PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
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The Enormous Difference in Profit-earning Capacity Incidental to Increased Weekly Mileages.
IHAD scarcely got my previous article off my hands and into those of the Editor, when I saw an advertisement in The Commercial Motor of particular interest, in that it had a very direct bearing on the subject I was discussing in that article, and more particularly on the continuation of it which I promised for this week. The advertisement was on behalf of Commer Cars, Ltd., and referred to a 32-seater coach of that make owned by Barton Transport, Ltd., a concern, by the way, with which I happen to be acquainted and know to be a live and active company. The coach, a saloon on pneumatic tyres, had run 38,000 miles in four months-114m0 miles per year, if you please!
Now, readers may remember that I promised to deal in this article with the very considerably increased profit-earning capacity of pneumatic-tyred vehicles as compared with those on solids, continuing the consideration commenced in the previous article of two outstanding types of machine, both very Popular with hauliers and carriers, namely, a 5-ton goods-carrying lorry and a 32-seater saloon bus or coach. This particular advertisement, therefore, embodies practical information which is very useful as a basis for my argument, and it comes opportunely, if I may say so, to help point a moral.
The annual mileage claimed for this vehicle—call it 100,000 miles in the course of a year of 50 weeks (so as to allow time for overhaul, which will most assuredly be necessary, notwithstanding the fact that it is a Commer car), which is equivalent to 2,000 miles per working week, or rather over 300 milesper day of a six-day week. If we assun2e that the day be 16 hours king, then there is indicated an average speed of 20 miles per hour and that apart from the frequent starts and stops which are inevitable in this service, which is an ordinary long-distance bus route. Such a mileage would be absolutely impossible on solids. Under equivalent conditions, the maximum average to be expected is round about a thousand miles per week, assuming fairly good roads.
More Miles—Less Cost.
Taking the comparative costs of operation of these two types of vehicle, that is Co say, a 32-seater saloon bus on solid tyres and covering a thousand miles per week and a similar vehicle running 2,000 miles per week, we will very easily be able to demonstrate that the second is enormously more profitable than the other.
Referring to the figures which were embodied in the pi•evious article, the running cost of a solid-tyred 32seater is 6.89d. per mile. The standing charges, Making allowance for wages of' a conductor—this is necessary on a bus service, but was not done in the previous article, because I was there only considering motor coach work—are £10 18s. 10d. per week and the total operating cost on the basis of a thousand miles per week is 6.89d. per mile., plus one-thousandth part of 110 18s. 101, which is 2.63d., giving a total of 9.52d. per mile for the operating cost. If we take it that the establishment expenses per bus amount to £5 per week, then we can add a thousandth part of that sum, namely, 1.20d. to the foregoing figure of 9.52d., thus arriving at 10.72d.—very nearly 10d.— as the total outgoings per bus.
In the case of a pneumatic-tyred coach we have as the running cost 6.24d. per mile. The standing charges are the same for both types of vehicle—or they would be but for the reduction in taxation in favour of the vehicle equipped with pneumatic tyres all round, amounting to 5s. 10d. a week—the total is £10 13s. a week, but this time, instead of one-thousandth part, we have to take only one twothousandth part, or half as much, to find the amount of the standing charges per mile. It is 1.28d. instead of 2.63d., so that the total per mile is only 7.52d. W can deal similarly with the establishment expenses. These remain approximately the same per bus, and, ins ead of adding 1.20d. per mile, we only need add 0.64)d. and the total outgoing per mile is thus 8.12(1. ins ead of 10.72d., or more than 21(1. per mile less, wil ch is a material difference.
Revenue Per Mile the Same.
e fares on both buses may very well be the same. As a matter of fact, it is very often possible to charge higher fares on pneumatic-tyred buses than on those shod with solid tyres, so that, in assuming that the fares are the same, I am really conceding something to he solid-tyred machine in this comparison. I am goiag to assume, for the sake of argument, that the fares are based on id. per mile, a figure which is low, as inost provincial bus owners will agree. Then, I am goi g to take it that, on an average the bus runs half ful ; that is to say, whilst during the rush hours it ma be full or even more than full, there are sufficient jo neys run with only a few passengers to offset that to Jhe extent of making the average a fifty per cent. loa, . That means that the average revenue per bus
sea per mile is three-eighths of a penny. Threeeig ths of a penny per seat on a '32-seater bus is just a s idling per mile.
he total revenue from the solid-tyred coach is, the ef ore, a thousand shillings a week, or £50. The tot 1 outgoing is a thousand times 10.72d., which works out at £44 13s. 4d., leaving a net profit of £5 6s. 8d. per week per bus, which is not too good, but is based on low fare per mile, as I have already pointed out.
he pneunaatic-tyred bus gets a shilling a mile for each of its 2,000 miles and therefore earns a total of £1 a week. The total cost is only 2,000 times 8.12d., wh ch is £67 13s. 4d., leaving a profit of £32 6s. 8d. a W —nearly six times as much.
The' same disProportion of profit, and always in favOur of the pneumatic-tyred machine, can always be sho n to exist, provided the conditions are such that the additional mileage capacity of the pneumatictyrd machine can be used.
Goods Carrying Machines, Too, ow to consider the case of the 5-ton lorry. Referrin 'to the cost of operation as outlined in the article lash week, it appears that the actual expenditure in the case of a solid-tyred vehide is slightly less per mile th4 on one with pneumatic tyres.' The running cost of the solid-tyred machine is slightly less and the standing charges of the pneumatic shod vehicle are less because of the reduced taxation. The upshot is that the total operating costs of the pneumatic-tyred machine are less for the low mileages, whilst the other has the advantage to a slight extent as the weekly mileage increases. As I pointed out at the time, however, there is not much point in, being able to rip a vehicle for a little less per inile by increasing the weekly mileage if both legal and physical considerations are such as to 'prevent that advantage being gained. A solid-tyred vehicle costs less to run than a pneumatic-tyred machine when the weekly mileage Is high, but as it cannot run a high weekly mileage there is not much in that.
A 5-tonner on solid tyres can average about 15 miles per hour, say 120 miles a day on long-distance work which, in round figures, is 750 miles per week. A similar machine on pneumatics, working under same conditions, will easily average 20 miles an hour, which Is 160 miles per day, or 1,000 miles per week.
Let us assume that there is a contract available at a shilling per mile and we will take it that the establishment expenses in connection with the running of either machine amount to £2 per week per vehicle.
The total cost per mile of the solid-tyred 5-tonner (see previous article for particulars and details) is 6.47d. per mile running post, plus one-750th part of 1,590d., which is the standing charge--2.01d. Similarly, the proportion of the establishment expenses is 0.64d. and the total expenditure 10.12(1. per mile.
The revenue from 750 miles per week at a shilling per mile Is £37 10s. and the total cost at 10.12d. per mile is 131 12s. 6d., so that there is a profit on the job of £5 17s. 6d. a week.
On the other hand, the pneumatic-tyred machine operates for a running cost of 6.67d. per mile. The standing charges are 1,548d, per week and the establishinent costs £2 per week, as before. The mileage, however, is 1,000 instead of 750, so that the standing charge and establishment cast per mile are reduced in proportion, being 1.55d. and 0.48d. respectively. The total expenditure is, therefore, 8.70d. per mile. . The revenue from 1,000 miles per week is £50 and the cost £36 5s., leaving a profit of £13 15s. per week—about two 'and a half times that available from the solid tyred vehicle. •
I hive calculated the total cost per week for a series of mileages ranging from 400 up to 1,400 and, in a table, have set these out, together with corresponding figures for revenue and profit calculated on the. foregoing bases. From these figures the way in which the profit increases . very rapidly with the mileage is' apparent. If in considering these figures the reader will appreciate that the maximum weekly distance of a 5-tonner is limited to 800 miles, whereas that of the pneumatic-tyred machine can rise almost to 1,400 miles, the difference in earning capacity
becomes very plain indeed. S.T.R.