Motorway running costs less
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• A report on vehicle operating costs in 1970 has been published by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. Net operating cost per vehicle for private cars, vans, other goods vehicles and psv according to vehicle speed are shown in tabular form and an indication is also given of the operational cost effect of motorway running.
The report states that a study of fuel consumption of vehicles on motorways indicated that fuel costs were lower than the costs incurred when travelling at the same speed on all-purpose roads. It also states that the difference in other cost aspects of motorway running are not known but "it seems likely that (they) vary in a similar way to fuel costs".
Taking a vehicle of 7 tons carrying capacity as an average goods vehicle, the cost of averaging 25 mph is shown in the table as 7.8 pence per vehicle mile which is reduced by 0.2p per mile for motorway running. In the case of psv, for which a 51-seater bus is taken as average, the costs for similar speeds are shown as 29.0 pence per mile and 0.2p per mile respectively.
In analysing the components of operating costs the value of a vehicle occupant's time is considered —in the case of a goods vehicle this is shown as 70p per hour and for a psv 575p per hour. Under the heading of depreciation a study indicated that approximately 40 per cent of total depreciation as due to the use of a vehicle, the remainder being due to the passage of time.