GERMANY'S PUBLIC - SERVICE VEHICLES.
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Returns Dealing with the Operation of State-owned and Private Services.
SomE figures which have recently been issued show the great development which is taking place in connection with the use of public-service vehicles in Germany and they strikingly indicate the difference in the results obtainable from State and private ownership. The German Post Office is the department entrusted with the organization of public motor road services in the country, and, although it has undoubtedly done its work well, many English visitors to Germany this past summer have come away with the impression that the public i3 not taking full advantage of the services available; this, it is said, being due to the lack of interest in their work on the part of the drivers and conductors.
This was the impression left upon the writer as the result of a visit to Germany during the recent holiday season, an impression which is, strangely enough, fully corroborated by the figures recently issued. These show that from the beginning of the year to the end of June last the number of Post Office motor coaches in operation throughout Germany had been increased from 2,572 to 2,714, whilst the number of privately owned coaches had advanced daring the same period from 748 to 797. The average number of vehicles in use during the six months was 2,635 and 780 respectively. The number of passengers carried on Post Office vehicles was 21,050,000 and on privately owned coaches 2,125,000, whilst he total. distance covered was 13,168,750 miles and 728,125 miles respectively.
From these figures several interesting deductions may be made, notably that, whereas the privately owned buses carried 2.86 passengers per vehicle-mile, the figure for the Post Office vehicles was only 1,.5. Furthermore, whilstthe privately owned vehicles each ran an average of less than 1,000 miles during the six months, each of the Post Office buses had to cover nearly 5,000 miles.