Opinions from Others.
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Taxicab Earnings, Fares and Finance.
The Editor, THE COSIMERCI.L Moron.
[1,165] Sir,Before developing the conclusions which my letter of last week suggested, may I trespass on your space to comment briefly on the remarks to which it has given rise. Free meals—Oh no, but does the average skilled labourer spend 13 to 15 hours earl' day away from home and have no settled place for his meals, and thus have to pay at most-expensive rates ? The Is. 6(1. entered as meals is simply the extra cost of the irregularity and casual manner in which our cabman feeds. The list of deductions I gave is moderate : it took no account of the small items, washes, oil, good lamps, white-coat washing and a host of minor items.
The figures you published last week, as to the average " Extras " to takings, correspond with the opinions of some hundred men whom I have asked, and look more like 5s. a week than 10s. The latter is the figure of two years ago, when four-seated cabs were new, and average takings 20s. a day more than now. As to tips, I only wish they were 4s. 2d. in the pound. Here are my last two days: Saturday, out 9i hours, 14 jobs, 20s. exactly on the meter, six gave no tip, the remaining eight between them 2s. 6d., of which 8d. was for racing to catch a train; to-day, Sunday, I was out nearly 14 hours for 33s. 2d., and received
Id. in tips from 13 riders, and for one job of over three hours of calling with an invalid lady (owner of one of the Largest houses in a celebrated square) leaving cards, supporting the rider to and from the cab and generally doing a. footman's work, I was most carefully and most sweetly thanked for my care, told to keep 2d. for myself, and then to give her 6s. 6d. change for a sovereign, there being 13s. 4d. on the clock, and this job took the three best hours of the day, nor is it unusual. Apologies are due for rewriting this so-often-told tale; only the necessity of letting the public know the truth can be my excuse.
One note as to the suggested cause of the increase in owner drivers. It is because the careful and seeing man, who knows how much the best of the bargain the owner has, seeks to become an owner; the other alternative sug
gestion, that because he has so much the best of things as a driver he wants to be an owner is unthinkable put into plain terms. It is the pride of ownership, snore than the profit thereof—having had two years of it I speak " not as the Jews "—which determines men at much sacrifice to become masters. But pride of ownership, its magnificent value to the race, its destruction or atrophy under present conditions of life and its re-enkindling are matters for an abler pen than mine.
The effect of a 2d.-per-mile increase in fare could hardly reduce the use of motorcabs by one passenger ; the short theatre journey costs just the same ; the " pay off " at unreasonable places (unreasonable, partly, it is fair to say, because of the undeveloped state of the trade—of which more anon) would cost the hirer more, and justly so. Why should he have a motor from Charing Cross to Kew for less than the price of a horsed vehicle? The 10d.-amile basis would cost 20 per cent. more for the motor than the horse, which is less than the ratio of increase he now pays for a shorter journey of, say, two miles. Beyond the six miles LAt a time—En.] the driver need not go, and a just hirer would not without due recompense wish to take hint ; in the days when legislation was the enforcement of equity and not the bribery of classes, the old cab law was made to provide for just such cases—let it stand, and amend the scale of fares in accordance therewith, say I.
Any dislike to the new mileage would be more than counterbalanced by the great advantage to the public of the reduction in the time charge. No longer would the ordering of cabs be deferred till the last minute, with consequent hurry, scramble and accident—or narrow escape therefrom ; no longer need the old tale be told, " I cannot afford to keep you with your flag down, but Fll give you half the money for yourself if you'll wait with it up!" I wish some legal reader would say what, if any, punishment could be meted out to hirers who incite drivers to this and many other petty frauds. Writing after 60,000 miles of motorcab driving, and after carrying some 10,000 fares, I am absolutely certain that nothing in the whole present scheme has bcen so unpopular as the 4s. per hour waiting charge. It has been the constant burthen of complaint, and has lost the cabs more pail work than is easily counted. That the suggested scale would commend itself to the public, there is little doubt.
Of comparative earnings, I regret I can only give one example; any firms with records can easily test my figures. May, 1910, total miles 1,337, engaged 913, total takings, £11 Is., equal to 7.368d. per mile, divided into £30 4s. 8d. running, and £10 Hs. 4d. waiting. At 10d. per mile and 2s. M. per hoer, the return would have been 4:3; 15.s. 10d. and £6 15s. 3d.. respectively, a total of .C44 I is. Id., equal to S.009d. per mile. If no more waiting had been done, the earnings are 1:3 10s. Id. more on the propissed new scale, but it is certain that much more would have been done. One long wait lost at Kew, one at Richmond and several at theatres in the last month are within my knowledge due to the 4s. an hour charge. That is the company's position, what of the men's.
I have already shown that on or below the 27s. basis the wage the men can earn is very small ; even if, which is not the case, the estimate of tips at 2!.,d. in the shilling were correct, the total wage, taking the " Extras " at 3s. per cab per week, and granting that the men took half of those, is too low, bearing in inind the skill, endurance and knowledge needed, the very long hours, the constant strain, the extreme difficulty of serving many masters who are ever ready. through the police to take our livelihood away often on frivolous grounds, and not now on a par with that of other skilled labour. As tips are :lethally not the 4s. 2d. in the pound estimated by the papers, but from 2s. to 3s., making the net sum little over 7s. per day, or 6d. (often under) per hour, it is fair to say that the men have cause for dissatisfaction. Much more. therefore, will they, when as is inevitable takings further decrease mid tips follow suit, be dissatisfied. The old and unwise cry for " free petrol " will be raised by so-called men's leaders, who should know better, and " strike talk " and general unrest will follow.
London's motorcab service should be greatly extended. The suburbs, at 10d. a mile, offer a field; at 8d., they are ruinous. For these to be worked, a careful shelter and telephone placing-scheme, with due avertisement thereof, is necessary. Streatham, for instance, has no rank and no telephone; every cab that goes there does three or four miles empty, in returning, for their lack ; the loss of time—probably the biggest item of the waste this means—seems to be quite ignored at present. Wimbledon, Dulwich, Blackheath, Highgate. Lewisham, Richmond, and even places further afield, should be made sources of pTofit instead of loss to the cabs, to say nothing of the enormous boon to their inhabitants, were well-workcel and well-advertised shelters and telephones available. Their absence, Sir, gives some grounds, at least (and there are others), for the assertion that there is little or no forethought or co-ordination in the cab trade. The Proprietors Association has, I believe, justified its nine months of existence by depriving quite a number of men of their livelihood—cm grounds on which those men should have either been legally proved guilty, or never attacked. Without the columns of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR laid
/yen as common ground, there might be no progress or interchange of views, and I wish, in conclusion. to express the feeling of gratitude all of us bear towards you for your help in thrashing out these vital questions,—
Yours faithfully. J. EDWARD DAV I ES. 3. Willow Walk, Highgate. N.W.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
"1.166] Sir.— May I suggest to your contributor. J. E. Davies (2nd June), that, by his zeal for " reform." he may be running considerable risk of queering his own pitch? The chances that the authorities will view Ids scheme for a 23 per cent, increase of fares favourably seems remote. It is certain, however, the chances that the long-suffering public will do so are more remote still. That retaliation would follow is shown pretty clearly by a conversation I took part in at my club to-day. amongst half-a-dozen men, all frequent taxicab users. The articles in your current issue were under discussion, and the unanimous verdict, pronounced with no uncertain voice was: " Raise the fares, tips burred!" It is fairly certain that a considerable section of the public who now use taxis would be frightened off, if the fares were raised. All precedent points in this direction, as the records of bus, train and railway companies show. An apparently-insignificant rise in fares has more than once produced ansastonishing reduction in the number of passengers carried. Further, the proposed increase would give a new lease of life to the moribund hansom. The hansom-eabby of to-day says " Thank yon, sir," and touches his hat, on being offered ls. for a drive from the Bank to Tottenham Court Road. Under Mr. Davies's scheme the taxicab fare for the same distance would be 2s., for, I judge, he does not, anticipate an abolition of tips: Your estimate of 24(1. tip per ls. fare would bring the sum mentioned to 2s.. within the fraction of a penny.
What strikes one most forcibly, about the letters of Mr. Davies and others who have been airing this subject in the Press, is the singularly-iinconvincing nature of their estimates of takings and expenses. Mr. Davies makes the bald statementthat the drivers only get from 6s. to 8s. for their clay's work, of which 4s. to Os. goes in necessary expenses. Clearly, the drivers' net earnings run grave risk of amounting to nil. Now, I know a taxi-driver, whose sole income is derived from his cab, who lives in a style that many a bank cashier might well envy. He could not keep it up on a penny less than £200 per annum. How does he do it on a precarious inonne of from nil to 4s. per diem (ride Mr. Davies)? Does he do it entirely on the " steadily-diminishing tips:"
If Mr. Davies wishes to .convince us. let him publish a few sample balance-sheets of taxi-drivers, properly audited. Again, with regard to the " steady diminution" of tips (rids Mr. Davies), I would suggest that a possible cause may be the glum silence with which tips (often amounting to 25 per cent. of the recorded fare) have of late been received. It is not encouraging. The cheery reception of the bare fare by the hansom-cabby of to-day, as often as not prompts a tip, where none had been in
tended.—Yours faithfully, E. BEN NETT.
Sales to South Africa.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,167] am going to make a very rash and tactless
remark.. I am about to say to your readers: "I told you so." One satisfaction of finding that one's views coincide with those of better men than oneself is Sc) great that, as far as I am concerned, I cannot refrain from expressing it. Mr. Watson's interesting account of his tour in company with the Minister of Agriculture for Natal has been the cause of my satisfaction, for I see that the requirements for industrial motor vehicles intended for work in Natal are nearly identical with those which I endeavoured to the best, of my humble ability to indicate last year in the article you were good enough to publish in THE COMM ERCI AL MOTOR on such matters as the high clearance, large-diameter wheels, speed, fuel, and protection from dust. I am gratified to see that my small ideas were at least substantially correct.
I note, however, that I was wrong to some extent over the material for the wheels; I thought wood might be the best, as, though it is not nearly so good for resisting the climate as metal, yet wheels made of wood might, I thought., he found to be more easily reparable if damaged at any time, especially if the vehicle is to work in the country districts, far from " shops " and machine tools. I presume the superior strength, and greater wear and climate-resisting qualities of the steel wheels outweigh the above considerations.
I am very glad to hear that the Minister for Agriculture thinks that there is a great future for mechanical vehicles in South Africa. I am also delighted to hear that he has been favourably impressed by " steam gas " to the extent of his purchasing an industrial motor driven by this form of propulsion. I am convinced it is the ideal prime mover for a certain class of work. --Yours faithfully,