Motorcab Topics.
Page 14
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For the week ending the 5th inst., the traffic receipts of the General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., were £16,026, which is an increase of 23,751 on the corresponding week of last year.
More F.I.A.T.s for London.
F.1.A.T. Motors, Ltd., ha z an order for 200 more cabs for the Motor Cab Co., Ltd. Delivery has already commenced. All these new machines are to be " four-speeders," and are to have the 10-inch ground clearance, which is now specified by Scotland Yard.
Eastbourne Extends.
The Watch Committee of Eastbourne Town Council has considered the question of granting additional anotoreab licences, and has resolved that 10 be granted and allotted as follows :—Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., 3; C. Bassett, 1; Eastbourne and District, Motor Cabs, Ltd., 1; Ray and Sons, 1; Sydney Simmons, 1; W. Stevens, 2; and S. A. Stratford, 1.
Gharry versus Taxicab.
A correspondent writes to 116 teat in his opinion, there appears to be a likelihood of trouble for the proprietors of taxicabs in India, owing to the extreme cheapness of the native vehicles, which the motor vehicles are intended to displace. This is an aspect of the situation to which we have already drawn attention. The first-class gharry, an illustration of which will be found below, can be hired for Is. 4d. for the first hour and is. per hour afterwards ; the second-class and morepopular eonveyance may be secured for is. for the first hour and 6d. per hour afterwards. Speed is of little importance in Indian cities, so that the projected importation of some thousands of motorcabs, before the local situation has been fully considered, appears to be injudicious, to say the least of it. Headlong development of this kind is often harmful in the long run; proof is not far to seek.
No Rebate for " Private-hire " Cabs.
In reply to a question in the House of Commons last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that the 1.1d. rebate is not applicable to petrol consumed by motoreabs, and similar classes of machines, which are reserved for " private hire." Only for those hackney carriages which actually ply for hire " in a public place," will the rebate be obtainable.
" The Smartest Cab in Cambridge."
In the issue of this journal for the 18th February, 1909, we reproduced a photograph of a Char= taxicab— one of the Cambridge fleet of the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd.— and from personal observation we felt justified, at the time, in selecting as the title of that picture the words "The Smartest Cab in Cambridge." We have recently been interested to receive particulars of the remarkably-consistent running of this same vehicle. This Charron
went into service in October, 1608, and from that time until the 3rd of the present month only four days have been spent in dock for repair, out of a possible 451 working days. Only every other Sunday was allotted to +he driver as a rest day. During the four days of repairs, a burst tube in the radiator, a broken tooth in a timing wheel, and a sheared key in a backaxle pinion were the only troublas. No new brake shoes or clutch leathers have been fitted as yet. The total mileage during the 451 working days has been 22,000. The same driver, Darby, has driven the machine on all of the days but one, and it is evident that very considerable credit is die to him for his intelligent and painstaking performance.
More Provincial Muddles.
Oldham's special schedule of motorcab by-laws provides that : the fist five minutes of waiting shall be free, and that, after that period, sixpence shall be chargeable for every quarter-of-anhour of waiting ; return fares to the place of hiring are to be chargeable at half the normal ls.-a-mile rate ;between midnight and 6 a.m., fares at one-and. a-half times the normal rate may be demanded. The whole of the advantages of taximeter control are, however, effectively nullified by the last regulation, which reads : " In every case the hiring shall be by distance unless the hirer express at the commenc?ment of the hiring his desire to engage by time, in which case the same shall be determined by time."