FULHAM'S TRANSPORT TO BE COMPLETELY MECHANIZED?
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FOR some time Fulham Borough Council's highways committee has been considering replacing the remainder of its horsed vehicles by motors, and it is now strongly of the opinion that the stud of horses should be abandoned entirely.
It is suggested that three new motor vehicles be purchased, at first, until the council's exact requirements are known. One machine can be purchased immediately out of the provision of £550 made in the current year's estimates, the other two being acquired early in April.
At present the transport in the works department is carried out by 17 motor collectors, 12 horsed carts and a gullyemptying machine, additional vehicles being hired according to the amount of work in hand. The first motor collector was purchased in September, 1925, and the last one in July, 1930.
In 1924-25 (all horses) the cost was £16,370 for the collection of 36,777 tons of refuse. In 1930-31 (all motors) the cost was £14,785 for 37,890 tons, the cost per ton collected having been reduced from 8s. 10.83d. to 7s. 9.65d. The rate• of wages for the dustmen and drivers was reduced by about £250 between 1924-25 and 1930-31. The cost of dust collection for 1931-32 (all motors) was £14,116 for a total tonnage of 37,930.
Street refuse is now discharged direct from the barrows into collecting lorries instead of being dumped in the streets for collection by horsed vans. In this connection two lorries and four men superseded four horsed carts and five men.
It appears that the cost of a council cart, horse and man, per working day, in 1930-31 was £1 4s. id., as compared with £1 6s. 7d. for a motor. If capital charges be added to the mechanicalvehicle costs the charge per working day is increased to 11 12s. 44. for the year in question.
The experience in the department is, however, that the motor will do the work of two horses, and mechanical transport has thus definitely proved to be more economical than the horsed-transport system. The present contract-hiring rate for a horse, cart and man is 1.6s. 6d. per day, but even at this figure the cost of mechanical transport is not at a disadvantage, so long as each vehicle does the work of two horses..
In other respects motor lorries offer many advantages over horsed transport, as they can be used day and night, and undoubtedly suit London traffic conditions much better than do horses. They can be used in frost and snow much more readily than can horses, and discharge more quickly at the destructor. Lorries have also proved specially suitable for street watering, owing to their mobility in traffic.
The firat two motor vehicles have now been in continual use for over seven years, and are likely to give at least one or two years of further service.