BUS RESULTS IN SCOTTISH CITIES.
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Details of the Working of the Municipal System in Edinburgh for the Past Year. A Profitable Return from Buses.
A LTHOUGH the municipal year so lifer as passenger road transport is concerned in both Edinburgh and Glasgow does not end until May 15th and May 31st respectively, the corporation In each of these important Scottish cities loses little time in issuing the annual report dealing with the year's working of its transport services: Furthermore, the reports compiled by these authorities are really most informative documents and contain a host of statistical facts from which useful deductions and comparisons as between relative means of transport can be made.
The experience of the Edinburgh Corporation with motorbuses dates from July, 1914, but its early activities in this direction were short-lived owing to the rolling stock being impressed for military purposes. Several years, of course, elapsed before it was possible once again to give consideration to the use of passenger-carrying motor vehicles and actually it took place concurrently with the acquisition of the tramways system from the Edinburgh and District Tramways Co., Ltd., a few motor coaches being commissioned for tourist work. This is a side of passenger-vehicle operation to which the corporation has always paid attention, and on May 15th last its fleet of motor coaches consisted of 19 machines (nine 27-seaters, six 32seaters, four 14-seaters), whilst three others (14-seaters) were then on order.
It was in December, 1919, that a fresh start was made with a bus service, this being run between Ardmillan Terrace and Abbeyhill and intended to supplement the tramway service. Since that time the bus system has made sub _ stantial headway and although in the years ended May 15th, 1924, and 1925. respectively, big losses (£9.043 and £8,174) were sustained, these facts
must not be translated too literally and without consideration being given to the changes taking place about that time in the passenger road transport industry. In the succeeding three years the buses hate been operated at a profit, the extent of the past year's surplus being /4,576, as compared with 15,415 a year earlier.
Edinburgh's Modern Fleet.
During the year under review the corporation had in use 111 passenger vehicles, 92 of them being buses. .A..s was shown in our analysis of municipal bus services published in our issue dated May 22nd last, the fleet is largely composed of Leyland buses, of which 78 were then in service, other makes in use being A.E.C. (24), Karrier (89-seater six-wheelers) and Dennis. That the sixwheeled vehicles have performed satisfactorily was indicated by the decision of the city council on October 27th last to purchase an additional eight 39seaters of this type. The corporation has always thought it worth while to use modern types of vehicle and its decision to keep abreast of the times is borne out by the present composition of the fleet. As new machines are delivered buses and coaches which have seen many years' service are discarded. The capital expenditure up to May 15th last on motorbuses and garages was £282,880 of which amount £233,616 has been paid off, leaving 149,264 at present outstanding.
Bus Revenue Increases.
Daring the year with which we are dealing, the revenue from the operation of the buses totalled £149,585, as compared with £133,385 in the previous year, and the number of passengers carried showed a proportionate increase, the
actual figures for each year being 23,316,157 and 19,455,030 respectively.
The total working expenses in the year 1927-1928 were £142,218 and in the previous year £125,720. With the income and expenditure figures now available it will he seen that the balance for each of the two years varied only to the extent of a few hundred pounds: The amount carried to the net revenue account in the past year being £7,367 as against £7,665 a year earlier. Against this balance there falls to be deducted a sum for interest and contribution to sinking fund (less interest received, £125) amounting to £2,916, thus leaving a surplus of £4,576, as compared with a surplus of £5,415 in the previous..,year.
Dissecting the debit side of the revenue account, we find that traffic expenses absorbed £09,064 and general expenses 112,858, whilst a sum of 140,913 was expended in connection with repairs and maintenance, under which heading chassis represented an outlay of £20,327, and bodies £7,673; the purchase of tyres is alSo included under this item and was responsible for an expenditure of £9,000. A sum of £19,382 was expended in connection with the motorspirit requirements of the department, this being equivalent to 1.737d. per busmile, a return which is noticeably lower than the comparable figure (2.548d.) for the year 1926-1927. Reduced to a permile basis, the total working expenses were 12.750d. and the total income 13.4106., the revenue from passengers' fares being 13.038d.
The total mileage of the routes on which buses were operated in May last was SL The average number of miles covered per vehicle per day was 110, the, average speed travelled per hour being 9.5 m.p.h. It is interesting to note that the average speed of the_bpses is in excess of that of the tramcars which, according to the report, maintained an average speed of 8.76 m.p.h. in the past year. The total mileage covered by the buses was 2,677,065.
It has been said that the walking habit has been lost to this age, and a fact in the Edinburgh Corporation's report rather bears out this belief, for of a total, of 23,410,879 bus tickets issued in the year 14,804,396 (66 per cent.) were in respect of id. fares, the next in order being the 2d. tickets, which accounted for 22.12 per cent, of the total number issued. The average fare per mile is .994d. and on the assumption that a large number of people do not travel for the full fare stage, it is dear that riding is preferred. . Before completing our review, we might mention that the total revenue from the operation of the tramcars in the past year was £731,203, the working expenses amounting to £515,709. From the balance of 1215,494,'there falls to be deducted a sum of £146,451 for interest and contribution to sinking fund,
plus income tax (less interest received), -whilst Cu amount of £65,016 (1.5d, per car-mile) is set aside for depreciation and permanent-way renewals, leaving a net surplus of 14,027.
. The summary published below contains items relating to the working of the buses in the past eight years