Motorcab Topics.
Page 14
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Metropolitan Auto-cabs.
The preferred and deferred shares , of Metropolitan Auto-Cab, Ltd., according to the " Financial News," are shortly to be offered on the Paris Bourse. The names of the English directors are given as Mr. Bennett Dampier, 46, Gresham Street, E.G., and Mr. Hawke, 210, expel House, New Broad Street, E.C. It is stated that so far " 230 cabs have been ordered, for which £31,700 has been paid,"
A German Company Adopts the Bonus System for its Drivers.
Motorcabs are increasing in Frankfort. Adlers predominate, as might be expected from the fact that the great German Co.'s headquarters are situated in the city ; but a Swiss make is represented, and some half-dozen eleetro-taxis are on the road. A working company, by the way, has made its chauffeurs part-owners as an inducement to " go easy " with petrol and tires.
General Motor Cab Co.
The current traffic receipts of the Ceneral Motor Cab Co., Ltd., are sent to us as follow :— Week ending Saturday, 9th October, £16,804.
Previous week, M822. Corresponding week, 1908, 1:15,963. Increase on corresponding week, 1908. £982.
Total receipts from 1st August, 1909, £142.826.
Free Scope at Calcutta.
It has been decided, by the Calcutta authorities, that motorcabs do not come within the scope of the existing Hackney Carriage Act. In consequence, promoters of motorcab undertakings will, for the time being at least, be able to fix their own fares.
A New Italian Motorcab.
Ziist Motors, Ltd., of 101, Fulham Road, S.W.. has started work, in London, with the first three of a fleet of 100 Brixia-Ziist motorcabs, one of which we illustrate on this page. It has a three-cylinder engine capable of developing 12 h.p., but it is not the first London motorcab so fitted. It will be remembered that the Vauxhall notchine.s of 1900 were provided with similar engines.
"The City of the Future."
Six months ago the Birkenhead Town Council refused licences for taxicabs which it was proposed to place on the streets of that town. On that occasion, its attitude gave rise to many sarcastic allusions in the Liverpool Press. Apparently the members of this go-ahead eouncil have now arrived at the conclusion that it will be wise no longer to delay the granting of facilities in the neighbourhood for those who wish to place taxis on the streets. One of the members, in the course of a discussion on this subject, stated that " If the town did not progress, it would give rise from time to time to the gibes and sneers they had heard
with reference to the City of the Future.' " With reference to nothing in particular, apparently, a Mr. Vaughan also " hoped that, in consequence of the coming of the taxicab, more open spaces would be provided for children." Why not establish a zoological gardens at the same time, with a museum in which the horsecabs might be placed ?
A Record Cab Fare.
During the month of May last, we recorded the hiring of a taxicab in London, by an American, who did not discharge the vehicle until he had incurred a total fare which amounted to 40. We have now been informed, by the Manager of a large, provincial, motorcab garage in the Midlands, that, recently, one of his vehicles was hired in the streets, and the driver was ordered to take his fares straight away to the manoeuvres in Wiltshire. His services were retained for a fortnight, during which time he had to make journeys all over the Midlands, and when he returned to headquarters, he handed to the cashier £64, in hard cash, as the takings recorded by his taximeter. The hirer, in addition to this sum, had paid the out-of-pocket expenses of the driver. It is interesting to note that, during the course of this long drive, the taximeter had repeated its cash records something over twelve times. The mileage totalizer was the only positive check.
Good-bye to the Cab Horse.
Although strenuous efforts are being made by a certain section of the London horse-cab trade to recover trade which has been wrested from it by the omnipresent taxicab, sales of horses and cabs on a large scale are annonneed in several directions. Bricklands. Ltd., of Gray's Inn Road, is selling outright 170 horses and 70 cabs, and, in the conditions of sale, it is carefully stated that this procedure is no part of a policy of re-construction, but merely arises from the proprietors' conclusion that it will no longer pay to own such obsolescent stock. Many other well-known jobmasters in London have either disposed, already, of all their horse cabs, or are contemplating their offer for sale by auction at an early date. They realize that, although the " tannercab " proposition and the horse-cab taximeter may serve to save a small portion of their trade, the whole business of horse-cab ownership in London will have to be conducted on much more confined lines than hitherto.