Opinions from Others.
Page 15
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What Shall They Charge?"
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1084j Sir,—With reference to the answer given to your correspondent under query 2027 in your issue dated 19th September, may we offer our views on the point 1 His inquiry, as you state, is a very ambiguous one, but we on our part disagree with you in assuming the rates you give would " leave him a fair margin of profit." The distance from Ealing to Wallington and back, approximately, being 24 miles, his vehicles would bring him, upon the figures you propose, the following prices :-1-ton load at Id. per mule, 14s. ; 2-ton load at 10d. per mile, 20s. ; 3-ton load at. is. id. per mile, '26s. ; over 3-ton load at is. 4d. per mile, 32s. In dealing with the 3-ton load, a weight and load we handle daily in the course of our business, and with which we are most familiar, may we point out the hopeless inadequacy of the remuneration to the services rendered. Although we assume your correspondent only hired out his vehicle, and supplied no other help than the driver or chauffeur, it must be recognized that a considerable time must. be allowed for the loading and unloading of the vehicle. This time naturally varies according to the class of goods loaded, and in the case of a furniture removal, to which we judge the inquiry has reference, it would take several hours, or at least a longer time than the actual journey. Unless the owner be able to make a further charge equal to the mileage that could have been covered during the time his machinery is thus. standing idle the owner would be confronted with a net result of 26s. for a day's work. Should it be argued that time of loading and unloading is exaggerated and that he could send his vehicle on another job elsewhere, we reply " Where can such jobs for 3-ton vehicles for odd half-days be found ?" Our experience is that a customer will take your vehicle during the best hours of a day and the remainder of the time is your loss.
The basis of charges for the. lighter vehicles are equally open to the same criticism, and we are confident a course of such charges Such as this would soon lead the owner to the Bankruptcy Court.
We should be pleased if you would give publicity to this letter, and should be glad also to read the opinions of other contractors among your readers. May we in the meantime sign ourselves.--Yours faith
fully, CON'TR ACTORS OF 60 YEARS' ExpEarracer..
[The point to consider is that our ]uerist specifically stated that this was a ease of a hiring to oblige a customer. We therefore understood that it was merely desired to cover the actual cost of running with a small margin of profit if possible. We agree that, if the delivery were of such a nature CS to cause any delay at the terminal points, an adequate additional charge would, of course, have to be made, snob charge taking into account the probability of the vehicle's being unable to do any other useful work during the day. The charges we quoted were intended only to cover the cost of running and a small margin..–Ti,!
Railways and Road Passenger Vehicles.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
(10851 Sir,—May we refer you to your "Answer to Query" No. 2028, which appeared in your issue for the 19th inst. on page 56. The title was " An opening for a promotion and proposals for handling it." The question of the statutory right of railway companies to run motorbuses was therein raised, and this is a subject which interests us considerably. The problem which is facing your correspondent, who writes under the norn de plume " Townsman," is much the same as that which we have to tackle. The G, S.R. has put on the road a number of chars-à-bancs, and has run them to various places of interest from its station yard in this town for four or five summers. This we do not mind, and we do not complain of it now, but during the summer which has now closed, the company commenced competing more directly with ourselves by running ears from the same stand, which, as a matter of fact, was away from the station, and by picking up passengers along certain routes. We do not consider that this constitutes fair competition. We run a regular half-hour service every day, and that to a published time-table. The railway company picks out only the busy days, such as market days, etc., and then crowds its cars on to those particular routes which have rush periods. My company has been considering lately whether we should have a reasonable prospect of success in the event of our taking legal action, and we have already consulted our solicitors with regard to this proposal. We are taking counsel's opinion upon the matter.
You mention the case of the Mersey Railway Co. We shall be much obliged if you can give us the reference to this or to any other similar case. As you say that you will proceed to make inquiries about railway companies' powers in respect of this class of traffic, we should be obliged if you would let us have any further comment that you consider would materially help us. We shall continue to watch the columns of your valuable paper for anything that you may publish bearing on this subject.—Yours faithfully,
" BusrsEss."
[We refer our oorresixmdent to an Editorial which we have written on this subject at the commencement of this issue.—ED.1 Canadian Towns and Motorbuses.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1080] Sir,—With reference to the letter from A.T." in your issue for the 26th of September [Letter No. 1081.—EDJ, I am afraid that actual experience does not bear out his optimistic views about Canadian mayors, etc., welcoming motorbuses and their proprietors.
In one of the most recent efforts of this kind the buses were to be restricted to 9 m.p.h. and to 4 m.p.h. at corners ; they were to run for at least one year on routes agreed upon by the local authorities, who, of course, would understand nothing about motorbus operation. Finally, whilst the lowest fare was to be
a fairly high percentage of the takings was to be confiscated by the authorities as a reward for allowing the ears to run over routes, which most likely would not pay at speeds that would be unprofitable from the point of view of attracting passengers.
The writer sold agricultural and engineers' implements for eight years in various parts of Canada, and as the towns are either entirely American or French, there is little prospect of any encouragement being given to British manufacturers or their ventures. The Canadians, in my opinion, are distinctly anti-British. —Yours faithfully, E. C. McG. Wandsworth.