From The Canberra Times, Wednesday 23 April 1947 –

Average of 1d A Trip More

Canberra bus fares will be increased within the next four weeks.

Increases will average about 1d. [one pence] a trip but the higher fares will not be made applicable to certain sections.

This was announced yesterday by the Minister for the Interior (Mr. Johnson) who said the increase would be made in attempts to stop the continuous losses on the Canberra omnibus service.

The announcement was made in reply to a question by Mr. Ryan (Flinders) in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Ryan drew attention to the report of the Auditor-General for 1945-46 which, he said, showed a loss of £15,662 by the Canberra transport service for that year.

Mr. Ryan asked what the Government intended to do to stop this loss and also to reduce losses on the Hotel Kurrajong, Hotel Ainslie and other Government controlled hotels and guest houses in Canberra.

The Auditor-General, Mr. Ryan said, revealed a loss of £7,760 on four guest houses, including the Hotel Kurrajong, for 1945-46.

Mr. Johnson said the losses on the Canberra bus service had been under consideration for some considerable time. The buses had to serve the needs of many people who, because of the housing shortage, had to live well out of Canberra. This meant that buses frequently had to make trips of considerable distance for few passengers.

It had been decided that efforts would have to be made to stop the loss but this would not be very popular. Fares would be increased within the next month.

Mr. Johnson said the present vehicles were almost worn out. It had been impossible to obtain new ones to replace them and consequently they were continually in the hands of the mechanics. This meant higher running costs.

New vehicles were on order but it would be a considerable time before they became available.

Mr. Johnson said that Government-controlled hotels such as the Hotel Kurrajong and the Hotel Ainslie, were not established to be paying propositions.

These hotels were established for the convenience of members of Parliament, ministerial staffs and public servants, who were only in Canberra for short periods.

Accommodation had to be reserved for members of Parliament and tariff schedules for this had been fixed by Governments of the past.

Mr. White (Balaclava): Hotel Canberra pays its way.

Mr. Johnson: That hotel is in an entirely different category to the Kurrajong.

The Minister for Information (Mr. Calwell): It would not pay either without its bar.

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From The Canberra Times, Friday 25 April 1947 –

Bus Service Fares Increase

The Secretary of the Department of the Interior (Mr. J. A. Carrodus) yesterday explained the application of the recent decision that fares on the Canberra omnibus service should be increased.

The fares increase, which will be similar to those which will apply in Sydney and Newcastle, will not place the passenger in an unfavourable position as compared with passengers in Sydney or Newcastle. The average mileage for a 2d. fare in the latter centres is 1½ miles. The average in Canberra is 3 miles. The effect of the elimination of the present two 2d. sections and the substitution of an average mileage of 1½ miles for each section — ranging from 2d. to 7d. for a complete journey of an average of 9½ miles — will effect an equitable distribution of sections.

However, a passenger requiring to travel over an outlying route exceeding 1½ miles (an instance would be the 1 and 2 route between Manuka and Kurrajong) would not suffer under the new schedule, because the charge would be assessed on the shorter distance of the No. 2 route between the points mentioned.

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Updated on 29 December 2020

This page was last updated on 23 May 2021