May Registration Returns Analysed
Page 36
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THE total number of motor vehicles registered for the first time during May, 1935, showed an improvement over the figure for the same month of 1934, being 37,733 against 35,051. The increase is mainly attributable to
higher private-car registrations, although hackney vehicles advanced from 866 in May, 1934, to 1,004 in May, 1935. The goods vehicle total was lower, this year's figure of 5,459 contrasting with 5,727 a year earlier.
The gross total for petrol goods vehicles dropped by 280, being 5,179 as compared with 5,459, the heavy fall in the 11-2-ton division (from 1,583 to 1,185) being mainly responsible, although this reduction was partly offset by the rise in the 2-21-ton class (from 1,214 to 1,408 vehicles).
In the sections for vehicles not exceeding 12 cwt. and 1-11-ton, the registrations remained almost constant, hut in the 12-cwt.-1-ton category they fell from 790 to 679. The change in the 2i-3-ton division was also slight, advancing from 271 to 276, whilst an upward tendency was revealed in the 3-4-ton grade, this year's 167 registrations contrasting with 122 a year ago.
The only other important change took place in the 4-5-ton class, this year's total of 39 vehicles having to be set against 64 in May, 1934. Once again, there were no petrol goods vehicles licensed in the category above 8-tonners.
The registrations of oil-engined goods vehicles appear to have reached a steady level and, again, there was little fluctuation in the totals for the comparable months of 1934 and 1935. The gross total was 136 for May, 1935, as against 132 a year earlier, and the main registrations (45) continue to take place in the 3-4-ton division, the only other classes to reach double figures being that not exceeding 2-i• tons (22), the 2i-3-tonners (12), the 4-5 tonners (29) and the 7-8 tonners (12). Of the oilers registered this year, 15 were licensed, for drawing trailers, as against 25 a year ago, Only four steam vehicles were registered, as against 13 in May, 1934.
The registrations in the class for electric vehicles continue to be well maintained, and, out of this year's total of 60, 29 were recorded in the grade for vehicles with an unladen weight not exceeding 12 cwt.; last year's total for the comparable month was 41.
The total for goods vehicles includes 139 six-wheelers, 83 of the rigid type and 56 of the articulated pattern, figures which contrast with 132 and 66 respectively for May, 1934. There appears to be an increasing demand for the eight-wheeler, of which 17 registrations were recorded in May last, compared with only one of the same type for the corresponding month a year ago.
In the classes for agricultural vans and lorries, there were 75 registrations, as against 70 in May, 1934, all of them, in both years, being petrol-engined vehicles.
As we have already indicated, the hackney-vehicle registrations advanced by 138, the most striking feature of the returns being the headway made in the oil-engined class, last year's total of 119 comparing with 346 for May, 1935. The actual numbers of vehicles licensed in each division were as follow, the figures for May, 1934, being given in parentheses:-14-20seaters, 30; 20-26-seaters, 2; 26-32seaters, 97 (43); 32-40-seaters, 48 (7); 40-48-seaters, 88 (7); 48-56-seaters, 80 (60); 56-64-seaters, 1 (2).
There was a falling off in the total of petrol hackneys from 703 to 636, the downward tendency being particularly marked in the case of 14-20-seaters and 26-32-seaters, the former dropping from 147 to 60 and the latter from 294 to 235. Other outstanding changes took place in the 20-26-seater class, in which the number of vehicles licensed rose from 16 to 61, and in the 48-56seater category, which fell from 66 to 14. The registration of 210 taxicabs in May, 1935, as against 108 a year earlier, helped to keep the total for this year within striking distance of the figure for last year.
The total for hackney vehicles is completed by 22 trolleybuses (half the total for May, 1934), all of them being double-deckers.
A total of 36 tractors was registered, 21 of them being for general haulage and 15 for agricultural purposes; last year's total was 48.
The aggregate returns for the five months ended May last show that 30,359 goods vehicles and 3,245 hackney vehicles were registered, the corresponding figures for May, 1934, being 30,062 and 2,253.