MORE TRAVELLING

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1935, Page 8

MORE TRAVELLING

INCREASE IN RAIL JOURNEYS. STRATFORD HOLIDAY TRAFFIC. Quite a substantial increase in the number of passengers leaving Stratford by rail during the holiday period is shown by comparison of the figures with those for the same period of last year. The period taken was from December 15, 1934, to January 15, 1935, when the bulk of the rush holiday traffic was dealt with. From the number of tickets sold at Stratford it is estimated that 6000 trips were made this summer, the revenue being £ll5B. Last year the number of trips made was 5255, the revenue being £llB3 l?s 7d. Regarding the difference in the proportion of tickets sold and the revenue received, the stationmaster (Mr. J. O’Connor) explained that it could be accounted for by a variation in the distances travelled. The number of tickets sold did not indicate whether the journeys being undertaken were short or long, this being reflected only in the revenue. Thus while at this Christmas period 745 more trips had been made, th. revenue had decreased by about £26. This was only a small figure, but it showed that a larger number of short journeys was being undertaken this than last. Another factor that may have made a slight difference was that last year there had been received at Stratford a fair number of bookings for Main Trunk journeys. There had been very many less of these bookings this year, the various Main Trunk stations concerned probably doing their own booking, so that a fall in revenue out of keeping with the increase in tickets had been noticed. The Main Trunk journeys were probably longer on the average than the usual. The increase in passenger traffic had been quite noticeable, said Mr. O’Connor. The returns included all excursion trains run between the dates mentioned. An increase in the number of passengers o:. these trains, though there was nothing to prove that there had been an increase, would account for a disproportionately lower revenue, as the fares were lower than for the routine express trains.