1,4,C.C. Tramways : Claims and Results.
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Revenue from Overcrowding Temporarily Saves the Undertaking.
By the Editor.
One naturally wishes, at a time of stress and under. war conditions, to be generous in one's views about any public-service undertaking. We have,, with that object in view, taken time to consider fully the annual accounts for the L.C.C. tramways, issued under date the 13th ult., and the accompanying reports concerning those accounts for which the Finance Committee and the Highways Committee of the Council are responsible.
We have been the more ready to look closely into the facts and figures, by reason of the extravagant mans of satisfaction for which certain London newspapers—" The Star," for example—and that impervious champion of the' tramways, Sir John Belau, are responsible. These advocates of " tramways at any price "naturally fix upon the alleged surplus of • 2655,631 (1699,276) on working, and they appear to think that the tramways have done magnificently in meeting interest and debt charges amounting, to 2752,385 (2732,449). An our figures in parentheses, we may here remark, concern the previous financial year (1914-1915). The acknowledged and adjusted deficit is. 273,795 (233,173).
No Renewals-reserve Provided.
It is a necessary financial obligation, and one which. must be discharged if solvency is to be maintained, that a tramway undertaking should not merely meet its interest and debt charges, the same as any commercial concern has to do, but that it should also make provision for renewals-reserve. The L.C.C. has again failed to make any payment to the renewals fund, and has so allowed the undertaking to get deeper into the mire of financial jugglery. The actuarial requirement, for allocation to renewalsreserve, after an exhaustive inquiry a few years ago by independent chartered accountants, was fixed at 0.67d. per ear-mile. As the Council's cars this year ran 47,8,79, 675 miles (58,978,'92), the full Provision for the year, to keep the undertaking on a solvent, basis, should have been approximately 2133,000 (216.3,000). The true deficit for the past financial year, presuming that there is nothing else to be brought into, account, and that the rolling-stock has been maintained adequately, is therefore 2206,795 (2196,173).
The renewals-reserve must have been reduced by at least a further 270,000, had it been possible to carry out renewals of 'tracks, conductor-rails, trolley
wires, cables, motor generators, etc., on the pre-war scale. Shortage of labour has allowed not a few matters to fall behind, and there is consequently more • money left in the fund than would otherwise have been the case. After spending 273,255, it stood at 2329,968 on the 31st March.
Making the Best ol a Bad Job.
The Highways Committee has certainly made the best of a bad job. We will give it credit for that, because it is becoming increasingly apparent that the public much prefers to use motorbuses when those vehicles are available, except in the cases where below-cost fares are offered as a temptation to workmen, and to others who elect to avail themselves of workmen's fares. The difficulties by which the Highways Committee—which Committee is responsible for the runningof the tramcars—has been confronted are merely those by which other passenger-carrying undertakings in the country have also been, confronted. We doubt if the L.C.C. has been more generous in the matter of war allowances than any of the competing undertakings the sum charged is E1.8 295,365. Shortage of staff, substitution of new workers for old, and increases in the cost of supplies and materials, have been common ground for everybody who deals with transport.
The report states that 144,street miles of electric lines and 51 miles of street lines have been operated. There has been no payment into the renewals fund since the year 1912-1913, and the deficiency on the past year's working has been made good by drawing on the general reserve fund, the balance in which, at the 31st March last, was reduced to 270.,419. The residues of both the -renewals fund and the generalreserve fund are practically all invested, and it is pointed out that, in ease oLrealization, the loss will be about 20 per cent.
The Position Saved by Overcrowding.
The total number of passengers carried was
545,423,397 (660,497,992). The receipts per car-mile ,were actually as high as 11.42d. compared with an estimate of 9.751, and compared with receipts for the previous financial year (1914-1915) of 9.50d. This makes it quite elear that the situation for the L.C.C. tramcars has been temporarily saved by overcrowding Those who use the cars know how great the discomforts have been' although we admit that the unpleasant conditions have been accepted with but little grumbling. It is the financial effect with which we are concerned, and we repeat the fact that the unexpected jump of 1.67d. per car-mile on the esti= mated receipts has saved the situation. It is but another exemplification of the old American streetrailwayman's saying—" the straphangers pay the dividends!' The Highways Committee evidently believes that this abnormal revenue will continue to be available, for it estimates that the receipts per car-mile during the ensuing financial year will he 11.50d. They had fallen to 9.50d. in the year 191141915.
Capital; Horse Debt; Street Widenings.
The net capital charge remaining unredeemed was 29,580,992 (29,836,187). The included debt in respect of obsolete plant and stock in connection with the horse tramways which were taken over by the Council amounted to 2971,678 (X966,232). Itis somewhat difficult to understand why this account shows a slight increase. Why is this so? The tramways undertaking had, at the 31st March last, been charged with 2689,317 (2673,775), on account of an agreed total of 2800,252 in respect of street wienings, an amount which is undoubtedly most favourable to the tramways. A transfer now appears to have been made, to the extent of 240,576, in respect of the estimated sum paid in past years to tramway companies (as part of the purchase money for their undertakings), in respect of their expenditure on street improvements. The L.C.C. tramways undertaking is, therefore, left with a further prospective charge of only 270,359 in this connection, thanks in part to this special piece of book-keeping.
The Fallacy of Savings to Ratepayers. '
The Highways Committee again repeats its impudent claim that it has saved local authorities, in respect of the maintenance of paving, about 100 per cent. more than is borne out by facts. The contumacious suggestion this year is a, saving of 2140,000 (2134,400). We again wish emphatically to challenge the correctness of this assertion.
The use of the tramway tracks by the cumbersome
tramcars undoubtedlyconcentrates the ordinary wheeled traffic upon the, remainder of the highway, between the outside rails and the kerbs, which portions of the highway are repairable by the borough councils. The tramcars prevent an even distribution of the traffic, as much as the existence of the track renders the best road-construction impossible. of achievement. The cost of the paving per superficial yard is, on the Highway Committee's own showing,' disclosed as being in the vicinity of 2s.; compared with a proper and usual figure of 10d. for the same class of paving where there are no rails. Either the Highways Committee has included in the £140,000 many electric, traction elements of track maintenance, or it is repairing the paving at more than double the usual cost. If the former, the charges should be debited to maintenance; if the latter, the claim to economy is demolished. The Council is here handling an alleged., " relief " figure of 2500 per mile of single track, and one which is three times as high as the average cost of the maintenance and repair of the paving of tramway tracks in the whole of the United Kingdom. One expects the cost of such maintenance to be higher in London than elsewhere, but we are convinced that the strict allocation for paving only, for the whole of the L.C.C. tracks, should be in the vicinity of 284,000, which is very different from the 2140,000 so charged.
Payments for Local Rates.
• The total rates on the L.C.C. tramway tracks were 182,927. This appears to us to be a very low levy indeed for the .exclueive right of user which the tramcars enjoy, in respect of the use of flanged wheels upon the metal rails, especially when one pays regard to the enormous damage which the rails do to'the individual property of other users of the highway. Tramrails are the cause of enormous wear and tear, as well as serious accidents.
Envy of Motorbus Successes.
Several pages of the -report are devoted to an examination of the joint working arangements. between the L.G.O.C. and several " tube companies. The Highways Committee appears to view this arrangement with consternation, and is evidently prepared for an attack on the status quo hereafter. It is undeniably much concerned about the continued prosperity of the motorbuses, and their growing popularity with the travelling public. Whilst lamenting the effect of adverse conditions upon its own electrictramway _undertaking, the Highways Committee writes of the L.G.O.C. and its associated companies : "The main point which emerges from a study ef :the traffic figures of the combinations is that, in spite of the increased cost of wages, coal and other expenses
of eperation, it has been possible to deal with the traffic, which has produced substantially the same amount of revenue, and has probably been not much less in volume, in such a way -as to produce a small increase in both surplus of working and net eaanlegs." This success must -indeed be a bitter pill for the tramway school.
Overcrowdinekt6 Keep the.L.C.C. Trams Going.
The estimates for the ensuing financial year, ending the 3.1st March next, are based, as we have already pointed out; upon continued permission to oYercrewd the cars, and so to derive an extra income from the public, due to this inconvenjenee and abnormality, of more than 1.(1 per ear-mile aboie the normal. The net estimated deficiency is still £74,092, without any provision for renewals reserve.
It is proposed to spend £96,200 out of renewals seserve, bringing the balance at the end of the current financial year down to 2211,761e It is expected that the balance in the general reserve fund-will be extinguished. We may recall that we wrote, in July of last Year, when reviewing the L.C.C: trainway accounts for the year 1914-1915.: It would appear that both the 'general-reserve fund and the renewalsreserve fund willebe exhausted during the course of the financial year 1917-1918." If renewals are carried out, tt a greater rate than is no-W _passible; that forecast will undoubtedly be proved correct. The re-newel of the undertaking is undOubtedly in arrears.
Apprehensiveness of L.C.C. Committees.
Both the Finatce Committee and the Highways Committee "view with no little anxiety" the downward financial tendency of the.tramway undertaking. They none-the less make no proposals for placing the renewals-reserve fund upon ahealthy basis, or for maintaining the track as a whole in a condition which is econornically fair and sound in respect of its noninterference with ordinary user of the highway. They are obliggd to go on "drifting." Our examination of results of the past year's working of the L.C.C. trateca.rs; our personal knowledge of the condition of the track, and our confidence in the change of attitude on the part of the general Public, to-day convince • us that the motorbus has already thoroughly beaten the electric 'tramcar on its own ground in and around London. The empty boastings of Mr. A. L. C. Fell, as to the placing of motorbuses in museums, which he made but a few ,years ago, and the special pleadings of Sir John Berm, in respect of alleged savings to the ratepayers, will recoil upon the heads of those gentlemen to an extent which they never foresaw. We are not surprised that the High-W'ays Committee lays down nine proposals for improving the position of the undertaking,tbut these are inadequate.