Some Problems of Motorcab Operation,
Page 46
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The Difficulty of Making Ends Meet. The Owner-driver the Best Solution.
There is, it is to be presumed, still a large number of .Overseas readers showing interest in the possibihties of motorcab operation in some or other of the principal Overseas centres. They will look to the present issue of this journal for reliable information concerning the developments which have taken place in this branch of the industry during the past twelve months.
In our last issue of the Overseas Annual we had something of a sorry tale to tell concerning motorcab operation in the Metropolis as well as in the Provincial towns of Great Britain. We are not, unfortunately, in a position honestly to report any very considerable improvement in this respect, excepting in one particular direction. The large cab-operating companies have had a year of almost continued trouble. It is as well to admit at once that it has been a hard struggle to make both ends meet with some of these heavily-financed concerns. Only in one or two instances have very careful management, the most rigid economy, and a natural aptitude for the business resulted in owners of this class being in a position to show a favourable balance-sheet for the past twelve .months.
The one redeeming feature of the situation is the arrival of the owner-driver and the small owner as solutions to the motorcab problem in almost all parts of the country. We shall not be surprised if this tendency, which has been evolved as the result of a fusing of the old-time cab-operating methods with the modern employment of mechanical plant, becomes general in Overseas urban districts. We, as well as many of our readers, know for a fact that motorcab operation has been experiencing difficult times in Overseas centres as well as in the home country. New York, Paris, Berlin, Melbourne, Calcutta, Bombay, etc., etc., have merely exemplified other aspects of the situation. In most of these cases it has been found that the cost of operations, taking into account, in many cases, unduly heavy overhead charges, have permitted no tangible profit on the basis of fares received.
In London, last March, after protracted negotiations, the Board of Trade arbitrators awarded the " extras " to the drivers, and, in addition, ordered that the employers should supply the drivers with petrol at a fixed price of 8d. per gallon for the current. year. In the event of the price of petrol varying more than 12 per cent. on the 1st January of any year, as compared with the previous January, either party might bring the matter before the Board, with a view to its variance.
From a large number of figures which are in our possession, we are able to state that the bigger fleets of motorcabs in London, which, it must be admitted, is the Mecca of the motorcab owner, in view of the vastness of its potential traffic, are not operated at a. price much below 4d. per mile all told ; some even approach 4.6d. So that it will be seen that the speller man who can run one or two cabs for himself with practically no establishment and overhead charges, at a figure considerably below that quoted above, has a much better chance of successful operation, especially in view of the fact that the whole of the "extras " and the tips belong to him. Owner-drivers, and there are something like 2500 of them alone at the time of writing, can purchase their cabs, by means of membership of one or other of the co-operative loan societies, for a sum down of about 250, with instalments, say, at the rate of something like 215 per month. The owner-driver" takes a personal interest in his own machine. He treats it carefully and drives with discretion. He is not
n10 so dependent upon the tips of his patrons as is the employee of a big company, and altogether the service which he automatically yields to the public is of a more desirable nature than that which is forthcoming as a rule from the ordinary cabman who operates for a big owner.
With regard to the revenue accounts, it must be remembered that the novelty of cab riding has now disappeared in most of our big towns, it is unquestionable that tips have decreased : in many cases they have disappeared. In addition to this, petrol has risen in price by something like 50 per cent. since we last wrote in the Overseas Annual, so that the conditions on the whole are much more onerous than they were. Nevertheless, it is a fact that several thousands of owner-drivers in the old country are making very comfortable livings under their special conditions, and it is to that class of operation that we must undoubtedly look for the future of the motorcab branch of the industry. We may refer our readers again to the smaller models which are indicated in our collective table of costs on page 4 ante. During the past twelve months, there have, as we have recorded in other sections of this issue, been repeated periods of labour trouble and industrial unrest. Strikes in various branches of activity have been frequerkt, and these have notably affected the transport facilities of the nation, both for passenger and goods purposes. The motorcab has played a notable part in coming to the rescue of the public during such times. Fleets of machines have been commandeered for emergency services all over the country, and it is difficult to imagine what would have happened to the circulation of some of the newspapers had they not had the motorcab to depend upon for distribution purposes. The cab industry itself has not been exempt from these labour troubles ; of Paris and London especially has this been true. London, at the time of writing, is again threatened with a cab strike by the big companies' drivers.
We may conclude this brief notice of the general situation by remarking the undoubted growth in the use of the motorcab class of self-propelled vehicle by people of criminal intent. The inotorcab has played a striking part in connection with some of the most sensational robberies and even murders in Paris and in London during the past year. This, of course, is only incidental to our review, but it is a. noteworthy exemplification of the important part which self-propelled traffic now plays in the everyday lives of all classes of the community.
We append, as a guide to our Overseas friends, a table compiled, from some of the best results which have been achieved during the past year in regard to motorcab operation by company-ownership in the Metropolis:—