REPORT OF LAST WEEK'S PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ON TAXICAB FARES.
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The first regular sitting of the Dome Office tomtit Dee. en Ta.ximeter Fares was held on Thursday, the 20th of April. tinder the chairmanship of Sie Archibald Williamson, M.P. It will be remembered that the other members of this committee are Sir Clarendon Hyde, M.P., and Colonel A. IL Edwards, of Scotland Yard. The first witness to be called was Mr. W. Byrne, one of the permanent officials of the Home Office, who has charge of matters pertaining to the licensing of Metropolitan hackney -carriages. He protuced a memorandum by way of introduction to the proceedings, and this document recounted the .developments that had led up to the committee's appointment. Mr. !WRNS reviewed the various orders that had issued from the Home Office with regard to the tariff for hackney carriages, up to and including the last order of December. 1907. The final regulations, which are in existence at Cm present time, were based en the suggestions of the Select Co lllll tittee of the (louse of C minions of 1906 on the Cabs and Omnibuees of the Metropolis.
When the original schedule of charges was compiled. care Vias taken to obtain the views of all those people who we :e
likely to have specific information on the subject. The S.M.M.T., for instance, represented that a sharp difference .of opinion existed as to the fares which must bc charged in .order that the vehicles should run at a profit. The society considered that is. a mile and 3a. for every subsequent quarter-mile should be substituted for the 8d. initial fare and 2d. increase, that, a return fare should be allowed for a sixmile drive, and that a notice as to the payment of extras ,should he put in cabs.
No official representations that can he traced in the records .,of the Home Office were made for several years, hut in March. 1910, a deputation of drivers complained of the offence of bilking." In February. 1910, at the Labour Congress, re-presentations were made that no motor driver should have to purchase his own fuel, and during the same year the question -of an increase of fare WU raised, owing to the incidence of the petrol tax. Several deputations were received at, the home Office on the subject ; the drivers then stated that their livings depended entirely on their tips.
The proprietors of the Gamage-Bell cabs stated at that time that they were quite satisfied with the existing tariff. Tt was stated that the extras were originally promised to the drivers by the proprietors, and this statement was the subject ef a great deal uf .liscussion in the daily Press. "There was by no means a universal desire for an increase of fare at that time.
The cost of plate licences varies throughout the country; Mr. Byrne quoted these in force in varieus towns. In Brighton, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds, the cost is from is. to 5s.; it Bristol it is 10s., and in Dublin 20s. The plate licence charge of £2 in London has been in existence for a great number cl rears. The cost of the Carriage Office department at Scotland Yard is £40,000 per annum, and the receipts are less than that sum. In July, 1910, a deputation was received by the Chancellor of tlie Exchequer, to whom it was staled that the tax on
petrel could not be thrown OIL the consumer. Later in the
month a deputation from the Proprietors Association was received by the Secretary of Stale. and on that occasion an in
crease of fare was requested. In August, 1910, the Associa tion wrote to the Secretary of State suggesting that the fare 6h011id be 10d. for the first mile and 2d. for each succeeding
quarter of a mile. The Home Secretary then suggested that a conference between drivers and proprietors should be arranged if possible. Mr. Byrne, in his final remarks, stated that he had endeavoured to give the Committee a resume of all records of the negotiations which had taken place up to the present time. He concluded by recapitulating the powers of the Secretary of State. " With regard to whatever arrangements may be made between proprietor and driver, these cannot be prescribed by the Secretary. He has no power to say that these and these only shall be the terms," said Mr. Byrne. " The utmost he could do would be to consider the representations of the drivers when he had the tariff under review. He has no power to decide what arrangements shall be made. In many cases the position of the drivers is anomalous. The men are in different poeitions, a few men hold a single cab, some drive for small companies, but the greater number drives for one or other of the larger companies. The terms of engagement are believed to be practically identical, but we have not sufficient evidence of this.
" The taxi-driver who takes out a cab daily and makes whet he can by offering his services to the public is a bailee and co-adventurer, subject to his contract with the proprietor; he is in some respects in the position of a servant, but not in others. He does not obtain the advantages of the Workmen's
Compensation Act ; on the other hand, the proprietor is liable fur damage done hy the driver as if he were his servant.
The subject of the tariff is entirely in the hands ot the Secretary of State; he may fix fares in any way that scenic best to him he kali allow higher fares for different classes of cabs during different hours and at different times of the year. He can add or abolish extras and otherwise vary the schedule.
I sin instructed to remind the Committee that it is the coin total of the fares and extras and tips which reprceents the cost to the public of the services rendered to them. The Ct.immittee will 110 doubt consider if the receipts be sullkient to maintani the drivers and the proprietors alike."
Sir A. WILLI AMSON.-" Has the Home Office anything to say about the increased number of cab's on the St reel WhiCh re 1101% available for the public convenience it seer', otvious that if this industry is prosperous the number of al.s will be he-reseed so that the public convenience will be eonsidered. The total may have a tendency to decrease if the induetryis net a paying one."
Mr. 11". lieensue-" For many years the cab industry has been worked on the lines of free trade with no limitations. The Home Secretary knows no reason why this shonld not combine, both for the motoroab and for the horsed cah. We are told that there are quite sufficient cabs on the streets new. that may he so in the central districts; we all know it is ma true, however, even in the near suburbs."
In reply to a question by Sir C. Hyde with regard to the sufficiency of drivers, Mr. _Byrne stated that the proprietors iniormed them that there were not cue ugh Caen , i I S the alive's. said that there were more than enough,
The Committee resumed the hearing of evidence cut Vriday 21st instant. The first witness was Mr. J. E. Davies. the se-retary of the Owner-Drivers' Association.
Mr. J. E. DA VIES said that his association considered that the initial fares; should be raised from ad. to 1...0d.„ i1:111 their reason for making this request is that the mileae returns of motorcabs is found to be steadily going down, The
driver's expenses are proportionately less than those of the big companies, and Mr. Davies claimed that they could do with less margin. He placed the expenses per mile. for 15.000 miles per annum, at 3.5G9d., not including the vaist of petrol or anything for management. but incIndiug tires. Mr. Davies continued.-" We make a practice of giving the extras. We are of opinion that they should he puinhed op. Wu average 60 toiles a day for 250 days in the year. and our takings arc larger than those of the big companies. We make a special point of cultivating customers. The imother of hours averAges about 13 per day. With regard to the number of jobs. iii July, 1910, one cab did an average of 19 and another 13 jobs per day. As to the amount of extras which a man takes. Mr. Davies stated that he had always punt hod up the extras received by himself and that he had math! a table showing these receipts last year. which had been published in limit COMMERCIAL MOTOR: The total of extras for 114 mouths for 1909 was £17 8s. 6d.
Asked as to the amount the drivers received in tips. Mr. Davies stated that his experience was that they were from 4s. to 5s. in the £1 originally, but that these dropped to 2s. 6d. in the £1 some while ago. The tip is proportionately less on a long journey. It is not the custom to pay is.for a short fare. " 1 have worked it out and I find that one-third of the passengers pay the bare fare," said the witness. He complained of the loss which cirvers, experienced through bilking. Mr. Davies concluded by saying that he would be very sorry to see the driver earn less than 10s. a day. that is £3 a week, " allowing expenses on the road and meals out. It is a highly skilled occupation," he said ; " if they are earning 5s, a day now, drivers are doing extremely well. I eonsides that the motorcah industry will finish men off at a very early age. Their present earnings arc not more than 30s. a week,' D, A. LYNCH, the secretary and general manager of the British Motor Cab Co.. Ltd., said.-" My company owns 1.000 cabs and 548 of these are working. We have 725 drivers and an average of 80 per cent. of them do not work regularly. There are plenty of available and suitable men, but it. is impossible to get candidates through the Knowledge of London ' testat Scotland Yard. We have a school of over 600 men, but Scotland Yard is the stumbling block. A great majority of these are Lonclotters, and so far as we know the test is now very much harder ; they are asked many more details about the suburbs; 75 per cent, of the candidates fait. I do not consider that the shortarie of men is any way due to the unremunerative conditions. Some of the men only work five days a week. Our monthly average with regard to working days is as folluws:-Fur the weeks ending: 7th January, 4.5 days; 11th February, 5.1 days; 18th March, 5 days; 8th April, 4.9 days.
'' company is averse to the proposed increase of fare, hot we make the suggestinn that the minimum fare should. be sixpence for the first half mile, with an increase of 2d_ lullearh subsequent quarter of a mile, thus bringing the firsl mile up to 10d. In that way I consider that a large number of drivers would get a shilling for the first sixpenny ride. My suggestion, with regard to the extras, is that there' should be a uniform charge, say fourpence for a package' nr a passenger. We have no means to force drivers to mark up the extras. We are not allowed to put a notice insidethe cabs to that effert."
One driver had told Capt. Lyoch that Ins tips averaged £i a week. He probably worked six days a week. Iltr always paid in over 30s. a day. With regard to the average' earnings of cabdrivers; out of 463 drivers for the week ending 31st Deceruber. 1910, 15 per cent. earned 7Et 6d. and over, 38 per cent. Sc. 3d. and over, 38 per cent. 5s. and over,. and 9 per cent. 3s. 9d. and over. That was for five days. " Oetad earners," eontinued the witness, " are men who aro.out before 9 o'clock in the morning, whilst bad earners are' those who go out between 12 noon and 1 o'clock. The best time for the good driver LS 10 o'clock in the morning and 10o'clock at night fur the bad driver. Drivers pay HS 25s. a YES I' for the maintenance and supply of clothes, mid certain articles of the outfit always remain our property.
" The average daily mileage for each cab for the week ending 31st December was 52, and the cunsiimption of petrel was at the rate cf 25 miles to the gallon. The cabs are twee cylinder four-seated Renaults. The drivershave beeir charged 8d. for their petrol. Of the gross mileage referre.di to, namely 52 unites per day, this was over a period of five days a week for one menth; the average gross mileage of our cabs is 47 and ef this the engaged mileage would be 28_ The averagetakings for these calls would be Hs. Id. after payment of the driver. The gross takiligs would be ahout 22s. a day per cab. With regard to extras. in the month ending 31st March, we had 675 drivel's ; two drivers paid ire £1 or ever for extras during the wenth 14 paid 10s. ana over ; 35 paid 5s. and over ; 54 paid 2s. 6d. and over; 30(1! paid less than 2s. 6d.; whilst 270 did not ring up anything at all."
Questioned as to what he considered fair remuneration for a driver, Cant. Lynch stated that 25s. a week was a fair rate, He was of opinion that at preemie drivers were earning about £3 per week, inclading the tips and extras that they did not mark up ; out of this they had to pay for their petrol and a stroll sum for miicellanesais cherges.
Mr. HORACE Hen:.. the manafsing director of the CarnageBell Motor Cab Co., LW.. stated that his company had 80 eabswhich were pm-tic/My all out every day. He added; "I do, not think there is imy necessity to inereas.e the fares at all; the public would not stand it. If they be raised, the public will take to tubes and buses. To raisethe faro to 10d. would he against the driver. Tipping entirely depends on the driver himself., how he dresses, how polite he is, and how he behaves to the public. Our company charges the driver 8d. a gallon for his petrol, and that includes the 10. duty. Thii extras undoubtedly 'belong to the propr:etors. I think there ought to be a Scotland. Yard notice inside the cab. I think the public ought to tin the drivers; it is an incentive to the driver to be polite. and nobody will ev.r stop it. 1 have not he-aril iii runch 'bilking' lately. I have no difficulty in getting drivers.. A good driver must. work six days a week, and he may then earn £3 and sometimes more. T know of a man who earned: 1:950 with his tab in the first year. My cabs come in
seldom without without any extras."
Asked as to his opinion of a fixed daily wage for cab-drivers.. Mr. Bell would not give one without further consideration__ He emphasized ths fact several times that his drivers were' quite satisfied
Mr. FOXAVELL, managing director of the Wimbledon Mott rie.!ab Co., stated that his company had seven Vinet cabs, which ply for hire between Wimbledon and London They do not ply in Wimbledon. The company supplies the petrol, and the drivers receive 20 per oent. of the first £9 earned, and over the £9 they receive 25 per eeen of the difference. In the' majority of cases, the company gets the extras. " Our takings," said Mr. Fnxwell, " average between and £10 a, week, and we do not work on Sundays. We have regularcustomers in Wimbledon. and have little competiticn. Drivere-. snpply their own uniform as they like. I am satisfied with: the present scale of fares, but I think the extras should beloraz to the proprietors."