makes a most apt observation, "In small centres,-' :

he says, "the overhead expense is con

Jderablo, and in very small towns the traffic apparently is not dense enough to bring in sufficient revenue unless high fares are 'charged." In Gisborne high fares have been chraged, but the revenue is still insufficient, and, in fact, lower per mile than on any other sen ice. The only remedy suggested by an authority like 'lie Government Statistician has been tried, and has proved a failure.