CONCLUSION OF THE REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOME OFFICE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ON TAXICAB FARES.
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Mr. e. R. DE BLETODANO, the managing director oi the F.I.A.T. Motor Cab Co., Ltd., stated that he had 567 drivers .and 495 cabs. At the present time he had some diflioulty in obtaining the necessary number of drivers. The average miles of the F.I.A.T. fleet per day was at the rate of 55 per vehicle. " The average number of days worked per man per week is 4.81," said Mr. de Bertodano. 15 per cent, of the wpm worked four days a week; 31 per cent, worked five days; .34 per cent, worked six days, and 4.8 per cent. worked the whole week. The F.I.A.T. drivers have an agreement with the company, which unmistakably sets out the mutual relit• tionship. The F.I.A.T. driver is definitely accepted as a servant of the company, and he is insured.
" We have never bound the men to our service," continued Mr. de Bertodano, " we run the risk of their going elsewhere. We have dispensed with the doctor's examination," The average earnings of the drivers from May, 1910, to April, 191.1, was arrived at by opening the wages book at the letter
" and taking 12 men in consecutive order. There was a considerable difference 'between some of the earnings. Some of them were very high and some very low. They varied from £330 to £238 for the period mentioned. The witness produced two drivers' books. One for 1909 and the other for a period between the 4th January and 10th February, 1911. The net earnings of the driver revealed from the accounts thus produced were at the average rate of 10e. 100. per day. The mileage of F.I.A.T. cabs is very often low, because they pick up the first fares from the big railway stations near the garage. " We tried two shifts," continued the witness; 'tone man may take care and never break down, whilst the other, who may not have had so much experience, may break down or work longer, so that the regular man may not get his cab when he wants it. 'We tried the bonus system. The reward was won by men who would have been careful in any case. When the question of appropriating extras is being considered, it, should be taken in conjunction with the fact that the men earn so much money that they can affoid to work only five days a week."
The Chairman, after examination of one of the books which had been produced by Mr. de Bertodano, summarized the tips as follows: Of 411 fares, 94.16 per cent, gave tips.
Mr. H. M. WYAIT, a journalist, stated that he had made some investigations with regard to the proportion of tips to fares, and that he had a number of records from drivers which had been substantiated by inquiry and conversation. The majority of the figures referred to October and Novern. ber of last year. He believed that a reasonably good driver could clear a net profit of 9d. an hour on an average, so that for a 12-hour day he could receive 9s., or 54s. for the week of six days. This figure was arrived at after deducting the cost of petrol, station charges, etc., but not of meals. The witness did not think that men earned more than 4s. a week for extras as a rule, and rather over 3s. in the £1. represented the proportion for tips.
Mr. E. A. GREATHED, the general manager of the National Motorcab Co., stated that hi a company owned 416 two. cylinder cabs, and, for the year ending 31st March, 1911, the number of cabs out on the road on a seven-day week was 208. The percentage of working cabs was 82 for the six-day week last year, but only 39 for the Sundays of this year. The average gross earnings per cab per day for the first three months of 1910 was £1 3s. 7d., including extras, " hide" said the witness, " only average the second place of decimals per cab per day." The average gross mileage per cab for the year ending 31st July, 1910, was 18,000. " We purchase all the spare parts that are standard stuff ; we manufacture anything that is not standard. As to petrol, we sell it at Eld.; we buy it in tins and we supply it in tins. The tanks on our cabs are made to hold exactly five gallons under a guarantee I suffer from a shortage of good drivers. Last week we had 489 drivers :n our employ, and of these 3315 were old cabmen." Asked is to the average earnings of the driver per day, as shown by the figures registered on the clock, the witness stated that this over a period of 12 months averaged 24s. 2d., whim meant 6s. id. per man per day. Mr. Greathed cited the case of one driver who has a record of 45s. a day takings for six days in the week. He was a footman before he started cab-driving; he has only been driving for two months, and he was taught by the company. The witness expressed himself in favour of the suggested increase to 10d. in the charge for the first mile.
Superintendent Bsssost, of the Public Carriage Department of New Scotland Yard, presented a carefully-prepared memorandum upon the subjects which were before the Committee of Inquiry. This comprised, amongst other interesting matter, a brief histerical survey of the various Acts under which fares for cab-hire have been fixed. The scale of charges for the hire of cabs has always been fixed either by direct Act of Parliament or by Orders made in pursuance of Acts. " The alteration of the fares," said Mr. Bassom, " would not necessarily invelve legislation, as that can be
done by the Home Secretary under the present Acts.'' The witness then gave in considerable detail, the history of the evolution of various fare charges and other schedule& He stated that the suggestion for a low initial fare of sixpence did not embody a new proposal. Schedule A of the Act of 1853 fixed a charge of sixpence for a distance not exceeding one mile for a one-horse cab. This was repealed in 1865, and revived " in a permissive form " in 1907. It was generally conceded, however, that such a fare would not prove remunerative, and in support of this view, Mr. Beeson) said : " A driver pays a penny to enter a station. He takes his turn, which may occupy an hour or even longer, and gets :dff for sixpence; his proportion of this would be lid. He has already expended id., and may easily spend another id. in petrol, or he may have followed from the tail-end of a long rank, say the Grand or Metropole Hotels (170 cabs and 90 cabs respectively) to get a fare off to one of the theatres for sixpence." The witness detailed a number of objections to the re-establishment of a radius, and he particularly instanced the difficulty that would ensue from the employment of a double-tariff taximeter. In Paris such a system had entailed the defrauding of the public to a very considerable extent. He suggested that the adoption of a special scale which should apply to purely-suburban districts was well worthy of consideration. The owner of a cab plying under such a schedule would have to have the vehicles labelled " Suburban " or something of that sort.. He recounted in considerable detail suggested plans for a series of suburban zones round such districts as Staines, Epsom, Sutton, Purley, and Enfield.
With regard to the registration of extras, the Commissioner of Police had given permission for the fixing of a plate notifying that all extras must be registered on the taximeter. Scotland Yard had taken steps to secure a census of motorcabs on the 4th May, 1911, in order to ascertain the percentage of extras that were carried. In the particulars which Mr. BaSSOM presented, the total number of cebs counted amounted to 50,436, and the percentage of these which were carrying extras, to the total number of cabs, was 27.97.
According to the table, extras should represent about 6 per cent, of the gross earnings, whereas," continued the witnees, " on the evidence of the owners, they should repre• sent 12 per cent., and on the showing of the drivers, about per cent. With regard to taximeters, Mr. Bassom said that up to the present eight different types had been approved. He described the method that was adopted to ensure the testing of the instruments and their subsen met sealing. He mentioned the 5 per cent. variation of accuracy which was allowed on the instruments and confirmed the statement that this error was always in favour of the public and always against the proprietors.
" When the police road tests were first instituted, between 20 and 30 per cent, of the cabs presented were rejected, the majority being through incorrect registration; but this number has now very much decreased, showing that the tests have proved effective. Since the introduction of the taximeter, 43 written and many verbal complaints have been made of tampering or manipulation of the taximeter." Some complaints that were made were as follow :—Breaking police meter seal ; disconnecting the flexible shaft and meter; breaking, the star-wheel and putting it out of mesh ; using force to register extras and breaking ratchet registers on dial, but. not on the totalizer; inserting wire or pin on totalizer drum to prevent recording; broken glass or rubber packing."
With regard to the possibility of tampering with the instrument at present, Mr. Bassom said he would not like no say what. was possible: he did not like to be too sanguine. " So far as we possibly can, we have tried to counteract tampering in all cases where we have seen it going on. There are 14 different ways that are known to us. There was one rather ingenious way of raising the meter by placing two pennies underneath, just to raise it sufficiently so that the oprating pin from the flexible just misses the operation from the inside of dm meter. This was a very difficult thine to detect. The thickness of the penny week] net be notiCael readily. The penny could be taken out as often the men wished." This particular method has now been rendered impossible.
Considerable discussion between the Chairman, Sir C. Hyde and Mr. Bassom took place with regard to the size and legibility of the figures on the taximeter dials. Atten • than was drawn to the difficulty that, would arise with regaed to the immediate alteration of the whole of the London taxi meters, if it were decided that an increase or other alteration in the fare were necessary.
On the question of " bilking," Mr. Bassom stated "it is quite probable many drivers are under the impression that they have been bilked when it is really a matter of forgetfulness or failure to trace the driver,"
Mr. Hasse= considers that drivers as a class " are keen observers and quite capable of judging in most cases between genuine fares and would-be bilkers. The loss occasioned to a man by being called and nut wanted or answering a telephone call and the caller taking another cab before the errival of the answering cab, is net bilking, and, although annoying to the driver, can hardly be avoided."
Asked as to his opinion with regard to the number of motorcabs on the London streets at the present time, Mr. Bassom stated that he did not think the Metropolis was over-stocked as yet. He denied that in the " Knowledge of London " tests there were any catch questions. To his knowledge the test had not become more severe than it was 25 years ago. He did not think that the various schools had been particularly successful, "The British Motor Cab Co.," said Mr. Bassom. "has a combined system of a map and showing the men round London in a kind of wagonette. That, I think, Captain Lynch started himself; but it has not been very successful." Mr. Bassom detailed at length the careful manner in which the Public Carriage Office endeavours to assist suitable candidates for the " Knowledge of London" tests. " We are anxious tea assist any man," he said, "who really shows any aptitude to learn, and who appears to possess a reasonable knowledge of London." He continued: "Much pressure is brought. to bear by persons interested. in applicants, to induce the Commissioner to relax the stringency of his requirements, but it ia to be hoped that there will be no such relaxation."
The witness gave much information with regard to cab shelters, and in this connection he stated that the Post Office usually installs telephones without cost in shelters, axed the attendant is the person who is detailed to answer the call. The costs of licences and registration were discussed in considerable detail. Mr. Bassom stated that accommodation is provided, "roughly speaking, for about 7,000 cabs on the whole of the ranks of the Metropolis. . . . The difficulty with regard to the use of the cab ranks is that motnrcala drivers seem to congregate at the standings where there are telephones in the shelters. . . . 7,453 motorcab drivers were licensed up to the 31st, March, 1911. In the three months ending 31st March, 1911, there has been a practical increase of 921 drivers. The total number of cabs licensed on the 31et March, 1911, appears to be 7,165; but this figure is liable to some qualification, owing to the fact that some cabs may come up for licensing twice or more in 12 months." Mr. Bassuni thought that perhaps it might he wise to deduct 500 from the total already quoted in order to arrive at a net total for the number of available licensed taxicabs.
Mr. W. J. CRITCHETT, representing the Metropolitan Fare Register Co. gave tha committee a lot of information with regard to the taximeters. lie stated that they sold. their machines in the Provinces but not in the Metropolis. They cost from £16 to LI& each. He was of opinion that there was no mechanical difficulty in connection with the raising of the initial fare to 10d. " provided that the first hour is recorded as 4e. 2d. and not 4s. With regard to the cost of such alteration," he said, " this would be considerable," owing, primarily to tho work necessitated by dismantling, resealing, testing, and submitting to the National Vehicle Laboratory again. The witness's company has 2500 meters in use in London. Mr. C,ritchett considered that it would be difficult to arrange for larger figures on the indicating drums, and, with regard to the suggestion for " double visibility " records, he said this would entail considerable structural alterations.
Mr. :form ST. A. JEWELL, representing Briffin's Taxameter, Ltd.. stated that his company had 2.000 instruments in London. He confirmed much of Mr.Critchett's information with regard to the cost of the suggested alterations and also with regard to the practicability of it. His company objects to the state of meters, owing to the fact that in its opinion it is then impossible to ensure satisfactory maintenance of the mechanism. " Experience teaches us that if we sell a taximeter to a man in the country, he looks on it as a sort of glorified clock which the local watchmaker or blacksmith is quite competent to handle." He con-tinned, " the difficulties of making a new taximeter are enormous, argely on account of the fact that the mechanism may he covered by some dozens of patents. The Bralin taxameter," he added, " was first produced in Hamburg. some 21 years ago"