An increase in the cost of bus fares in Belfast is met with protests and more people using taxis.
In Turf Lodge in Belfast, people take taxis to get to work to make ends meet. Taxi drivers are doing special deals with commuters carrying passengers the three mile journey to the city centre for one shilling and six pence a head. Bus fares in Belfast went up in price last Monday making the journey four pence cheaper by taxi. About a thousand people a day have been using this taxi service demonstrating the level of dissatisfaction with the hike in bus fares.
People on the streets of Belfast tell RTÉ News about the dissatisfaction with the bus fare hike especially for children and older people.
We have no cars so we have to use the buses.
Belfast Buses (1970)
Belfast Corporation is currently losing £90,000 per month in the provision of its bus service. Hence, the increase.
It took tough action and slapped fifty per cent on the fares.
Opposition to the increased fares was met with demonstrations in the city centre blocking many roads. The protests resulted in several arrests and a riot in Ballymurphy on the night that the new fares were introduced.
The cheapest fare is now nine pence if the commuter uses tokens bought in blocks of ten, or eleven pence if paid for in cash. For journeys of more than three stages, constituting about a mile and a half, travellers pay one shilling and six pence worth of tokens or one and ten in cash. For anyone living in the suburbs, the cost is three shillings and eight pence for a return journey. To add to the problem, since the fares increased there has been a noticeable drop in the number of buses.
Belfast Corporation is split on the matter and 14 members are calling for the resignation of the Lord Mayor. Unionist councillors say they have laid on a mini bus service whereby commuters can pay whatever they can afford or believe to be reasonable. The Chairman of the Transport Committee William Spence voted against the fare hike and believes that the bus service should be subsidised through rates.
Keep the red buses running.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 November 1970. The reporter is John McAleese.
