Utility Motors in France.
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From Our Correspondent in Paris.
A Proposed Motorbus Line.
Tenders are invited m the Finisti:re. Department of France for the laying down of a public service of motorvehicles which will be required to meet the needs of an area of 50 kilometres. The department offers e maximum annual subsidy of 3,500fc5.
At the Paris Salon.
M. Rives, President of the Organising Committee of the French Salon, has notified the makers of the utility motors which were classed first in the last French trials that a special stand will be reserved for the exhibition of their vehicles if they wish to place them on show.
A Commercial Motor Event at Evreux.
At the F.vreux motor meeting held on Sunday (November 3rd), a class was included for commercial vehicles, which were required to run a kilometre on level wound and a further 400 metres on a stiff gradient. There was only one competing vehicle, however, this being an Olympia-Duiour lorry, which carried bags of sand weighing 3. tons 2 cwt. The time recorded was 3min. 58see. for the level kilometre, and 8min. soisec, far the mile, the lorry thus taking smin. otsec. to cover the 400 metres on the gradient.
An Agricultural Motor Demonstration.
A little while ago, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR" announced that the " Auto " had organised a contest for French agricultural motors. It has now been decided, however, that, instead of a competition, it would be wiser to make the affair a sort of demonstration, during the course of which a technical committee would be able to make observations calculated to be useful in the drawing up of the programme for a subsequent contest on a large scale. This decision has been made on the advice of M. Loreau, member of the Conseil Superieur d'Agriculture and President of the Commission Technique de l'A.C.F. The demonstration will be held on the mth December, at Bourget, just outside of Paris, where a field more than large enough for the needs of the event has been secured.
Motor Vehicle Statistics.
M. Adolph Clalent, the French motor manufacturer, has given out the following interesting statistics showing, comparatively, the number of utility motors in use in France during the last eight years—
Commercial Vehicle Trials.
Discussing in the " Auto " the merits and demerits of the different propositions concerning the itinerary for next year's French commercial vehicle trials, M. Pierre Souvestre says :— " The question of the commercial vehicle trials for 19°8 is much more complex than that of the racing meetings of the year. The schemes under consideration are : daily journeys in the vicinity of Paris, as this year ; a run from Paris to Madrid and back ; and a tour of France.
" The itinerary of May-Jul-lc last had the drawback of being incapable of exciting and sustaining public interest. The vehicles, although covering from 150 to 200 kilometres per day and leavingParis in the morning to return in the evening, did nothing to strike the imagination. The public took little account of the actual performances, and people were most interested when the vehicles made a sojourn of three or four days in the North. In certain respects —for the organisers, the official observers, the drivers, and even for the makers—these trials radiating from Paris presented certain advantages ; they involved the heads of firms in no lengthy absence kern their business and necessitated no heavy travelling expenses. But, at the same time, it may be asked whether these slight advantages were not more than counterbalanced by the disadvantages.
" Now, a Paris-Madrid run would take on ' at once. Such a journey through France, followed by another through Spain, would not fail to create a sensation. The populations of the localities traversed would be patticularly interested in a display the like of which they have never witnessed up to the present, and the makers would be able to put a higher value on vehicles making such a continuous run. This, without being more difficult than 4,000kilometre trials from a given centre, would evidently create a much greater impression .
" There are, however, two drawbacks to a run from Paris to Madrid. The first is that only one portion of Ftejnce would he visited by the vehicles, and it may be asked if the roads of Spain are accessible to heavy lorries.
As to the third proposition, a tour of France, in our opinion, would have to be split up according to the average speeds of the competing vehicles. Quite recently similar trials were carried through in England, some six to eight categories being made open to manufacturers, and, if we take a glance at the itinerary, we shall see that the whole of England was toured. Nothing would be easier than to follow the example of our neighbours and to establish a series of circuits connecting, the towns of France, where exhibitions might be held en route. In any case, the importance of frequent exhibitions during the coming trials cannot be overrated."
Motorcab Profits.
The strike which has recently concluded between the Campagnie Francaise des Automobiles de Place has only served to emphasise the need of some radical change in the motorcab tariffs obtainingin Paris, if the vehicle is ever to become a serious rival of the fiacre. The dispute between the company and its men arose from the fact that the latter complained that their daily profits wore practically nil, and that their pourboires and percentage on receipts mostly went to the purchase of their petrol and the payment of other expenses with which they were faced. They, therefore, demanded that the company should supply the petrol or increase the percentage on the takings. Statingthat its profits were too small to permit of any concession, the company refused the men's demands and a lock-out followed.
The fact is that theuse of the motorcab in Paris has not grown with the increase of the vehicles placed On the streets. There can be no other explanation for this than that the public light shy of the motorcab because they have discovered to their cost that,whilst one day they may hire a vehicle for a run round town and pay 8 francs for its
use, the next day they may take a different cab and for the same distance be called upon to pay 15 francs. The fiacres are benefiting by this state of affairs, for the 15,000 running in Paris continue to he worked at a good profit, whilst the t,soo motorcabs can, now, scarcely pay their way.
Some figures given in a recent issue of " La France Automobile " sum up the financial position in a few words. "It is not too much to fix the average daily receipts at the figure, say, of sofcs. In Paris this figure was reached and surpassed last winter ; in London from safes. to 55fcs., with a tariff relatively low to those of Paris, is earned. General expenses and depre_ elation ef stock are placed by the companies at from 3ofcs. to 35fcs. per day per motorcab, so that, with average daily takings of sofcs., a balance of from t5fcs. to 2ofcs. is obtained. This represents a profit of from 4,5oofcs. to 6,000fcs. per vehicle per year."
Whether the various companies will ever come into line in the matter of charges is problematical. I was informed by a motorcab manufacturerthis week that they could not all consent to a uniform scale of charges, for the simple reason that, while one firm could apply a universal scale with profit, another would lose by it, because of the fact that his motorcabs consumed a greater amount of petrol; The tariffs would have to-be adjusted according to the cylinder capacity of the vehicles.
r"Tire Comtnercial Motor " is the official organ of time Society of Road Traction Engineers. •