THE HAULIERS' INQUIRE WITHIN.
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Third Article on Car Hiring, and Concluding One on Taxicabs, London and Provincial. More Figures for Costs.
IT IS probable that there are quite as many readers of this page who are interested in the London taxicab as " proprietors " as those who are considering the matter from the owner-driver point of view. Thu latter will find much of the information they require in last week's article : the former—I explained the meaning of the term " proprietor " in this connection last week—will find that -that which follows has a particular bearing on their
side of the question.
Running Costs for a London Taxicab.
I will deal at once with the all-absorbing matter of costs, and can do so the more easily, as one of London's cab owners has been discussing it in the taxicab man's official organ : "The Green Badge." I will give his figures, but am arranging them to suit my own requirements. The capital expenditure is quoted, in reference to a Beardmore cab, as being ic.:625 for the cab, plus 210 sundry expenses in licensing and passing the cab for the road.
• Running costs.—These he quotes on a weekly basis. He is wrong, of course, but, for the time being, I will take his figures. They are: petrol 21 10s. ; lubricants, 2s. 6d. ; tyres, 14s. ; maintenance (including hire of taximeter), 10s. 6d. ; depreciation 25s. .Total 24 2s.
His standing charges are : licences, Gs. ; insurance, 8s. ; garage, 12s. No allowance is made for interest on capital : it is included in profit, and the cab-driver's wages are actually a running cost, as we shall see when we come to discuss receipts. The total standing charges are, therefore; 22 6s. C-eitain . overhead charges are included in the item "garage,", already quoted. Others are : employer's liability insurance-6d., and proportion of Health Insurance stamp cost-5d., say, is. in all.
The total weekly expense per cab is, therefore, 26 9s.
Now, this particular proprietor looks to receive a minimum return of 10 per cent. on his capital, namely, 21 5s. a week, and he must, therefore, get 27 14s. from the driver each week in order that his aspirations may be realized. What mileage must, then, be covered?
In order to answer that question we must first understand the method of remunerating the driver, and that involves, for the provincial reader, a brief explanation of the method of calculating fares in London. All fares have a basic rate of ls, a mile, or Is. per ten minutes. Hiring of a motorcab is rarely by time, and may, for our present purpose, be ignored. That rate stands so long as no more than two people ride. For each additional person beyond two an extra charge of 9d. is made. The 9d. is a maximum, and does not vary either according to— time or distance. That is to say, if one or two people hire a cab, the rate is is. a mile, so that if they run one mile they pay is., and if they run four they pay 4s. If three persons ride, the payment for one mile is Is. 9d., and for four miles 4$. 9d. It is this method of calculating fares which makes a long cab ride in London so cheap, if there are four passengers. The legal fare for a run to Wembley, for example, wifh four up, should not amount to more than 10s.—half a crown each, which is very reasonable.
Anyhow, that is getting a bit wide of the mark. There are charges for luggage carried outside-3d. per package, and for perambulators, etc., 9d. each. The essential point is, however, that the taximeter registers is. a mile! All the other items, including the 9d. each for extra passengers, are " extras.",
What the Journeyman Gets.
Now, the ", journeyman," as the driver who works for a " proprietor " is called, takes threepence of each shilling registered by the taximeter, plus all the extras, plus all tips (I presume no explanation of the last term is needed). If, therefore, a cab is to earn, for its owner, a minimum 'of 27 14s. a week, it must do a paying mileage of at least 206 a week, which involves a total of 300 miles or more._ The journeyman's minimum earning, in that case, will be £2 10s. a week, and, in agood week, with fair luck -in the
way of extras and tips, he may double that amount.
Inthe course of the preceding article, I made a referente to /lineage per driver, and stated that I would, later on, enlarge upon the aspect of the matter which I had in mind. I was thinking of what is known as "doubling." The owner-driver who buys a new cab, nearly always gets it on the hire-purchase system, which means that, for a matter of five years or so, he has to find 2,3 a week-for initalinents. Now, when running 300 miles a week, he can only make a profit of 24 10s. or thereabouts, say, 25 15s. with no allowance for depreciation, and there may be weeks when he does not do 300 miles, and others when, sick, he doe.: not do any. To make provision against these untoward events, and their financial tesults, and to eke outthe somewhat scanty balance of his earnings available after payment of his instalments, he engages a journeyman -to run his ear for another shift per day. The latter works for the owner-driver in the same way, and for remuneration reckoned after the same fashion, as that already described in connection with the proprietor's business. If he runs, say, 200 miles during the week, he does so at an additional expense to the owner, of 228. 6d. for petrol, Os. for tyres and 2s. 6d. for maintenance. A total, not allowing for depreciation, of £1 115, The revenue to the owner, assuming 120 miles to he paid for, is £4 10s. (9d. a mile), so that the profit is E2 19s., making life a little more worth living durink the time he is paying for his cab. The journeyman doing the " doubling" gets, as before, d. a mile—£1 10s., plus extras, which, as the work is often done in the night, are considerable. If the " doubling " is part day and part night, day one week, night the next, then more miles will be run during the week the journeyman is on day work, and his earnings will' be more, if his extras are less. In the provinces, although the conditions are different, the earnings, taking things all round, are about the sam-e. In big cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow or Edinburgh the conditions are practically the same as in London, and the fares and • egulations are almost the same. In other towns the fares are more ; is. 6d. a milebeing usual, and there is much more freedom for the cab owner, both as to choice of vehicle and as to the work which offers. In one town—Preston, I think—they have a curious habit of charging a " fare " for the return journey, whether he_ makes it or not, -so that if a cab is engaged to run a distance of two miles the fare is 4s., whether the cab is used for a return journey or not. Running costs of London-type taxis employed in the provinces will vary, according to the locality. The variation, however, will be in individual items : the totals will not differ to any appreciable extent. Petrol consumption and tyre wear will increase, on account of 'the road surfaces, which are, generally, not so good as those in London. On the other hand, garage charges will be less, as will also insurance and licence costs. Maintenance charges will be lower, for one thing, because the standard of fitness is not so higha.s in the Metropolis, or, at any rate, it would seem' so, if one may judge by appearances. The mileage covered in a week by a cab in a thinly populated and not very busy provincial town will not exceed 200, and only half will actually be farehearing. The total Cest, including depreciation, will be between 24 and 24 10s., and the revenue, assuming is. Bd. per mile, 27 10s. In towns where the weekly mileage falls below 200, the proprietor usually endeavoura, with more or less success, to fill it out with private-hire work, and that is a section. of this subject with which I propose to deal next week.
THE SKOTCH.