Folly of Cut Rates for Private Hire
Page 39
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AN informative booklet, "Private Parties by Road," has been published by Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., Preston, and 10,000 copies are being distributed among party organizers. It has been written by Mr. H. Bottomley, general manager.
" The operator who temporarily obtains an advantage over his competitors by charging ' cat ' rates," he states, "sooner or later is driven to economize in the quality of his service to the public — sometimes with disastrous results, especially if the economies are reflected by inferior maintenance of the vehicles or by employment of cheap labour."
Pointing to the efficiency of Ribble's maintenance methods, Mr. Bottomley says that the average mileage per breakdown was well over 100.04k} and sometimes as high as 198.000. The company's largest private-hire contract was for the conveyance of over 6,000 passengers.
One of the factors which affected the cost of the hire of vehicles was the period of standing awaiting the requirements of the party. There was no stand-by charge when the average speed of the trip from start to finish was 20 m.p.h., nor when there was an, overnight stay en route. A subsistence allowance, however, had to be paid for overnight stops, together with garaging expenses.
Ribble had no arrangements with caterers or hoteliers under which commission was paid for business transacted at catering or hotel premises as a result of visits of coach parties.
WHEELS BALANCED TO HELP T.V.
EIGHT Karrier 14-seat vehicles, which .La arc to be used in connection with television outside broadcasting at the Coronation, have had their wheel assemblies correctly balanced by the Churchill electronic system.
The highly sensitive nature of the equipment to be carried calls for a minimum of vibration from the vehicle, and it was at the request of Commer Cars, Ltd., and the India Tyre Co., Ltd., that V.L. Churchill and Co., Ltd., makers of the wheel balancer, gave this special service. It is understood that the results were completely successful.
MADRAS TO SPEND Rs. 3m.
A SCHEME costing Rs. 3m. for the rn, improvement of transport services in Madras has been approved by the Government of Madras. This year and next year some 90 22-25-seat short-wheelbase buses will be replaced by 45 lightweight oil-engined buses seating over 30 people. Twenty larger oil-engined buses seating up to 50 will be introduced in 1954-55.
There are 338 State-owned buses operating in Madras. A decision on whether to run double-deckers will be taken after the suitability of a Leyland 63-seater, now operating experimentally, has been tested.