STARTING LIFE AS A HAULAGE CONTRACTOR.
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Passenger Carrying : the Char-a-bancs, The Omnibus and Taxicab, their Costs and Charges, with a Brief Reference to the Special Licensing Laws Which Appertain to Such Vehicles.
THE OWNER of a commercial motor who purposes using his vehicle, either for part of its time or wholly, for the conveyance of passengers is faced with special conditions of working, which are such that they deserve a chapter to themselves. The costs of running such vehicles are special, and there are, furthermore, particular legal requirements with which the owner and driver have to comply, and all these points call for careful consideration.
Most of our readers, we take it, will be interested in the char-k-barics rather than in other types of passenger vehicles, and for several reasons. it is worthy of note, too, that this department of the motor industry is preparing for a pronounced boom, both as to the manufacturing and using sides.
We will deal first with the question of costs. Owing to the fact that chars-a-bancs generally are driven at high speeds, the petrol consumption is high, tyre-wear is rather more than is the case with ordinary goods traffic, and the maintenance figure is higher, this also being due to the increased speed. Additionally, we have to bear in mind the greater first cost owing to the more expensive class of bodywork, particularly if the present-day touring car finish of both bodywork and upholstering is adhered to, and the -bodywork naturally calls for higher expenditure on account of maintenance than does the lorry superstructure. It tends, furthermore, to depreciate more rapidly. The following tables, then, give average costs of running in connection with two popular, sizes of chars-kbancs, and the figures given are like those which appeared in our last issue and which related to goods-carrying vehicles, based on averages taken over periods of years and brought up to date, so far as is possible in accordance with the. increased cost of materials and labour which has become effective during the war. We will adopt the same method of dividing the cost as we did in the previous article, and for running oasts we have then: tional body. As pointed out, these figures are averages, and it is seldom that two cases are identical in every respect.
Owing to the higher speeds at which chars-a-bancs travel, and also in view of the fact that stoppages are nothing like so frequent as is generally the case with goods-carrying vehicles, a higher total weekly mileage is generally possible, and it is not at all unusual for such vehicles during the season to average so many as 600 miles per week. Taking this figure as an example, and assuming a char-a-banes of the larger of the. two sizes we have named, the working cost of such a vehicle would be 17.4d. per mile. Basing our charges on the 100 per cent. additional for contractor's work as laid down in the last article, we arrive at a minimum figure for return of 34.8d. per mile. • With a full load of 28 passengers this is equivalent to a fare of lid. per passenger per mile, so that an owner, arranging for a round trip of 80 miles, would. charge a minimum of 8s. 4d. per passenger per trip. Actually, the conditions of char-a-banes work; particularly in pleasure resorts, are sorhewhat uncertain, and, in order to make .up for those days when the weather and other ciroumstances are against him, the proprietor of the char-à--banes is usually justified in charging rather more than the figures we have .laid down.
Furthermore, as a matter of fact the charges in various. districts for well-known runs are pretty. well fixed by custom, although we imagine that they will nearly all of them suffer some increase this year over those charges customary in pre-war days, and for obvious reasons.
Incidentally, we would point out to the prospective char-a-bancs owner the advisability of making provision on his vehicle for occasional bouts of bad weather, and this would indicate the necessity for making provision in. the specification for the bodywork for the inclusion of a hood and side curtains.
From the point of view of making his vehicle a paying proposition all the year round, of course., the man who can use it for general haulage work in the off season is more advantageously placed than he who is dependent entirely upon passenger work, which, except for buses, is largely a seasonal matter. Such a man, however, will have to bear in mind the possibility of lasing, during. the summer or char-h-bancs season, some of the clientele which he has got together during the winter, and he will have to remember this when considering the advisability of using tis chassis as a dual purpose machine. There are many owners of motor vehicles who' use them for the purpose of carrying their own goods during the week who so arrange matters that they can use themachine for pleasure traffic on Saturdays and Sundays. _Not a few owners of commercial vehicles have found it possible to cover their working costs by this method cf operating.
A new point in connection with char-a-banes work, and one of which the outcome is still doubtful, pending some actual experience in working, is that relating to the employment of drivers and the effect of the eight-hours day. Char-a-bancs trips normally start before 10 in the morning and, not infrequently, are continued until after eight and sometimes to late as Id in the evening, and this very often happens day after day throughout a week, month, or even longer, with infrequent variations of this general rule. It is, therefore, obvious that some special arrangement will have to he come to as between owners of ehars-:;:banes and drivers in their employ, so that the former may carry on the business of char-it-banes proprietors and owners with some remunerative return whilst still keeping faith with their men in regard to the provisions of the new rules in the matter of nonrs of labour. When a man drives his own vehicle this rule, presumably, will not apply.
We turn naturally from chars-à-bancs to motoromnibuses and, dealing with these on a cost basis, it becomes immediately necessary to consider cais question of the eight-hours day on a, 'practical basis. The following, then, appears to be a possible schedule of costs in connection with such a vehicle having in view the fact that, for a full day's work, two drivers and two conductors will be necessary for each bus. The running costs will be made urf az follow :
Running Costs of Buses—Pence per Mile. Fuel, 7.56; oil, 0.45; tyres, 2.44; maintenance, 2.32; depreciation, 1.88; total, 14.65d.
Standard Charges for Buses—Pence per Week.
Drivers (2), 1,560; conductors (2)' 1,200; rent and rates, 150; insurance, 480; interest, 240 ; total, 3,630d.
It can be assumed that an omnibus service, properly arranged and organized, would involve the running of the bus for 100 miles per day, and, if we assume seven days to the week, 700 miles per week. With this basis, the total working cost amounts to 19.85d. per mile. Applying our -usual rule to find the minimum return to the owner, this brings us to the fact that he must see 39.7(1. per mile, and assuming 2d. per mile as the full fare for passengers, wherever he is allowed to charge this, then the average number of passengers he must carry must not be fewer than 20.
The returning man who is considering the starting of abus service will, therefore, have duly to consider the possibility of his being able to reckon in carrying on an average 20 people each journey, and being able to collect 2d. per.passenger for each mile run.
The running cost of a taxicab will be approximately the same as that given in our tables of last week for a. 10-cwt. commercial vehicle, with the exception of the tyres, that is to say:— Running Costs of Taxicabs—Pence per Mile. Fuel, 2.12; oil, 0.15; tyres 1.25; maintenance, 0.75; depreciation 0.70; total, '4.97d. per mile. The standing charges will involve a little more on account of insurance, but, as we do not regard it as likely that there will be any tendency for owners of taxicabs to employ paid drivers, the reader will realize that the item of cost put down as driver's wap will be a return to the owner himself. However, in order to keep these statements of costs on all fours, one with another, we will retain the driver's wage item, and the standing charges will then be made up as follow:— Standing Charges for Taxicabs—Pence per
Week.
Driver, 480 • rent axid rates, 54; insurance 168; interest, 90; total, 792d, per week.
We now come to the question of the mileage which a taxicab will rim. This, of course, will vary considerably, and for the purpose of estimating the total working oosts per mile, we might take it as being 400 miles per week. In such a ease, the working cost would be 6.95d. per mile and the prospective owner would have to consider, having in view the actual legal taxicab fares which he will be allowed to charge in the locality in which he proposes to start, whether, in view of the fact that 22 a week is. already included in these 'costs as his wages, there will be sufficient surplus for him to take up taxicab driving as a profitable occupation.
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As to the special licences, etc., which owners of passenger-carrying vehicles are required to take out. A ehar-h-hancs has to be licensed as a hackney carriage at a cost of 15s. per annum. The owner must also pay the carriage tax, which is nil if his vehicle weighs under one ton unladen; two guineas if over one ton and under two tons unladen ; three guineas if over two tons unladen. So licensed, the owner is at liberty to hire his vehicle as a whole, or he may prearrange trips which start from his own yard, a hotel yard, or private premises. He may not take up occasional passengers in the street, charging separate fares, or what is termed ply for hire. If he wishes to do so, and, provided he resides or wishes to use his machine in a town in which the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847 applies, then he must take out a, licence to ply for hire, which licence will cost Os.
It is within the power of a. licensing authority 40 refuse any such licence if they do not consider it desirable to permit plying for hire in the manner in which the owner proposes to do. In London and in several large cities, special restrictions are imposed, and there are certain conditions with which a vehicle must comply before a. licence to ply for hire will be issued to the owner. The driver, too,may be compelled to be licensed as a driver of a hackney carriage.
It is not within the scope of these articles to give particulars of all these regulations The reader will be well advised to apply to the licensing authority in the town in which he proposes to act, for the necessary information.
It will be obvious, from what we have stated, that whereas a char-a-banes owner does. not necessarily ply for hire, the omnibus, in the usually accepted meaning of the term, must have such a licence, and so also must the taxicab owner. If a motorbus service is proposed between several villages or towns, a licence to ply for hire will have to be taken out in each of the towns or villages through which the service passes and which has power to issue such licences.