Minister dismisses Essex Traffic Committee appeals
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• The Minister of Transport has dismissed the appeals by the Joint Traffic Committee of Essex Local Authorities against the decision of the Eastern Traffic Commissioners and the deputy Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner granting Eastern National Omnibus Co. Ltd. authority to increase its fares and that of the Eastern Traffic Commissioners granting the same facilities to Southend Corporation.
The appeals were, says the Minister, directed principally towards the grant made to Eastern National. Because the two un
dertakings operate common fare scales, it was considered necessary in making an appeal to involve both. The appellants considered that the Southend undertaking was in greater financial difficulty and that in the case of Eastern National while some increase in fares was justified it should not have been as great as that which the Commissioners allowed,
In terms of figures, Eastern National based its application on forecast additional costs of about £145,500 a year plus estimated addi
tional loss of revenue of £50,000 on account of additional passenger decline. On the existing fare scale it estimated that it would be involved in a loss of £100,000 in a full year, The Commissioners' grant was such as to produce an estimated net income of £288,000 in a full year, and a return of 8.59 per cent on capital employed.
The Minister felt that while it was not disputed that some increase in fares was called for, an increase of the order granted was not shown to be justified in this case. He concluded that the appeals should not be allowed, but that the position should be corrected on the occasion of the next fares applications from the undertakings.