• Home
• Used vehicles
• Product news
• Dealer news
• Compliance
• Buying advice
• Archive

OPINIONS cI

QUERIES

Enclosed Staircases for Double-deckers.

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[2932] Sir,—Regarding the letter froni "Clean Hands," on the subject of enclosed stairs for doubledeck buses, I think there are a few points that he has missed. Seeing that a tram has a staircase on both sides of the body it is not directly comparable with a bus from the overturning point of view.

Apart from the fact that the Blackwall Tunnel buses are lower than other London types, thereby lessening the risk of overturning, they are evidently designed for a„ special job and work one route only. The same possibly applies to 'the bus seen by your correSpondent in Baker Street ; perhaps that particular bus owner does not operate over quite such a large area as the L.G.O.C.

I remember seeing L.G.O.C. six-wheeled buses with enclosed staircases on London streets over twelve months ago.; it may possibly be that after actual experience with them on London services, the L.G.O.C. may have other reasons than the Scotland Yard ban for not using this form of construction.—Yours faith

fully, CASUAL OBSERVER.

Commending the Scheme for Licensing Area Commissions.

The E elttor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[2933] Sir,—The illustration on page 305 of your issue of October 22nd, of a coach with a multitude of licence plates, is a striking example of the need for reform in the issue of licences. The Second Report of the Royal Commission on Transport suggests many changes, but it will only be the co-operation and support of the coaching companies and associations, together With the Press, that will sweep away these ridiculous restrictions. If the authorities carried out their regulations to their logical conclusion, the coach or bus driver should wear a badge for each of the'areas through which he drives, but the absurdity of a driver decorated with, say, 20 badges of various types, weights'and colours, is too much to contemplate.

The waste' of time and the loss of money in, submitting these -vehicles to officials whose knowledge of modern transport is of the crudest (in some cases the same official who examines the goat shays and bath chairs has the passing of vehicles that have cost hundreds of pounds to produce) are excessive and the position needs altering. • • .

There is no doubts that if the large number of licensing bodies was superseded by a few area authorities, coaches would be more standard, fares 'would tend to stabilize and wages. would be on a more satisfactory basis, bringing much better service to the public and increased profit. to the coach operator. —Yours faithfully, G. It MOORE, Secretary, The Eastbourne Motor Coach Association Eastbourne, (Small-owners).

Running a Morris-Commercial 30-cwt. Van.

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[2934] shall be glad if you will send me a

copy of the Tables of Operating Costs of commercial vehicles.

In a recent issue of your journal, I see that there is a letter from an owner of a Morris-Commercial 30-cwt. lorry, and I notice that if he rims 126 miles per day for 5s. 3d., this is equal to did. per mile.

I am a driver of a Morris-Commercial 30-cwt. van, and I am earning 155: per day" (five days per week, 44 weeks per year) for cenveying Children' to Sehool. Between times -I use the' van for carting cake,' etc., for cattle feeding, to fagns in the . district. I feel this van is suitable for longer distance work, my, 50 miles and over; do you think a. charge of eid: per mile for both ways will be a' fair price.YoUrs

. • MORRIS.

Horsham,

[You have misread the letter in the issue of The Com,merciat Motor to which you -refer. If you will read it again you will note that the' £3 5s. 3d. to which reference; is made is a figure for 'actual cost of operation, which must necessarily be considerably less than the charge which should be Made for the hire of a 30-cwt lorry for 12(l

miles per day. . You should add at least to that, increasing your charge per mile from 014. to Sid. That would he a fair price only if the 120 Miles per day be regular work.

Starting a Private-hire Business.

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[2935] Sir,—As I propose to start a private-hire business I would esteem it a favour if you would be so good as to give me the following information. The rate per mile one can charge, also for waiting time. The car I intend to use is a1923 Belsize 20 h.p. model, which is in good ord-er and of good appearance, also the cost of . repairs would be. small, as I am in the 'motor trade myself. Will you also send me your Tables of Operating Costs for this class of work.

. Before closing, I would like to thank your "S.T.11.." for the valuable information he gives in The Commercial Motor week by week.—Yours faithfully,

Walkden. A. BERRY.

['You may take it that your actual costs amount to 2s. per hour, plus lid, per mile. Add to that a further 2s. per hour and lid. per mile profit and you arrive at a basis for making your charge, which is 4s. per hour plus 3d. per mile. If you are doing an average mileage of 20 to the hour, that means that your total charge must be 9s. for those 20 Miles,. which is 51(1., say 0d per mile.

Making allowance, however, for the fact that you may only, day in and day out, average 10 miles per hour for which you are paid, your minimum charge must be 7id. per mile, or 5s. an hour waiting time. It most of your trips are of the kind in which you are-paid oneway only, then you should still further . increase this to 9d. per. mile.—S.T.R.]

Horses—Led and Ridden—on the Highway.

The Editor,THE COMMERCIAL. MOTOR.

[29361 Sir,—Being a regular reader of your journal, I have sent one or two tips, but there is one point that I have never seen put by readers. I am always on the road or living in a caravan by the road-side and I am in a position to see a great deal of road traffic, in which I take a great interest and help drivers as much as • can. The point to which I refer is in connection with the riding of one horse while leading another. The rider may be a groom or a carter. I have seen some grave risks caused in such cases. Do these horsemen know the proper side to keep when a motor is approaching from the back or front? Is there a rule and do motor drivers know on which side they should pass these horses? In these days of speed a lorry or a bus may be travelling rapidly along

a country or even a main road, suddenly it overtakes a man riding a horse and leading another, very often in the middle of the road. If the bus should be running down a hill or rounding a bend, there is great danger, for the horseman has both hands full, and cannot signal as to which side he is going. I notice that some herSemen keep to the left, whilst others keep to the right, which latter I suppose is really the law. Now that hunting is in full swing the danger is even greater.

There seems to be misunderstanding about this matter. As horses are easily trained, why not be uniform and keep them to the left, or if they be kept to the right, I think advice to this effect should be printed on the back of the licence. There is nothing worse than to have to keep twisting the steering wheel through not knowing at which side to pass. I have heard heated arguments between llorsemen and mbtor drivers ; I have been driving a steam roller and have lital to send my mate (when meeting two horses and a man) to ask which side he wanted me to pass ; some say left, others say right.-Yours faithfully,

A, HARPER. Southwick.

[It is generally understood that a horse should be so led that the man is between the animal and any other traffic, and in order that he should be well away from overtaking vehicles and yet face oncoming traffic he should keep to the right side of the road.-Emi Allowing for Interest on the Capital Expenditure. The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[29371 Sir,-I am much obliged for your recent letter (CM/STE), and whilst no doubt neither of us wants to waste time in argument by letter, yet this is a most interesting point in connection with road-transport costs.

You pre-suppose a percentage of profit to be obtained on money for investment only. The actual percentage is immaterial, but if everybody with capital to invest decided to invest it and be at leisure for 24 hours a day, where could the money be employed, and if it were employed, what would be the likely percentage?

-Yours faithfully, Ettia MONICMAN, Manager, for Keith and Boyle (London) Ltd.

[The point you raise is a good one for our argument The man who invests his capital and sits back to wait for dividends can only take that course if commercial organizations such as yours can make that profit for him, and a bit over for themselves ; but you cannot make profit yourself until you have met his needs.

Assume, for the sake of argument, that he invested his money in your business, putting just enough in to enable you to buy the machines you want. You would have to pay out your 7-i per cent. on that money before your business could be said to show a profit. All these examples, properly considered, bring us back to the one conclusion, that a haulage undertaking, considered as such, does not really begin to show a profit until the interest on capital outlay has been extinguished.

Do you see that. it is seriously being suggested that, in assessing the profits of a business for income tax, the interest on capital outlay should be deducted?-8.T.It]

The Cost of Transport in Uganda.

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[2938] Sir,-Could you oblige me by giving (1) the cost per ton-mile ; (2) the standing charges of two Morris lorries we are running, one being a 1-tonner and the other of 30-cwt. capacity?

Petrol, 3s. 21d. per gallon; 1-ton, 17 m.p.g.; 30-cwt, 15 m.p.g.

Oil, (is per gallon ; 1-ton, 750 m.p.g.; 30 cwt., 750 m.p.g.

Tax, 1-ton, £9 per annum ; 30-cwt., £12 10s. per annum.

Driver's wages (native), 1-ton, 60s. per month; 30cwt., 60s. per month.

Mate's wages (native), 1-ton, 12s. per month ; 30-cwt., 12s. per month.

340 Tyres (8,000 miles per tyre), 1-ton, £9 each ; 30-cwt., £12 each.

Tubes, 1-ton, 23q. each; 30-cwt., 30s. each.

Depreciation,. 33r per cent, 1-ton, cost £250 (third year) ; 30-cwt., 1350 (first year).

Insurance, 1-ton, not insured ; 30-cwt., £12 10s.

Maintenance, none is included, as repairs are done by the engineers at the ginneries, where the lorries are working.

Rates and rent, 1-ton, nil; 30-cwt., nil.

Miles run per week, 1-ton, 350; 30-cwt., 300.

Petrol and oil consumption seem rather high, but native drivers will persist in racing the engines when starting off and a good amount of petrol is lost through evaporation, the temperature being around 90 degrees to 95 degrees in the shade. I have seen a stream of petrol vapour pouring out of the air-hole in the filler cap with the lorry stationary.

In closing, I might say we have been offered transport by Indians at 75 cts. per ton-mile, which is 9d. in English money.-Yours faithfully, R. ORMROD. Uganda.

[The operating costs of your vehicles, according to my reckoning of the figures you give, are as follow:

On a basis of 350 miles per week the standing charges of the one-tonner are equivalent to 25. per mile run and the total cost per mile is therefore 5.83d. Assuming half its mileage is loaded, then the cost per loaded mile is double, namely, 11.66d. That is your minimum net cost of operation per ton-mile.

As -regards the 30-cwt. machine and on a basis of 300 miles per week the operating cost is equivalent to 3.08d. and the total cost of operation 7.60d. per mile. Assuming half the mileage is loaded, that means your cost is 15.200. per loaded vehicle mile, or slightly over 10d. per ton-mile. -.2.T.R.]

A Callous Driver.

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[2939] Sir,-I wonder if it would be possible to trace the driver of a six-wheeled lorry, or bus, chassis,

who at 1.40 p.m. on Monday, October 21st, passed through the village of Wavenclon, near Woburn Sands Station, travelling north towards Newport Pagnell?

At the very sharp bend in the road there he overtook a car, although it . was only possible to see a clear road for a few yards, and meeting the two from the opposite direction, to avoid a head-on collision, with certain disastrous results to myself, family and car, I was compelled to mount the mound of grass at the side. The only damage, fortunately, was a burst tyre.

I have reported the matter to the R.A.C., but unfortunately, the chassis was travelling so fast and disappeared so quickly that it was impossible to see his number. He carried red trade plates.-Yours

faithfully, ALPHA.

• The Press Club.