The Altering Cab Situation.
Page 15
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By Henry Sturrney.
The situation in the motorcab world is undergoing rapid changes, and the conditions have, indeed, 60 entirely altered that views which were held a couple of years back are no longer tenable and have to be abandoned. I confess that my views of the motorcab situation have undergone a very-considerable change. Looking at the matter broadly, from a commerciallyfinancial point of view, it would appear that it would be the soundest policy to purchase the cheapest vehicle which will do the work required of it. Had the police authorities in London not been induced to amend their specification, in order to let in the French productions, the limitations of the specification itself would have kept us pretty much to the same type of vehicle. We should have been almost bound to stick to the two-cylinder engine placed under the footboards, and, as I believe I have already remarked in these columns, this would have developed an essentiallyspecial type, which would have been recognized as a cab and nothing else. Such a vehicle will, indeed, if sufficiently substantial in build, do all the work which may reasonably be expected of a cab, but the alteration of the regulations, which let in the conventional type of chassis, also resulted in opening the door of competition very wide, and this competition has, in London, now resulted in an entirelychanged aspect of the cab situation. I think we may take it as a fact that the factors which affect London to-day will affect all other places ultimately. A brief glance at the history of the movement will show what I mean.
In the first place, the pioneer cab companies purchased the cheapest vehicles they could buy. They bought lowpowered French voiturette chassis, and they fitted them with bodies of the cheapest-possible order. These little vehicles, so far as doing the work goes, that is to say, getting over the ground and carrying their loads, worked satisfactorily enough, save for the fact that they were all constructed too lightly for the work ; repairs and depreciation have now become unduly heavy. The altered conditions which let them in also rendered it possible to build four-cylindered cabs of larger power, and with more body capacity, and yet to come inside the regulations; hence, the past twelve months have seen a wonderful difference in the streets of London. A number of British-built, fourcylindered vehicles, with roomy, highly-finished bodies, having protecting canopies for the driver and resembling to a large extent private landaulets, save in the omission of one of the front seats, have made their appearance : the public has been quick to appreciate the advantages of their
quicker acceleration, and greater comfort and smoothness.. of running, with the result that, just as the pioneer companies are feeling the pinch of reduced takings and heavy; upkeep expenditure, they are met with the effective and. sustained competition of these superior vehicles, which. hirers, wherever they have the choice, continue to take in preference to the older and less-pretentious models. The Gamage cab 'flotation further emphasized thin. point; one of the strongest points in the company's programme was the fact that it meant to use vehicles of a more-elaborate and luxurious type than any which have yet appeared on the London streets. It seems to me that the only safe policy for intending cab purchasers to pursue is to buy the best vehicle they can obtain, rather than the cheapest, and so to prevent the inevitable certainty of their being later on cut out by better vehicles. In thin connection, foreign buyers are, apparently, more farseeing than the majority of English ones. Thus, e.g., ia. the cabs which my firm is supplying to Russia, a very high class of body design, fitting and finish was called for, as„ although there are no motorcabs in Warsaw to-day, thereare a large number of high-class two-horsed Victories, and the purchasers recognized that they had to " cut these out " in luxury of riding, as well as in swiftness of travel: they were fully prepared to pay a good price for a good article. Mention of these vehicles reminds me that, showing one of them to a well-known man in the trade who is at present, negotiating cabs for another Continental inquirer,. he at first expressed the opinion that the vehicle was. " altogether too good for cab work,' but, the above aspect of the situation having been pointed out to him, he at once perceived its significance, and readily recalled the fact that of late he had frequently heard orders given at, hotels and other places, when a taxi was to be called tip, that one of the latest and most-luxurious models should Ii— securedmentioning the make by name. He promptly came to the conclusion that the best, rather than the cheapest, was the soundest policy to pursue in selection_ Of course, in many foreign countries, they have a tariff which will allow for every luxury to be provided in first cost, but, with the 8d. per mile of the London streets, first cost is confined within certain clearly-defined limits, which will, I take it, always prevent anything like excessive competition in this direction. Still, the situation today undoubtedly calls for vehicles of higher power, greater spaciousness and superior fitting, requirements which will increase first cost by probably 25 per cent.