Minutes 05/27/1924 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ay 27, 192~ I respectfully submit:the following. As ~ advised the Council we'keeo our operating costs in the form required by the ~irE~nia State Corporation Con~issi0n,'sm~ Wed0 not, nor have we ever, attempted to keep ~eparate figures~tha% would show-accurately t~ze me~t of'operating any particular line or type of cars, for the reason that it-is impractical.so to do. I have, however, endeavored to estimate as accurately as possible the cost of each type of operation. In such estimates I have used the total pay rolls' on ~slfety cars and the total pay rolls ~r two-¥~ car operation. These ro~ls beingkept s~para~ely. T find that it costs ~s per.estimate to operate safety c~rs in Portsmouth .17806 cents per car mile, two-~n car operation .22802 cents per car mile. In tlae matter of power. During the ~Dring of this year we 4~ave made tests in Norfolk on several different types of cars under regular operating condition, s and ond[fferent lines, each car being checked for a period cf approximately one week, and distribution shows for the sex'sty cars 1.901116 ~/E per car mile, and for two-man cars 3.2?558 ~fH per car mile. Eaintenance of way, equipment, other transportation, executive smd g~neral expenses are segregated and allocated to the ~wo classes of operation on their respective lines en basis of car miles run. Depreciation is set up in the operating expenses and credited tb account known as ~Reserve for Depreciation~ on basis of 3 per cent of the approved valuation for the Portsmouth Railway Division property by the State Corporation Commission and is on a valuation for ~.e year 1923 of $1,4~1,233.00, this being grouped and allocated to the respective lines on basis cf car miles run. I~preciation is cared for through our accounting system as provided for by the Interstate Commerce Cs~missien and Virginim State Corporation Ce~nission, and the method is in conformity with their practice and requirements. In the matter of In~.uries and Ds~ages~ this acceun~ is Charged 3/cent~ of the lines traffic earnings and in arriving at the above cost per car mi~e figures, ii,as been so :dis- tributed to the lines as grouped. On the basis of the revised ~ost per car mile for safety ear,operation the'-loss on the Park View-Cemetery line for the 12 months ending December 31st, 1923 figures $6~,089.54, as the operating expenses was $16,52@.09, o~ the above basis and the earnings $10,458.~5. ~This deficit is from operation only and does not include further chs~ges such as taxes, interest on bonds and sinking fu~d. Very truly yours, ~.E. DICKSON, ASSISTANT GENERAL AUD~TORo" ~Lr. Frank L. Crocker~ Portsmouth, Va. "Norfolk, Virginia, Eay 12, 1924. dear Mr. Crocker:- Concerning the request made by the Cou_ucil last Eonday night, May 5th that we leek into the matter of changing the Park View- Cemetery Line service in such a way as to make the cars split with the Cross-Town ~ine cars to keep them uniformly spaced. I bays gone into this matter with ~b,th ~essrs. Bishop ~and ~cpe and. have reached the very definite conclusion that to attempt to operate the Park View-Oemetery cars at rate of speed that would permit them to split with the Cress-Tow------------------~ cars would be dangerous, and iq this both Ee~srs. Bishoo ~nd Pope cqncur. As ~ matter of Eact the speed that would have to be attained is considerably-in excess cf the speed at which any sE our city line ears are operated in either Portsmouth or Norfolk. In fact the cs~s on this line Would have to operate a little more than t~o miles per hour, more than the fastest line of ss=~ety cars we D~ve. There is.4~ of a mile more distance to be traversed by the Park View-Cemetery line per round trip no~th of County Street t.h~ in the case cf the Cross-town line, in addition to which the Park View- Cemetery line operator has to change the ends of his car at the end of each round trip. From the abov~ you will see that the suggestion made is impractical. Very truly yours, E. S. EZE¥, 0onsulting Engineer." Whereupon, ~. VEnire moved that the request of the Virginia Railv~y & Power Ce. te abandon iJue Park View,Cemetery Line be not granted. The motion was adopted. ~ThefellevinE ordinance onwhich~¢tionhad ~ee~.deferr~d b~(O~uncil April ~u 0rdin~nce ~e~ "~ 0rd~ce to ~end and Re-ordain Sections 306- 3~9, ~clus~ve, C~pter 21 of ~ty Code," adopted by the Council of the City of Portsmouth at a meeting Held J~e.lVth,~1920. On motion, the privilege of the floor'was granted to a Committee from the Portsmouth Chamber of Co~merce. ~. F. T. Briggs spoke, and stated that the said body had gone on record as favoring the '$ater Bond Issue and a reasonable ir£er~ase in water rates. On motion of t&r. '~nite, the erdinance was placed on its fi~t r~ading.