Motor Omnibus Costs.
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With our special issue of July 6th in view, it would be a work of super-erogation to deal with the recently published results of, Eastbourne's third year's experience of motoromnibuses in more than a few obiter seriph'. A fuller analysis shall be reserved for another fortnight. We announced last week that the loss to March 31st last was ..195, but that figure is arrived at only after debiting sinking fund charges on the basis of the extinction of the capital in ten years, whilst an additional charge of £roo for a special depreciation fund increases the loss to £295. From the accounts which are before us, it appears that one of the routes which is being worked involves a. loss of no less than 5.33d. per car mile, the net loss per car mile for the whole system for the past year being o.29d. Tyres have cost x.00d. per car mile, the total running cost per car mile inclusive of capital charges being to.67d. 1,052,624 passengers, who yielded a gross revenue of 4,6,062 I2S. ad., were carried. The capital account in respect of the ten omnibuses owned stands at ,C,8,390 is. 2d. inclusive of spare parts, and it is interesting to note that more than half this amount refers to omnibuses of the single-deck type. This factor is unquestionably a big handicap, because the running cost is practically no less than for the heavier omnibuses, and the maximum earnings are limited by the low seating capacity. The Borough Accountant of Eastbourne, in his report on the system, says :" If an adequate depreciation fund were established, it would mean that at the end of ten years from commencement the committee would have repaid the loan and be in a position to purchase another set of vehicles without the annual charge for sinking fund and interest." We think this is rather too much to expect, for it would indeed be in the nature of a miracle if a motor omnibus system—which, be it noted, was started full early—was able to extinguish the debt and at the same time to accumulate out of revenue a fund wherewith to purchase a new set of vehicles. Seeing that the Eastbourne Corporation is maintaining its motor omnibuses in a high state of efficiency, the repayment of the capital account proportionally to the value which attaches to the vehicles, from time to time, is the most that can reasonably be expected, but it must be admitted that sufficient depreciation has not been charged to date for that purpose. In this connection, it is interesting to be reminded that at the end of Igor the Eastbourne Corporation contemplated ex
pending upwards of ..£20,000 to introduce electric traction over a route length of only 2,200 yards, upon which they proposed to place only four tramcars l Not only was this the case, but the experts who advised the corporation at that time informed the members that the introduction of electric traction would involve them in a serious monetary loss, owing to the scarcity of traffic. Making every allowance, therefore, for the fact that Eastbourne has been the pioneer corporation to undertake motor omnibus services, its present financial position is unquestionably superior to what it would be had the electric tramway scheme been proceeded with. Ten omnibuses have been provided in the place of four trains, and more than treble the length of route has been served by them, at less than half the capital cost, as compared with the barest scheme of electric traction, for it should be mentioned that the first scheme of electric tramways considered was for 3,170 yards, with seven tramcars, at an estimated capital expenditure of £30,000. We shall return to the question of Eastbourne's motor omnibuses in greater detail two weeks hence. For the present, it is enough if we state that the results are by no means disappointing. They prove that accepted estimates of running expenses are within the mark, whilst the question of increased revenue is one of development. The figures certainly confute the arguments of tramway experts.
To Comply with the Law.
There now remains little more than two months during which grace is extended to owners of heavy motorcars which were registered prior to March 1st last, as regards the compliance of their vehicles with the requirements of the Heavy Motorcar Order'. We publish this week a chart which will serve to convey in a graphic form the necessary facts concerning the relation between maximum axle-weight, wheel diameter and tyre width, which features are the Chief ones over which there is immediate necessity for the carrying out of alterations. At the request of several of our supporters, we shall deal with other points connected with the application of the various laws affecting the use of motor vans and wagons in this country, in several issues, during the next few months, because it is evident that many users have no time to look into such matters. Fortunately for them, although there exists an apparently formidable number of acts and regulation, experience is proving that no unreasonable steps are taken by the authorities to harass purchasers of modern motor vehicles. Any concern, in fact, may be said to be limited to-day to those who own vehicles of earlier types, and which now require structural wheel alterations to be made forthwith, because the manufacturers, in respect of all fresh orders, go through the necessary formalities affecting registration beforq they deliver a new machine. In commending the diagram named above to the notice of our readers, we may add that a copy printed upon stiff cardboard will be sent gratis to anyone who may apply in writing to us, enclosing two penny stamps to cover the cost of postage and wrapping, as its possession should prove useful for reference.
The Control of Traffic.
One cannot fail to be impressed, when visiting our largest provincial cities, by the fact that the various Watch Committees of the local authorities are increasing the number of police constables stationed on point duty. It is only here and there, however, that one sees a policeman discharging tins work in a manner really befitting his occupation, at least when his smartness, or lack of smartness, is subjected to test of a comparison with the marked proficiency attained by members of the Metropolitan force. There are, admittedly, many elements of contusion in the jumble of vehicular traffic which passes along the main streets of London, Birmingham, Giasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, and other great centres, but what we ask is whether the authorities have yet realised that the essential condition to making a full use of any thoroughfare is to allow the traffic to get along it at the greatest speed compatible with the convenience and safety of pedestrians. This fundamental point is certainly recognised by the London police, who have been educated in no small measure by the growing frequency of motor vehicles of all types. The problem is, as a matter of fact, somewhat on a par with railway practice, where it is now found best to cut down intermediate stoppages very considerably, the whole object being to get the maximum number of trains along the track. We have been interested, recently, in putting questions to members of the Metropolitan police force who are engaged, at some of Lime busiest points, both of the City and of t:te West End, and the result has been an unequivocal consensus of opinion that the motor is proving a most welcome factor in simplifying the traffic problem. In fact, we may fairly say that the view of these men who are practically engaged in the control of street traffic is that, if every vehicle were self-propelled, the street conditions would become relatively Utopian. At the present day, when motor vehicles in London at no time exceed five per cent. of the traffic in any street—even in
• Piccadilly during an afternoon in the season—it must be allowed that a distinct speeding up of the whole traffic has unquestionably been achieved. This is possibly accounted for, to some extent at any rate, by the spirit of emulation which pervades drivers of horse-drawn omnibuses who appear to take it to heart that their former comrades are now in charge of motor omnibuses able to outdistance them.
How bang it will be before each alternate vehicle is mechanically-propelled is a direction of speculation in which we would prophesy only with temerity. The first evident impression will be made in connection with the introduction of motor omnibuses, where the proportion of self-propelled to horse-drawn vehicles will certainly be as one to three in little more than twelve months from date. How great an improvement this will effect in the control of London traffic can only be appreciated by those who have been subjected to the risk of damage by the pulling out of horse-drawn buses from the kerb and to the great delays involved by their slow rate of progress in a narrow thoroughfare. Another sphere in which the motor vehicle movement will make a visible impression on London traffic and its control, and a most popular one too, is in connection with the adoption of motor cabs, although the ratio a year hence will be perhaps only one to twenty. Again, there are in London alone upwards of three hundred goods vehicles, each of which has an average length below nineteen feet. Now each of these machines replaces horse-drawn vehicles of which the length per unit varies between twenty-eight and forty-two feet. Put into concrete terms, this means that, if the whole of the motor vehicles were lined up alongside the corresponding horse-drawn vehicles, the former would save more than a clear mile of roadway What this forecasts for London, or for any city with congested traffic, can hardly be expressed in terms, but the nett saving to the community is certainly enormous. It must be obvious to all that when these conditions are multiplied, as they will be during the next few years, there will be more room for the pedestrian and greater freedom for all wheeled traffic. That this provement will be brought about as a natural development, without any huge and unwieldy scheme of street widening, will be chiefly to the credit of the commercial motor.