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Those Increases in Fuel Costs

27th February 1942
Page 18
Page 18, 27th February 1942 — Those Increases in Fuel Costs
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE additions of one penny per gallon to the price of petrol and of a penny-farthing to the price of oil fuel are not, of themselves, considerable increases in the working costs of a haulier or bus proprietor, especially if they be considered in relation to the whole cost. In the case of a 7-ton lorry covering 600 miles per week the addition is Os. per week, or approximately £15 per annum. Expressed as a percentage of the gross working cost it is about 0.8 per cent. In the case of a 56-seater bus covering 1,000 miles per week the increment is 10s. per week, £25 per annum or, again, about 0.8 per cent. of the total of gross. working costs. This increase, however, small as it may seem when regarded in relation to the operation of a single vehicle, is not quite so inconsiderable to the operator of large fleets. For a ' fleet of 5,000 buses it means an addition of £125,000" per annum—one-eighth of a million sterling.

It is, moreover, extremely difficult, almost impossible, to pass these increased costs on to the public in the form of additions to tonnage rates or passenger fares. The operator is thus compelled to search for methods of economizing whereby he can counteract this addition to his expenditure. It follows, therefore, that the more efficiently the concern is run the less chance there is of effecting economies, so that it is the most efficient operators who are hardest hit by these small fluctuations in fuel prices. • 'This seems, on the face of it, rather unfair, although there may be advantages derived from that efficiency which, in the long run, will redress the balance. Otherwise it wduld be true to state that a "Problem of the Carrier" which is insoluble is herein involved, the pperator deserving considerable sympathy for the loss he must thus endure, for a time at least. '

On the other hand, there is the viewpoint of the man in the street to he considered. We have discussed the subject with him, in so far as he is to be encountered in the Metropolis, and the 'amount of sympathy he was prepared to feel was precisely nil. We gathered that his attitude was somewhat influenced by the fact that, but a short while ago, his penny bus fare was increased to three-halfpence. That, he points out, was a jump Of 50 per cent, which, as he sapiently observes, should suffice to cover a considerable number of additions of one penny to the price of a gallon of fuel. To use his own words : "Let 'ern take it out of that."

The foregoing problem, of increasing 'earnings pro rata to augmented costs, does not, or should not, arise in connection with contracts of hire, in which there is usually a provision that the agreed rate shalt be modified if and when there are alterations in the cost of labour and materials. It should not arise, either, in respect of the payments • to operators who are supplying vehicles for the Chartered Fleet under the Government Haulage Scheme. They have justification for an increase Of not less than one-eighth of a penny per mile in respect of the smaller vehicles, rising to a farthing per 'bile for15-tonners. No doubt an annotneemeni on the subject will be made very soon:

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