PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
Page 70
Page 71
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Whether to Buy New Motor Coaches or to Retain the Old Ones in Service.
T WAS very interested and not a little pleased, while I_ in the middle of preparing those two articles which have just appeared dealing with the selection of new motor coaches for next season, to get an inquiry from a reader concerning the wisdom of purchasing new vehicles. That this should happen does, at least, show that in my choice of subjects for these articles I am getting very close to the requirements of readers.
The particular inquiry I have in mind reads as follows :—" We have been running two 28-seater charsii-banes since 1921 and, of course, these are now out of -date. What we want to know is : will it pay us to buy -two new ones of the latest type, such as the Leyland Lion long 37-seaters at £1,625 each?
"Our takings this year for four months are from 1350 to £400 per char-à-bancsi and they work out at about is. 7d. per mile. The driver's rate of pay is £4 aweek and garage is very cheap. There is more -work to be had with new type goods.
"Our usual day trips work out at about 5s. 9d. seat. What can you advise?"
The first thing in dealing with a problem of this kind is to analyse the figures of cost and revenue for the old Machines. I am a little handicapped in this in the present instance because the information available is so meagre. There is no statement as to mileage or the number of trips a week. The writer mentions only four months' work with the coaches and does not say what they are doing for the remaining eight months of the year. With a lengthy experience of commercial vehicle operation and the exercise of a little ingenuity, however, I think I can make something of the information I have.
• First of all, I will take it that the figure of £400 applies for the full period of four months—say 17 weeks. This, according to the letter, works out at Is. 7d. per mile, so that, presumably, if I divide £400 by Is. 7d. I shall arrive at the mileage covered during the four months. In round figures, this works out at 5,000 miles. Divide this by 17, the number of weeks, and we get 300 miles a week as the distance covered by these vehicles.
Now, I am going to assume that they are solid-tyred machines—that is more than likely, considering their age—and on that basis, referring to The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating, Costs, the total cost of operation would be apprpximately a shilling a mile. Since, therefore, the takings are is. 7d., that means that there is a gross profit of 7d. per mile, which, at 300 miles per week, is £8 15s. per week. This is quite reasonable, being slightly in excess of the £7 which is given in those Tables as comprising a minimum profit of £4 10s, per week net and £2 10s. per week establishment charges.
But—and this is where we really begin to get down B4-4
to the problem—can we be sure that the operating costs of these vehicles are equal to the average which is the basis of the figures in The Ccminiercial Motor Tables? I should like, in that connection, to remind readers that the Tables are based on figures dealing with all types and kinds of motor coach working under all sorts of conditions. The results are averaged and the figure thus obtained is that which is put down in the Tables. That means that the printed figures are considerably better than the worst, and are not so good as the best. I should imagine that six-year-old motor coaches would give results more likely to approximate to the worst than evento the average, let alone the best, and I am sure that I am perfectly correct in assuming that the operating cost of these six-year-old vehicles is higher than the average. Old machines consume more petrol to the mile than new ones. They rake much more oil, if for no other reason than that so much of It leaks away.
The wheels are nearly certain to be out of line to a greater or less extent, and this involves greatly increased wear of tyres, much more than the user would expect from a consideration of the comparatively small degree of misalignment. The cost of maintenance is sure to be higher; parts are worn and fatigued as well as distorted here and there as the result of excessive strains which they have had to bear from time to time. Renewals are called for more frequently, and the occasional overhauls, in the course of which the need for these renewals becomes evident, are much more costly than is the case with new vehicles.
The only item of running cost which we may assume has not altered is that for depreciation. In a six-yearold vehicle covering the annual mileage of about 12,000 the cost will not have been wiped out and the figure will still be running on as before at a given amount per mile.
Revising the figures of operating costs, therefore, in accordance with these conditions, the following may be said to represent more acctirately the value of the various items just enumerated. For petrol 1,75d. per mile. Oil id. a mile. Tyres id. a mile. Maintenance 2.2d. per mile, and depreciation 1.80d. Total of running costs only, 7.25d.
I am. going to take it that the standing charges remain essentially as indicated in the Tables, except that instead of 13 12s., which is the figure therein given for the drivers wages, I must substitute it
That brings the total of weekly standing charges to 2,007d. per week, which, on a 300-mile week, is 6.650. per mile. T' .e total cost is consequently 13.944., which as near as makes no matter is is. 2d. a mile, and, therefore, the profit per mile which is being made is 2d. a mile less than we had thought, being only 5d. instead of 7d. That means that the weekly profit is only £6 Sr.
Now, we have to consider what is going to happen if new vehicles with capacity for 37 passengers each be substituted. First of all, I am surely perfectly safe in assuming that they will be pneumatic-tyred. Secondly, it is equally certain that the running costs of these machines will be considerably less, after they have been "run in," than the average. To be fair, however, I will first of all take it that their operating cost is equal to average, and for that I must take 40seater coaches, assuming petrol at a shilling a gallon. At that the running cost will be 8.41d., and the standing charges 2,071d. At 300 miles a week that amounts to 15.31d. per mile.
The takings per mile on the old vehicle amounted to Is. 7d. a mile. The new ones, however, have a seating capacity considerably in excess, and, assuming that the takings will increase in proportion, that means that the receipts will amount to 2s. id. per mile. The profit, therefore, is 10d. per mile, which is £12 10s. a week.
When Substantial Savings can be Effected.
I am very sure, however, that these new coaches will be less costly to run than 1s. 3d. per mile. They will probably for some timer if well looked af,ter, do nine miles to the gallon; which brings the figure for petrol down to 1.33d. a mile. The expenditure on oil will be slight—no more than ith of a penny—so that there will be considerable saving on those two items alone. Pneumatic tyres are set down as costing 2.50. a mile in the Tables, That figure is on the safe side. Experience, shows that with new vehicles and given reasonable care and attention, 2.2d. or even less can be expected. The maintenance cost of a new vehicle will be small for a couple of years at least, and there will be something saved out of a penny, per mile towards increased expenditure which must he anticipated, as what goes OR depreciation will be the same as that given in the Tables, say, 2d. a mile.
That gives us a figure of operating cost of 6.73d. per mile. The standing charges are still the same, namely 2,071d. a week, which is 6.9d. per mile reckoning on 300 miles per week. The total operating cost, therefore, is 13.63d., and the profit is nearly a shilling per mile, or £15 per week. Clearly, the argument in favour of buying new vehicles becomes more emphatic the more we examine the problem.
We have not yet, however, considered the difference in working conditions brought about by the use of pneumatic tyres. Clearly it is of no use to run to the expense of 2.2d. a mile for pneumatic tyres, as against .50., which is the corresponding figure for solids on the same size vehicle, and involving an increase in running costs, notwithstanding economies in petrol, oil and maintenance brought about by the use of pneumatics, amounting to Iid. a mile, unless some return in other directions is to be anticipated. The benefit usually takes the form a a bigger weekly mileage. It is more than likely that the limit of 300 to which the existing vehicles work, although set in part by the age of the machines. themselves, is governed mainly by the fact that they are fitted with solid tyres. Five hundred miles a week would be the least that could be expected with pneumatic-tyred machines; much more than this can be covered, but I gather that in this case, at least, the conditions under which the vehicles are operated would not permit of anything more. If we calculate our operating costs on a basis of 500 miles a week instead of 300, then the operating costs become 10.87d. or, say, 11d, per mile only. That means a profit of is. 1d. per mile, but, as the mileage is now 500 per week, that means that the gross profit is raised to £27 per week.
Dispense With the Obsolete Vehicle.
The argument in favour of dispensing with obsolete machines and displacing them by new ones has been advanced by mt.. on several occasions in these columns, but chiefly in regard to goods-carrying vehicles. It seems, however, to apply with even greater effect when the subject is passenger vehicles.
I am a little curious to know if we can find out anything from the statement that the day trips work out at 5s. 50. a seat. We have assumed 300 miles a week ; taking it that the vehicle works six days to the week this means a day trip to be 50 miles. Fifty miles at is. 7d. a mile is 79s. 2d., and that at 5s. 50. per seat means that 14 seats only would be occupied—that is to say half the capacity of the coach. Working the problem out the other way round, that is to say taking it that, on the average, approximately two-thirds of the seats are occupied, that means 20 will be filled and the takings for a day trip would then be 20 times 5s. 9d., which is £5 15s. To arrive at the mileage per day trip we must divide £5 15s. by 1s. 7d., from which it is apparent that a day trip is about 72 miles, so that the vehicles are only working on an average four
days a week. S.T.R.