EASTBOURNE'S RECORD BUS PROFITS.
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The Results of the Municipality's Bus Operations During the Past Year Reveal the Progressive Character of the Passenger Transport System.
WE have already intimated in our • columns that the Eastbourne Corporation made a substantial profit on the operation of its fleet of motorbuses during the year ended March 31st last, but pressure on our space has hitherto precluded us from giving a detailed analysis of the municipalityes passenger transport activities.
The bus undertaking continues to
make extremely satisfactory progress and new records in-connection with its general working were set up during the past financial year. The net profit recorded was £9,221, almost double the figure of £4,743 for the previous 12 Months. The statistics for passengers carried and miles run also created records over previous years, the former being returned at 12,859,114 and the latter at -1,086,658. The number of passengers carried showed an increase of 1,305,986 as compared with the previous year, but there was a decrease of .4 in the number of passengers carried per bus mile, owing to the increased mileage run over certain routes being in excess of requirements, i.e., on the Langney and Hurst Arms route.
The gross revenue of the department amounted to 174,205, an increase of £6,132 on last year and, in itself, a record. The total expenditure, other than capital charges and special expenses, amounted to £56,095, which is £1,851 in excess of that for the pre vious year. It will thus be seen that the gross profit on the past year's operations was 118,110, but after deducting capital charges, including depreciation to the extent of £6,669, the net balance is, as we have already said, £9,221. The amount of depreciation is equal approximately to 25 per cent. of the value of the buses as returned at March 31st, 1927.
An analysis of the debit side of the revenue account shows that running expenses were responsible for an outlay of £38,425, including a wages bill of £25,715, the cost of petrol £5,023, an outlay on tyres of £1,542 and licences and registration fees amountirig to 13,651.
Although there was a reduction' iii tha total expenditure per bus mile as compared with the previous year14.06d. as against 15.70d.-there was an increase of £1,868 in the cost of repairs and maintenance, the total for 1927-28 being £9,528 as compared with £7,660 for 1926-27. This increase, says Mr. B. Ellison, MIME., the general manager and engineer of the corporation's bus undertaking, has been necessary in order to maintain the older types of vehicle at a fairly high standard of efficiency, and it includes part of the outlay in connection with the conversion of three solid-tyred buses to run on pneumatics, as well as the purchase of modern lighting equipment for the vehicles. The considerable reduction in the price of petrol, as compared with the Previous year, is reflected in the lower running cost per bus mile, the average Price paid for fuel being 7.2d. per gallon as against 11.4d. per gallon a year earlier. There were several fluctuations in the price which was paid for fuel supplies, and the cost actually fell from 9d. per gallon, less a loyalty bonus of 4 per cent, on April 1st, 1927, to 616. per gallon on February 2nd, 1928, the total fall being made up of several progressive reductions during the year. A Id. per gallon reduction which became effective in May, 1927, was in consequence of the installation of a pipe-line from the electricity works siding to an 8,000-gallon underground tank at the bus depot, enabling deliveries of petrol to be made by railtank wagon. The price paid for lubricating oil during the year was la. iid. per gallon as against is. 71d. per gallon in the previous year.
Commenting on the cost of fuel, Mr. Ellison says in the report that the present price of 61d. per gallon, plus tax, is a false one, and he warns the committee that an increase may be expected at any moment Bearing in mind, he adds, that the fares charged on the
corporation buses compare favourably with those in force on similar motorbus services in other parts of the country, Mr. Ellison deprecates any contemplated further reduction in fares.
On March 31st last the bus rolling stock of the corporation consisted of 46 vehicles, these all being of Leyland manufacture. Since that date, however, other Leylanda have been added to the fleet, and, as was shown in an analysis of municipal bus services published in our issue dated May 22nd, the fleet then consisted of 58 machines, 21 of them being 45-seater double-deckers and the remainder 32-seater singledeckers. The bodies for some of these vehicles have been built in the shops of the motorbus department. At the time that the report was published, several single-deck bus bodies were in course of construction. One of these has a rear entrance and a front exit with a door in the forward compartment, but this is an experimental type, and in two other bodies which were being built the front exit was being dispensed with. During the year a covered-in, doubledeck body, constructed in the department's works, was placed in service on a Leyland chassis. This design met with a certain, amount of criticism, but was favourably commented upon in some. quarters. In considering its value
• Mr. Ellison points out that it must be borne in mind that the body was constructed to fit a chassis of a very early type, and as a double-deck covered-in bus it cannot be compared with the modern type incorporating a lowloading chassis. He reiterates the
opinion, which he has pc-etiously expressed, that the ideal vehicle for general service in Eastbourne is the single-deck saloon, with a seating capacity for not more than 40 passengers ; this, in his opinion, being the maximum number of persons that can adequately be dealt with by one conductor.
Some idea of the healthy financial state of the municipality's bus undertaking can be gathered from the fact that the reserve fund amounts to f 14,523, of which sum £4,083 has been invested in War Loan and, as the cash balance on the revenue account is considered more than sufficient to meet the cost of purchasing new buses, a further sum of £4,000 is to be invested.
Although the past year has shown a net profit of £0,221, it is pointed out that, in the present year, the undertaking will have to bear an extra expenditure of between £3,000 and £4,000 owing to the tax recently imposed on petrol, but, in spite of this, it is expected that there will be a margin of probably £5,000 on the year's working of the vehicles.