THE NEW TAXICAB FARES.
Page 18
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Why. the Large Operating Company Is Not a Success and the Defects of the War-time Initial Hiring Fee. _ AS FROM YESTERDAY (Monday) an increase of 60 per .cent, on all pre-war fares came into force for taxicabs. The new charge is now Is. for the first mile or the first tee minutes, 3d. for each additional quarter-mile, with 9d. for each passenger over two in number, and 3d. for each article of luggage carried outside. .
The war-bonus or initial hiring fee of 6d. is discontinued. The drivers, acting in conference, had presented a request for this 50 per cent. increase and an additional 2d. for each hiring. There was a good case for an increase in fares, but the bonus was undoubtedly bad in. principle.
We cannot help thinking that much of the trouble that has been experienced by cab proprietors, and by the public in 'their dealings with Cab drivers, has been the direct result of incompetent handling of the whole matter by the Home Office from the very first. The future of . the motorcab business lies, in our opinion, with the owner-driver and the small proprietor as against the large operating company. This is contrary to one's natural conclusions, which would certainly be to the effect that the company operating on a big scale could operate far more economically, and could, therefore, make a, profit with a scale of fares which would be unremunerative to the ownerdriver. In practice, this is not the ease. The ownerdriver generally flourishes while the big concern goes under. '-One of the reasons is -that the owner-driver takes care of his vehicle. As it is his own propertY, he wishes its life to be .a. long. one. He, therefore, sacrifices small temporary profits with a view to securing better results in the long run.
In this connection there is one very serious fault in the taximeter as a means of gauging fares. This is that, if a man is driving a cab which is not his own property, it pays him better to drive badly than to drive well, -which is all wrong. It is, however, true, as may easily be seen by taking any typical example. The taximeter used in London provides for payment at 2d. a quarter-mile so long as a certain speed is exceeded. Below that speed it provides for a payment of 8d. for every 10 minutes. It follows that, if a certain distance is covered in a series of rushes alternating with a series of delays at crossings, the fare. corresponds not only to the distance but to the total duration of the delays. The fare for a mile run may be a shilling or more, instead of 8d. If, however, the whole distance is taken at a. steady speed, the driver slowing up gradually when he sees a block of traffic ahead of him, most of the stops will be eliminated and there will be less to pay on the time basis. It is, therefore, to the advantage of the driver of someone else's cab to ill-use his brakes, .his engine and his transmission, but the financial advantage of the process to the driver is smaller than the financial disadvantage to the owner. Consequently, if the two people are one and the same, there is no temptation to drive badly from the point of view of the car. We do not quite see how we could get over this weakness in the principle of the taximeter, but we feel sure that its existence is a very serious matter to large operating concerns One of the main complaints of the public against the taxi-driver is that he picks and chooses his fares, inventing excuses for refusing those that do not appeal to him. This tendency was immensely increased whc2en8 the-.extra 6d. was tacked on regardless of the length of the run. Its addition meant that a short journey of something under a mile involved a, fare of at least is. 24., not including the tip. A journey of three miles involved a fare of only 2s. 6d., or at the rate of, at least, 4d. a mile less. Probably the tip for the longer journey would not, at the most, average more than double that given for the short journey. Consequently, the short journey paid the best. It is only human nature, when a man feels he has a, choice of several jobs, of which some are much better than the others, to choose the most profitable. Moreover, the short run probably terminates somewhere near the centre of London, where another fare can easily be picked up. The long run often terminates in a suburb, where there may be considerable delay before getting a return fare, or it may even be necessary to make part of the return journey empty. The bonus has proved to work againstthe interests of the public, who are well quit of it.
GO STEADY WITH THE STARTER!
A Hint to Ford Van Drivers on the Possibility of Battery Exhaustion by Excessive Use of the Power Starter.
IWAS talking the other day to a very intelligent garage mechanic, who told me that it was, in his opinion, a great mistake to fit power-starters to Ford vans. Being a bit of a red-hot democrat, I rather strongly objected to the notion that the masses should not have the benefit of this excellent fitment, and that it should be reserved exclusively for the aristocratic car owner. (I say, "aristocratic," notwithstanding the fact that itis " only a Ford" that he owns.) Then my mechanic friend explained what he meant. He was afraid that van drivers would make too good use of the power-starter.; that most vans on their rounds are always stopping and starting, with very short runs in between the stops and starts; that the result would be that the battery would be overdrawn --there being but little time between the starts and stops for it to pick up strength. Now, there is some danger of this. Any driver who is on_ a, "door-to-door" delivery should limit the use of. the power-starter. After all, there is very little trouble in restarting a Ford engine once it has been started for the day. A hot engine will always fire readily enough. There is therefore but little purpose in turning on the power-starter for any start after the first.' A single pall on the handle will then almost certainly set the engine firing merrily. On the other hand, it is true that the power-starter, for any start after' the first, does not -call for a large amount of current from the battery, as the engine fires almost as soon as the starter-motor moves the flywheel.
Any driver whose round means a lot of stopping and starting, and who prefers to use the powerstarter for the latter purpose; should keep close watch on the condition of the battery when the round is finished. It should be tested either with the hydrometer or the voltmeter, in the way I have described in recent "Ford Van Pointers." . Then it will be seen whether the repeated power-starting is making too big drain on the battery. Remember that, at the end of a daylight round, the battery ought to show full "up." If you get home with a half-charged or a more or less exhausted battery, you will know th-at you have been using the power-starter too, much—or that there is something radically wrong with the electrical plant. If you have been using the self-starter a great deal, put it down, of amrse, to that. R. T. NICHOLSON.