THE BUS SERVICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 12 October 1926, Page 7

THE BUS SERVICE.

NEW TIMES AND FARES

REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE.

To last night's meeting of the Borough Council :v special committee consisting of the Mayor, Councillors Arnold and Hay reported on bus timetables, reduced fares, concession tickets, and general. Mr T. Knowles was present and advised regarding the new bodies on order and istateu that one FederalKnight ’bus was completed and lour Federal-Knight bodies were ready to be fitted on when the chassis arrived, on 20th November. He also promised the four Thornycroft bodies complete for Monday, December 26. It was resolved to recommend that should the Council not require the tenth body, Mr Knowles be requested to relieve the Council from the undertaking to accept delivery ol same. That the Engineer’s recommendation that a Snndnv sendee be established from 1.30 p.m". to 9 p.m. with a halfhour service on each route, bo adopted as from December 1, 1926. It was resolved to recommend for adoption as from December 1, 1926, a half-hour service from the Bank of New Zealand on each route irom 8 a.m. to noon, together with the afternoon timetable ns submitted by the Engineer and amended by the Committee. That no further routes be considered until after the delivery of the Thornycroft buses.

! Fares.—Resolved to recommend that the following fares be adopted imrnej dTately:—Flat rate, charge ol tlirec- ’ pence, with concession coupon ticket i of twelve for 2s 6d. Children under FI ; years flat rate charge of twopence | with concession coupon ticket of 24 | for 2s 6d, and a flat rate for Sunday : service of sixpence 1 for any one journey trom any stopping place to any other stoopine place on am- route. Councillor Satterthwaite said this matter was so .important that he would like to see it further considered before tho suggested now time-table was adopted. The morning time-table provided for too frequent running to make it profitable, and he considered the flat rate unfair. Ho hoped the committee would give more time to go into the matter. >

Councillor Hawkey endorsed Councillor Satterthwaite’s remarks and said the time was coming when they would have to consider a bus service starting before .8 a.m. . Councillor Chittock also said he thought it would not be long before they would havo to hare a service starting at 7.30 a.m. to get people to work by 8 o’clock. Councillor Beustcad supported the suggestion that this particular clause be referred back to the committee for re-consideration. They should have the figures, get down to bedrock, and put the buses on a business basis. He was inclined to think that the suggestions for morning buses should be amended, as it seemed to him that they were too numerous. The Mayor said they must encourage the people to travel; if a halfhour service would not pay an hour service would certainly not do so. It would be better to increase rather than decrease the running times. The committee's proposals were only tentative and it would be well to give them a trial. Councillor Hay endorsed what the Mayor had said, adding that a halfhour service in the mornings and a quarter-hour service in the afternoons would, he believed, suit the pcop’e. If the committee’s recommendations were not acceptable, another committee could bo set up to go into the matter. The motion to refer the clause back to the committee was lost by one vote. . A discussion then took place concerning fares. Councillor Satterthwaite suggested sectional rates of Id. 2d and 3d, and a penny rate to the Bay in the holiday season. He was decidedly against the proposed flat rate for week days. 110 proposed and Councillor Kelly seconded, that the clause of the committee’s report dealing with fares be deleted, and that sectional fares be adopted, those fbr the first section to be . 2d, and for the terminus fid. Councillors Vinnell and Hunt proposed a further amendment that the question of fares be referred back to the Bus Committee for further consideration and report. The first amendment was lost, and the second one was carried. The report was then adopted.