RAILWAY DEPARTMENT REFUSED LICENCE FOR BUS SERVICE

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 April 1949, Page 5

RAILWAY DEPARTMENT REFUSED LICENCE FOR BUS SERVICE

Appeal Authority Uph olds Appeal Of A Private Company

AUCKLAND, Last Night (PA).—An appeal by Edwards Motors, Ltd., against the decision of the No. 1 Transport Licensing Authority, which granted the Railway Department a new continuous passenger service licence between Auckland and Rotorua, has been upheld by Judge Archer, the Transport Appeal Authority, in a reserved judgment.

The Railway Department proposed to eliminate two Auckland to Rotorua passenger trains which were fanning at a loss and sought a new licence for a through passenger bus service, on the route followed by file railway, said Judge Archer. This was substantially the same route as that served by the appellant company. If it were possible to restrict the proposed service to passengers who would otherwise use the

1 present train services there would be ! insufficient passengers to render the department’s new service worth while. He was not prepared to agree with i ihe No. 1 Licensing Authority that the I department was entitled to a licence, | as it involved merely a change in the I mode of transport, and because the appellant’s service was not a through service. Passengers at present carried by train could be accommodated, either by the department’s existing service, or by Edward Motors. There was, therefore, no justification for an additional service by the department.