Motorbus or Tramcar ?
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There has been additional publicity in the columns of "The Times" newspaper for views in regard to the progress which the self-contained petrol motorbus is making in relation to the station-fed electric tramcar. The issue of the journal in question for the 27th ult, contained an admirably-written article entitled "The success of the motor omnibus," and the following day's issue saw the publication of a leading article in which the case for the electric tramcar was put forward, to our mind, in a. somewhat uninformed fashion_ That is to be regretted. On Saturday last, an anonymous writer who subseribes himself " M.Inst.C.E." made an effort to argue the case as though it were wholly one of establishing motorbus services in places where electric power stations are already short of paying load. In this latter connection, we are quite prepared to admit that the greatest consternation has been caused in the electrical departments of many municipal undertakings, by the fact that consumption at lighting rates has fallen enormously in consequence of the widespread adoption of metallic-filament lamps. One result is seen in the feverish eagerness to get extra power load, as an alternative to charging the electric-tramway undertakings more for the current which they have previously had on most-favourable terms. So far as we can see, this new factor. is bringing about an unpleasant situation for municipal traders.
Costs Again: the Motorbus Much the Lower.
The latest, correspondent of " The Times," who prefers to hide his identity under a mini de plume, but who is obviously engaged in the task of special pleading for electric trolleybuses, goes very wide of the mark in several of his statements. He quest ions the statement that the " motor omnibus can be more cheaply operated than the electric tramcar." We ask his attention to these facts: that L.C.C. tramcars cost above rid, per mile, without bearing a fair proportion of some of the 11 millions sterling of expenditure upon street alterations, and that inotorbuses now cost ad. a mile less. This ratio of cost is more in favour of the petrol motorbus than the ratio of passengers carried per vehicle-mile is in favour of the electric tramcar, whilst the smaller vehicle gives a greater frequency of service. With regard to provincial undertakings, taking the average of both company and municipal concerns owning 50 electric., cars, and which number of vehicles it may be noted is only in practice found to be sufficient to serve 12 route-miles, the total cost of running the, ele,ctric cars is known to be in excess of 9.3d, per mile, whereas petrol motorbuses, wherever they are
given a chance by municipal councils, can carry out comparable services at no greater cost per mile than the 8d. which is found to be correct for London. It is probable that 00 motorbuses can give a better service than 50 tramcars.
Advocates of petrol motorbuses have no occasion to fear the production of figures. The last report of the London General Omnibus Co. should be good enough to satisfy any impartial mind, and we invite " M.Inst.C.E." to compare the L.C.C. tramcar accounts, and to work out the cost per mile run, inclusive of interest, sinking fund and renewals reserve, for himself. Electric tramcars cannot pay on 8d. per mile receipts; they cost more than that.
When the Electric Tramcar Meets Competition.
The trouble is, as many of our supporters arc aware, that municipal authorities who have money in electric undertakings will not grant licences for petrol motorbuses. That may be a wise action on i their part. London, in fact, s practically the only city in the United Kingdom where electric tramcars are running under conditions other than those of monopoly, and it is because of this competition that pro-tramcar enthusiasts are becoming so restless. They fear a demonstration to the world of the inferiority of the electric tramcar on the cost side.
Concerning Depreciation.
To revert to " M.Inst.C.E." and his letter, we note that he asks: "Who can tell what the depreciation or antiquation allowance should be for the petrol engine?" A little later, when praising the trolleybus system, he says: "This latest development of electric traction . . . has fought its way to success against many adversaries and much scepticism. . . . Assuming that the petrol omnibus after its eight years of development will be further improved, we must also assume that the electric omnibus, which is in its infancy, will also be improved." In the next paragraph, he proceeds: " .No question of antiquation comes into the reckoning, and no one expects a new-fangled tramway-motor to appear in the market to call for the scrapping of the present equipments. The motor goes on the car, so to speak, tried and proved, with a hall-mark as it were. Who can tell what the depreciation or antiquation allowance should be for the petrol engine?" Certainly not " M.Inst.C.E.," we should say. Does he know that the first modern double-decker in London, which Thos. Tilling, Ltd., put into work during the month of September, 1904, ran well in London public service for more than six years, and that it is still doing well on other work ?
Complexity No Bar To Successful Use.
This writer next proceeds to deal with the supnosititious case of substituting 800 tramcars owned by the Glasgow Corporation by petrol motorbuses.
He writes The alternative would be 800 complete complicated engines on so many vehicles." A little earlier he had written, of the petrol motorbus : "It ought to be rather called an engine-omnibus. It carries a complete internai-combustion engine, with an immense complexity of parts." Does not this critic confuse the significance of complication and complexity ? Is he not aware that a watch is a highly-complex mechanism, but that most of us carry one, and are not greatly worried thereby ? The petrol engine has been brought to such a stage of perfection in manufacture, and gives so little trouble in regular use, that its complexity is really a measure ot its perfect adaptation for the services demanded.
Whilst we admire the advances which have been made by engineers who have devoted their attention to the improvement of trolleybuses, we cannot see any justification for the adoption of those vehicles, in .preference to petrol motorbuses, except in conjunction with established electric undertakings. We think it is peculiarly impudent of this writer to query the correctness and settlement of petrol-oranibus costs, and to claim that the costs for trolleybuses are anything like so reliable, in view of the comparative experience and extent of the two systems tinder a variety of conditions. He carefully refrains from going into questions of relative capital cost, and he asserts, quite wrongly, that the working expenses of electric omnibuses are not much more, than half those of petrol omnibuses, That centention has yet to be substantiated.
Taxicab " Extras " to be Retained by Drivers : the Need for Registration in the Public Interest.
So London taxi-drivers are to retain the " extras" — we hope only under the condition of their marking them up on " the clock." The Public Carriage Office at New Scotland Yard will be neglecting an obvious duty to the public, if it fail to protect hirers against the risk of imposition by that proportion of the drivers which is at all times ready to take advantage of strangers and people from the country. We by no means grudge the men this new right of retention, but we are at a loss to understand how the owners will in future make both ends meet. True, they have received but a small fraction of the total sums paid over by the public to the drivers for " extras "-2d. for each package carried other than inside the cab, and 6d. (for any distance) for each person above two. When, some two years ago, we started our campaign against the illegitimate appropriation of .• extras" by London drivers, which culminated in our receiving the whole-hearted support of the general Press within a few weeks, we were attacking the pretensions of the drivers, who at that time were asserting that they did register the "extras," but that they were "something like 4d. a day." It. will be recalled by many of our readers that our estimate of is. ed.
per day was confirmed by official evidence on a later occasion. The present elation of the drivers is clearly due to the fact that they are confirmed in the retention of the major proportion of the " extras" which the bulk of the men have for so many years pocketed without compunction ; they can scarcely be pleased with a mere addition to their daily income of 4d. or ad. which figures were put forward, both by drivers and their representatives, two years ago, as the average of " extras." That justifies no elation.
The importance of a definite Order from Scotland Yard, to the effect that drivers must in all circumtances register all charges on the taximeter before payment, and only demand what is registered from the public, is found in the fact that the duty of the Public Carriage Office is admittedly the protection of the public. That department of New Scotland Yard has repeatedly declined to take any active part in the adjustment of differences between owners and drivers, but it cannot show the same aloofness in regard to a loophole for extortion from the travelling public, and we do not hesitate to say that many hundreds of London drivers—to put the figures at a low estimate—will prey upon inexperienced hirers, in the absence of a definite and widely-notified regulation of the kind. A well-known police-court magistrate in the Metropolis gave elpression to the same opinion a. few weeks ago, and we trust that the matter is one which has not escaped the Chief Commissioner. The officials at Scotland Yard do not want any information from us as to the manner in which many London drivers would turn to account the possibility of adding to the total of "extras," were they under no obligation to register them before demanding them from the public. Now that the " extras" are to go. to the men, they will probably have less objection than before to such a definite regulation, but it must be obvious to everybody that the records in those circumstances will show a very much better figure than the alleged average of 4d. or (id. daily. Our point, we repeat, is this : the public must beadequately protected, and there is no way to do it. other than by ordaining the compulsory registration of " extras " before the demand for payment. The old objection of the men, that:, once registered, they had to pay in to the proprietors whether they got the money from the public or not, has now disappeared.
Economies that are Born of Strikes.
Last week we wrote briefly of the renewed objectlesson for would-be users of self-contained road transport, which is being afforded by the sustained indristrial unrest in this country. It is true that many a. trader and merchant will refuse to consider motor haulage as in any way an economical proposition, until such times as the present. He begins by " cut-tir.g " things, by more-or-less rigid economies which. are invariably unbalanced and ill-considered in their effects. Postponement of deliveries, fertility of excuses, closer bulking of loads and such expedients but ill meet the difficulties imposed by shortage of coal and the consequential shortage of railway accommodation. In desperation, such merchants are now, in numberless cases, almost supplicating those who have motor wagons for hire or sale for help of a temporary nature. Such unprogressive people are having a very serious lesson, but it is one which we think will not lose its value upon the settlement of present difficulties ; this is not a case of " the wolf, the wolf !" The housewife, the milkman complains, learned to economize rigorously when he recently increased the price of his supply, and she has not ceased to economize. That same specialist in domesticeconomy is now learning how to keep a house warm with the minimum of coal consumption another circumstance v,hich will lessen individual use for a long pet iod ahead. The lesson of the present strike is. going to be a lasting one, and the industry in which we are interested is bound to benefit exceptionally. " There is some soul of goodness in thins evil."