BUS OPERATING COSTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19809, 2 December 1927, Page 14

BUS OPERATING COSTS.

Sir,—The claim by a private omnibus company that its costs, including interest, and depreciation, are only lOd a! mile is sufficiently remarkable to arrest attention. I am sure that if its author can prove its accuracy the City Council would be justified in paying him a huge reward to disclose the secret of such economy. He has revealed part of it in the statement that part of the discrepancy between his lOd and the municipal experience of 17d is due to the municipality paying "a huge bill" for uniforms, while the private concern contents itself with peaked t e'aps. According to the separate accounts of the municipal omnibuses for 1C26-27,. the running expenses were nearly £92,000. That included "conductors' and bus ... drivers' uniforms, £450," which is stated to be equivalent to .08d per bus mile. Hence there still remains a discrepancy of 6.92 d per bus mile to be explained. On the City Council's figure, it costs rather more than £7 to run a bus 100 miles; the tprivate operator saves 8d per 100 miles by dispensing with uniforms and claims to run his buses for £4 3s 4d per 100 miles. How much does he save by dispensing with reasonably reliable accountancy methods that would reveal what his costs really are ? Moreover, that remarkable figure is stated to include capital and depreciation charges. Has he paid any dividends and written off the depreciation of his buses out of profits, or out of debts to some finance company ? City .Ratepayer.