THE HAULIERS' INQUIRE WITHIN.
Page 14
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Analysing the Finances of a Contemplated Series of New Bus Routes in a Busy Provincial Centre.
THE VERY energetic people whose correspondence we began to discuss last week, and who are running a country bee service with six-seater vehicles and actually making money out of it, are thinking of developing their business in all sorts of ways, notwithstanding certain interferences to which I referred previously. Besides the query to which I then referred, in respect of the determination of fares, the keeping of books and the organizing of the ticket system, they also want to know how they should charge for hired cars. They are thinking, too, of building a garage to accommodate at least half a dozen cars with provision far effecting repairs, the front of the premises being designed to serve as a show-room and sales department for tyres, petrol, oil, Ford spares, and other quick-selling lines. They want some suggestions regarding this plan, and they conclude by saying that they think I have plenty of material in this inquiry to work upon, adding that the questions are such that they are likely to be of equal interest to scores of other small bus-operating concerns.
Both these statements are certainlVcorrect, and it is because the second of them is so true that I feel justified in dealing with this letter, and the questions which it raises, at such considerable length. Taking things in the order in which they are given in the letter, we must first deal with the question of fares. In this matter, my concern is not with the rates which the proprietors of this service ought to charge on the existing route. I may surely presume that they have already some very decided opinions in that respect. I must, they tell me, have in mind several other routes in the district which might be opened up and on which slightly different conditions may prevail.
Operating Conditions for a 4-bus Service.
In order to avoid useless repetition I propose to refer back to an article which I wrote for the issues of The Commercial Motor for December 11th and 18th, in which I described the organization of a four-bus service in a district very similar to the one with which we are now concerned. We have in the present case the following conditions :—The length of route is unknown, and I propose to assume it the same as the one which these correspondents are already operating, namely, 13miles. The conditions as to rush hours and slack periods are the same as were mentioned in the previous article ; that is to say, the busy times would be from 5.30 to 9.30 a.m, and from 4 to 6.30 p.m., continuing with lesser intensity to about 10 o'clock or 10.30, when there might be another brisk
period up to 11.30.
The size of vehicles employed will be, I gather, either six-seaters, as at present, or 14-seater.saloon buses. such as are already under consideration for the existing route. Nothing is said about the number of vehicles which it is proposed to put on to each service, so I shall, to save time and trouble, assume that there are to be four, as was the case dealt with in the previous article to which I have referred. No conductors are to be employed—they are, in any case, unnecessary on these small yehicles, so that the staff employed on the buses will be modified as from that previously described and will probably be arranged as follows : There will have to be two shifts of four drivers in each. We will assume that the first shift of men numbered, say, from 1 to 4, will come on at 5 in the morning and work until 10 o'clock a.in. Of the four, two will continue to one o'clock, the other two will lay off between 10 and 1, coming on at 1 o'clock and c30
working until 4, when the other shift -will come on duty and work through until 12 o'clock. This means that there will be tour buses working from 5 to 10 aim, two only from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and four again from 4 p.m. until midnight.
the services in this present case, as in the former one, cover a total of 19 hours, out of which each bus is actually on duty for 16 hours. Costs will differ, partly owing to the fact that the vehicles are smaller and partly on account of the absence of conductors.
° Working Costs and Standing Charges.
Dealing first with the six-seater vehicles, each will require two drivers, and we have already been given to understand that the wages of the two total 45. The standing charges will therefore be per week :— Licences 5s., wages 25, rent and rates 5s., insurance 10s., and interest on first cost 3s. ; total 46 -3s. On a 13-mile trip, four buses will accomplish a hall-hourly service, each taking one hour to run the distance, including stops both en route and at termini. As the buses work 16 hours a day, this, barring accidents, means 208 miles a day. Assuming, however, that occasional breakdowns—which, as we have been given to understand, are not by. any means unknown—account on the average for the loss of one day per week per bus, the weekly mileage of each vehicle will be 1,040. Spreading the standing charges over this distance brings a cost per mile for that item to 1.46 pence. The running cost of the buses would be 2d. and the total operating costs, including a small allowance for dead mileage, will be 3/(1. a mile.
The corresponding figures for the 14-seater are :— Standing charges, E7 per week running cost, 5.3d. per mile. Total operating cost, including again dead mileage allowance, 7.25d. Establishment ,charges in this case are more difficult to estimate, because we do not ',know how many vehicles are going to be employed altogether, or how many routes are going to be worked. It can, however, be taken that two inspectors will be required for this particular service. Their wages will total 410 per week. The general manager will be more expensive than the one of whom we took account in the other article, but, as his services will be spread over more vehicles, we need not allow more than £2 10s. a week in connection with this particular route. The same considerations affect the -cost of the garage staff ; but we should allow 47 10s. a week for this, in view of the fact that we are already imagining that there is going to be at least one bus to attend to every other day.
The Total Weekly Costs Per Bus.
Sundry postages and stationery, with advertising, will cost 41 10s. a week ; 42 a week should be a fair proportion of the interest and depreciation in connection with the garage equipment, and 11 a week should suffice for sundries, tickets and so on. The total is therefore 424 10s. a week, which amounts to 46 2s. 6d, a bus. This is equivalent to 11d. per busmile, bringing the total cost of operation of the small machine to 5.d.. a mile, and the larger one to 8.1d. If we allow 24 a week profit per bus on the small machines and 46 per week per bus on the large ones. then a minimum return of 6d. a mile from the small one and bold, a mile from the large one will be requisite, and at that stage I will leave the matter for this week, returning to it in the next article, to 'discuss stages, fares and ticket arrangements. THE SKOTCH.