HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
Page 19
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
An Occasional Chat on Subjects and Problems of Interest to Those Who are Engaged, or About to be Engaged, in Running Commercial Vehicles for a Living.
IT IS ONLY possible, of course, in a series of articles such as this, to deal with vehicles in groups, or classes, 'and this is particularly the case in regard to the compilation of tables of running costa. It would be appreciated, for example, that the working cost and standing charges of a London bus, having regard to the conditions under which it works, must be considerably less than that of a single owner-driven vehicle in town or the provinces. As a matter of fact, the object of the writer is to help the latter class of user and not the former, and the figures tabulated herewith, and in previous articles, are more particularly applicable in cases where from one to three or four machines only are run by the one organization. It is equally true that a three-ton lorry in regular employment, carrying one class of goods over comparatively longdistanoe non-stop journeys, will, on the whole, cost less than a machine of similar make and capacity in the hands of a .country carrier who collects and delivers all sorts of odd parcels.
As I have before stated, the results given are averages and, if anything, the costs err on the high side. For the same reason, although I have given the costs of running chars-h-bancs of various sizes at some detail, I do not intend to endeavour to dif
ferentiate between the char-h-bancs and the bus, or . to take into consideration, in detail, the effect on the running costs in cases where a man has two bodies for the one chassis, one being a goods-carrying body, the other for passengers. Such an owner may easily correct these tables by adding, to the standing charges for his char-h,-bancs, half-a-crown a week for every £100 that the goods body is costing him—this is on account of interest—and an extra 4s. or 55. a week, or whatever the actual figure is, for the cost of storing the extra body.
I have not taken any account whatever of taxation in any of these tables. The amount concerned is se small that, having in view the fact that these tables are averages the incidence of the taxes is of no moment. In de case of a. goods vehicle, once the initial registration fee of £1 has been paid, there is _only the driver's licence of 5s. a year to pay. ,In the ease of a char-h-bancs, the taxation may be £2 17s. 6d or 23 18s. 6d. a. year, according to its size, plus the driver's licence, very little more, in the worst case, than is. a week on the standing charges. I have, however, included in the running cost of chars-h-bancs an item of 3d. per mile, which is all the money County Councils are now charging char-h-bancs owners -for the privilege of using their roads. Strictly speaking, this is not an item in the running cost of the vehicle. " In the majority of cases, however, there will be a. charge of this kind, possibly in many cases less than 3d., while some owners may be able to evade it altogether, but I considered it best to include it and let the reader make a, correction to suit his own particular case rather than omit' it and run the risk of newcomers to the industry overlooking this. item altogether. It is a serious one. Next year, the whole system of taxation undergoes a change.
In considering the cost of running chars-h-bancs and comparing it with that of goods vehicles, it will be noted that, while fuel, lubricants and tyres are the same per mile, maintenance is a little higher. This is accounted for by the more expensive bodywork and the cost of keeping it in good order. Wages are higher; a choz-&-bancs driver generally commands a little better pay than a goods vehicle driver, beeause of his somewhat greater responsibility. Insurance is considerably higher, sivace I am assuming that the owner insures his passengers against risks of accident. Such insurance, as I have pointed out in previous articles, amounts to 7s. or 8s. per seat, excluding that of the driver. Additionally, the cost of insuring the vehicle is a little higher than is the case with the ordinary lorry. I have drawn some more diagrams showing the relation between mileage per week and cost per mile. They have the same characteristic as others of the same kind which have previously appeared, i.e., the cost per mile very quickly drops as the mileage increases. This is true up to a, certain point. It will be noticed, however, that, beyond the vertical line which I have drawn at 600 miles per week in the case of the solid tyred vehicles and 700 miles per
week • in the case of the pneumatic tyred vehicles, the advantage gained by increased running is comparatively slight. It may, in actual fact, be found, owing to the more severe use inseparable from high weekly mileages, that, considered from the point of view of cost of running alone, it hardly pays to go beyond this limit. On the other hand, the revenue account per week will naturally increase pro rata with the mileage and, as I shall show in a later article, when dealing with the question of charges and fares, an extra 100 miles a week may make all the difference between running a profitable business and one which merely just pays its way.
It is interesting to observe, in the case of the pneumatic tyred char-a-banes, the big jump which occurs between the 20-seater and the 25-seater. This is largely due to the considerable increase in tyre prices which occurs at that stage and to which I
have ,referred in a former article. THE SEOTOH.