Excerpt from Communication From the Chief of the Bureau of Franchises: Transmitting the Paper Read Before the National Conference on City Planning Held at Toronto, May 25-27, 1914, Upon the Utility of the Motor Bus and Municipal Problems Pertaining to Its Operation

The second distinguishing characteristic is its independence of extraneous equip ment, such as expensive and delicate power generating and distributing systems or expensive track equipment. The railway investment must, in a large measure, in crease in the same ratio as the length of the track, while the motor bus investment grows only in proportion to the number of vehicles employed or, what is the same thing, in proportion to the daily vehicle mileage. The importance of this feature is shown by the comparison Of the capitalization of the street railways in the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx and the municipally owned and operated surface railways in London with the largest omnibus undertaking in that city. How ever, the ratios given serve no purpose as a basis for comparison between other existing or proposed operations. The number of passengers carried in the year 1912 by the London railway was about the same as the number carried by its omnibus system. In Manhattan and The Bronx the total number of passengers paying cash fares and presenting transfers exceeded by about 20 per cent the number carried by the London omnibus system. The aggregate lengths of route operated were about 148 miles by London railways, about 230 miles by Manhattan and The Bronx railways and more than 300 miles by the London motor buses. Yet at the close of 1912 the London railway investment, less the accumulated sinking funds, was the Manhattan and The Bronx railways' capital was with an appraised property value of while the amount of capital employed by the omnibus company, as evidenced by its outstanding securities, was only including an increase during the year of for the purpose of supplying funds for additional facilities, the benefit of which will accrue in subsequent years. Thus we find that the London railway investment is about 3% times that of the omnibus.

The capitalization of the street railways in Manhattan and The Bronx is more than 12 times and their appraised value is almost 9 times as great as the capital used for London omnibuses. Five per cent profit upon the capital of the railways of Manhattan and The Bronx would equal more than 13 cents for each car mile operated. If in the comparisons just made the route mileage of the motor buses had been either more or less, the capital needed would be the same, so long as the number of vehicles and vehicle miles operated did not change. On the other hand, if the route mileage of the railway were increased, then the capital required would be greater, though the number of cars operated or car miles run remained the same.

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