RUNNING• COSTS OF A MUNICIPALITY'S MOTORS.
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The Experience of One of London's Boroughs in Respect of a Fleet of Eleven Petrol-propelled Vehicles.
AL TH 0 U GH the majority of commercial vehicle users, and particularly those in a large way, have been con, vinced of the intrinsic neethfor the compilation of reliable statistics -(which alone enable the earning power of each vehicle of a fleet to be correal'y ascertained), it is singular that,surne users.do not yet appreciate the value of running cost figures.
Small users, employing up to half-a, dozen vehicles, are probably chief -Offen. ders in this respect, although some large users are equally remiss in devising a satisfactory system of recording running costs. Some of these users might, with considerable advantage, take a leaf from the book of municroat authorities relining mechanically • ,propellerb vehicles which almost without-exceptuen, maintain ,steict surveillance twee vile cost of running their vehici
It is, in actual fact, more important that the private trading concern should pay heed to operating costs, for the simple reasonethat private money is involveu, and that capital is in all probability limited, whereas, in the case of a municipal enderteking. it is the ratepayer who has indirectly to foot the bill. Yet, who car truly • say that local authorities endeavour to seek the best means of reducing the burden of the sorely tried taxpayer?
Peculiar Factors Produce Different Conditions of Operation.
It has been our policy in the past to publish at frequent intervals figures relating to municipal running costs, and, although these have-invariably been epitomized, they have provided informative and instructive comparison with the cost of horse haulage and hired transport. We shall, as heretofore, continue this service to our readers, many of whom willundoubtedly find much food for thought in the table. reproduced below,
which contains in succinct form running costs and general statistics relating to the individual units of the fleet of petal)]. vehicles owned by the metropolitan borough of Deptford.
One Might be inclined to the belief that mechanical haulage in the various London boroughs i$, in many respects, of a similar nature especially as the various areas are huddled together in e comparatively small space. Such, however, is tar from being the case, and, singular though it may seem, two areas abutting directly on one another may provide peculiar factors which are responsible for widely divergent ,conditions of operation.
As a concrete example, take two boroughs whose officials are undertaking road repairs in their respective areas. One borough, we will say, has e canal frontage, whilst the authorities of the other district are mainly dependent upon
railway facilities for traesport. The former would he in a position to have its raw materials and supplies water-borne to the storing depot along the quayside, whilst the latter would be called upon to pay varying railway charges plus cartage costs from station to depot. Even if its materials were canal-borne, they would have to be carted from the wharf to the depot. This disparity in transport charges would influence the cost of the road repair work, and, moreover, might lead those unfamiliar with the different circumstances to believe that widely varying costs for identical work were evidence of the total disregard for the best possible expenditure of public money.
Deptford is one of the smallest of municipal users in London, the area which is under the mgis of the borough council being about 1,563 acres (approximately 2'e square miles). Some 53 miles of streets are distributed over this area, and motor vehicles play an important part in connection with their repair and mainten
ance, whilst they also perform other work under the jurisdiction of the highways department, which employs the 11 vehicles referred to in the accompanying tables.
It was in 1918 that the, first motor vehicle was put into service, although running costs for the motors have only been kept since April of last year, previou6 to which the transport wot•k of the borough was passing through a transitory periodThe tiguree given, therefore, deal with the 12 months from April Let, 1921, to March 31st, 1922. It is unusual to find municipal authorities divulging information of this kind which is so up-to-date, and this procedure in the case of Deptford certainly reflects credit on Mr. It Morley Lawson, M.Imst.M. and CE., A.M.Inst.T., the borough surveyor.
Vehicle Standardization for Particular Classes of Work.
As will be seen from the tables, one type of machine has been standardized for a particular class of work, six 3-4ton Halley tipping wagons being used for the collection of dust and the haulage of road material. A seventh Halley fulfils three distinct requirements—road watering, gully-flushing and thud collection and road material haulage (the last two being under one heading}, for which purpose a lorry body is interchangeable with a 750-gallon tank, Other vehicles in the fleet include a Stinker-Squire gully emptier of 750 gallons capacity, a 3-ton Austin dust collecting van, a Laftly sweeper and a 1-ton Ford tipping wagon.
It is not necessary for us to deal with the statistics relating to individual machines—these can be seen at a glance from the tablee—btit we will deal with a few of the outstanding features.
If one peruses the columns dealing with the six separate Hallevs (the seventh Halley must be treated on its own), the uniformity of the average weight per load carried will at once be noticeable, as will the fact that the loads (judging by average weights) were well .within the capacities of the \Thiele:4 During the year, the six Halleys carried 7,527 loads, the total weight of which was 25,854 tons, and covered a total mileage. of 21.220. The weekly mileage for each of these vehicles was very small —roughly 70—but one most not overlook the nature of their duties, a fact which must. also be borne in mind when considering the petrol consumption, which works out at about 3 m.p.g. for the six machines. Private traders would view with alarm such a low m.p.g. figure, but municipal 'haulage possesses peculiarities which rarely pertain in ordinary haulage. The cost per ton and cost per mile figures are relatively high, but there is an evenness about the cost per ton per mile data—Abe widest divergence being between ls. 3d. and Is. 4d.— which balances the variations in them. The cost per ten per mile for the six Halleys was 7s. 10cl.
The Austin dust van with-tipping body is employed on house-to-house refuse collection, and it tackles those areas on the outskirts of the borough where it would be unprofitable to use horsed vehicles. The latter are, as a matter of fact, employed on this kind of work in districts which are iii close proximity to the barges on the Grand Surrey Canal, into which the refuse is shot. This vehicle has handled less than an average of two loads of dust per day, representing about 5 tons, and has cost .£3 12s. 3d., inclusive, over this period.
No. 7 Halley was, due to the phenomenal summer of last. year, principally, used as a watering wagon during the period covered by the statistics, and, on the 145 days it was engaged in this capacity,,
the tank was filled, on an average, just on 10 times per day. The figures concerning the other machines of the fleet speak for themselves. The Ford termer is used for street masons' work, the transport of ballast, and other odd jobs which do not call for the use of a larger machine. The total cost of operating the whole fleet throughout the year was £8,746 2s. 10s., and the average inclusive cost per day £2 18s. 10d.
It should not be forgotten, when analysing these figures, that present-day casts are much below the average for the year in question. At the beginning of the year costs were very much inflated, but, they now show a general tendency to decline. For example, in the last quarter ended March 31st, the cost per ton for the removal of refuse was 13s. 4d., whereas for the year it was 16s. 20. The average number of gullies emptied had also grown to round about 50 per day, the cost per gully being reduced to is. 60. So far as the Lafily sweeper is concerned, its cost.of running per mile, sweeping a track of 6 ft. 6 ins., had decreased from 2s. 8d. to is. 100.
Such matters must be allowed for when perusing the published figures, which have been largely influenced by unstable markets. The borough surveyor confidently anticipates that the costs for the present year will show a marked reduction on those for the past 12 months.