PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
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Starting a Small Business as a Haulier and Carrier with One Vehicle.
TEP, ability to carry both passengers and goods on one vehicle naturally offers a wider field for earning profit than if only one type of load be considered. This aspect of transport work appeals, therefore, to a large number of recruits to the industry, and an idea which possesses a considerable amount of attraction is the use of a one-tonner with a tilt body capable of having two seats fixed along the sides giving a passenger-carrying capacity of 14 persons, excluding the driver.
With this arrangement, the degree of comfort provided for passenger work is not very great, although detachable cushions be made to fix along the sides of the lorry, against which the passengers may rest their backs. Even padded seats will not ensure absolute luxury, but, provided pneumatic tyres are employed, there is little difficulty in obtaining passengers as a rule. There are always people who want an outing or to get from one place to another, and are willing to sacrifice a certain amount of physical comfort in return for a cheaper fare than they would have to pay if a more luxurious type of conveyance were used. It is amongst these customers that the owner of a lorry-cumcoach must spread his propaganda for obtaining business, so far as the passenger side is concerned.
Taking the case of a one-tonner, the annual licence costs £.21 if the unladen weight be over one ton. When licensed as a hackney vehicle for carrying 14 persons, excluding the driver, the annual charge for such a ma,chine is either 130 or £24, according to whether it is registered in the Metropolitan Police area, another specially nominated district, or in a common or garden place which does not enjoy the doubtful if expensive honour of being described as "special." A problem arises as to whether the extra cost of the passenger licence will repay the vehicle owner? When dualpurpose work is at all worthy of consideration, the extra annual income to cover even the 19 difference existing in London districts should present very little difficulty in its collection. In the case of a lorry which will be used at fairly regular intervals, say, one weekend a month, the hackney licence should pay for itself, In addition to putting a little into the bank, if reasonable fares be charged to the passengers.
Passenger Licensing for Part of the Year.
In some' cases, however, the pastsenger work may be regarded as a side line to such an extent that only one or two days' work will be done during the summer months. When these circumstances obtain, the owner Will probably find that. it is not worth paying the additional sum for a whole year's hackney licence, but that it is quite a reasonable business proposition to run under a goods licence only for, say, the first and last quarters of the year and to take out hackney licences for the second and third quarters. Provided the hackney fee is greater than the cost of the goods vehicle licence, either passengers or dead loads can be carried, the owner being comparatively free to do as he pleases.
When the time comes for giving up passenger work entirely the hackney carriage plate must be removed from the vehicle and the principle of "goods only" must be adhered to strictly. Once the passenger licence expires, that side of the business is definitely off. Even an odd run with " fares " is a crime which will, in all probability, involve expensive consequences and cause a subsequent watchfulness on the part of the local authorities which may be very troublesome.
If two types of load be catered for, the higher licence rate must be paid. It rarely happens that the sum paid in respect of a commercial goods vehicle is more than that for the same machine as a hackney, but the point should be borne in mind in case it arises at any time.
A word of caution has also to be given at this point to a newcomer ; his hackney carriage licence and plate do not entitle him to ply for public hire, but merely for private hire work. At the risk of telling people what they already know, it is advisable to stress this point, particularly in view of the fact that this week's " problem " is devoted to the interests of the novice and the would-be haulier and carrier.
Differences Between Private Hire and Public Hire.
Private hire consists of work from the garage, the vehicle having been previously booked, but public hire work consists of picking up passengers without previous arrangement, such as bus work, seaside coach trips starting from the sea front, and so forth. Public hire demands further licensing formalities, which need not be considered here, as it has little connection with the problem of goods and passengers transported by one vehicle unless the job of village carrier is being considered.
Drivers' licences are, of course, required for each and every person who Will handle the vehicle, the cost being 5s. a head. For the information of various inquirers, there are no tests for vehicle or drivers' licences ; forms Merely have to be filled up. The police may, at any time while the vehicle is on the road, call upon the driver to prove that its brakes are sound and according to legal requirements.
One inquirer, of whom I am thinking in connection with a project of this nature, is uncertain as to methods of arriving at charges for goods and passengers. For the benefit of those who may be in a similar quandary, let me state a golden rule in the first place—get a copy
of the Operating Costs Tables published by this journal. This is the first and most important step in getting down to the question of costs and profits. Upon the basis of the prices published in these tables, all other figures can be worked, provided a little common sense and discretion are used.
The charges set forth in the tables are given per mile In the case of running costs and operating costs. Standing charges and operating costs for various mileages are given per week. Again, for the benefit of the novice, operating costs are merely the total of running costs and standing charges added together, but it must be remembered that no allowance is made for profit in either of these items.
When a fare has to be calcifiated or a price worked out for goods transport, it is necessary to note the mileage to be covered by the vehicle, and this should be multiplied by the cost per mile, having regard to the week's total mileage. That is to say, if a vehicle runs 500 miles per week, one can use the operating cost figure per mile for that distance. Should the vehicle run only 200 miles per week, however, the operating costs table must be adjusted accordingly. The miles multiplied by operating costs give the amount the vehicle will cost you to keep and run for that distance.
A time allowance must be made, on the lines suggested in a recent article in this series, in cases where a charge on mileage only would not represent a fair return for loss of time, plus operating costs. Both mileage and time factors must be remembered.
Establishment expenses and profit allowance, details of Avhich are set forth in the section of the "Costs Table" entitled "Hauliers' Figures," are estimated sums to cover the items in question. These must be added to the operating costs before calculating the charge to the customer per mile, per hour or per day. When passenger fares per head have to be dealt with the miles multiplied by the operating cost per mile must be worked out and the establishment expenses and profit allowance added ; the total thus obtained must be divided by the number of passengers who have to bear the expense of the trip. In the case of private hire work, the calculation is usually simple, as there are no shortstage fares as in the case of bus operation. Do not overlook the dead mileage—that is, distance covered from the garage_ to the picking-up point or from the unloading point back home when the vehicle is running empty—allowance must be made for the distance thus travelled, with its consequent expense, before totalling up and making charges.