A few cities which have adopted the can collection system have wagons built with two tiers. Some are using automobile trucks constructed in this way. The Ohio State Board of Health, in its report, says that platform wagons are somewhat less economical than tank wagons but are entirely suited for small cities where the quantity is not large.
It seems to be the opinion of those who have had experience that automobile trucks for refuse collection are neither economical nor convenient, owing to the many stops and starts and the slow general progress. None of the 224 cities from which data have been received uses automobile trucks exclusively. Several have automobile trucks in service but practically all of these use them for hauling from transfer stations over long distances to the place of disposal. At some of these loading stations a crane is used to lift the detachable body or tank from the wagon and place it on the truck. Another method adopted by a few cities is to use wagons for collection and tractors for hauling. The horse drawn wagons when filled are taken from a common meeting place to the disposal site by a tractor which draws them as a trailer. The horses are hitched to empty wagons and continue collecting.
R. T. Dana has compiled statistics which will interest those who contemplate using motor trucks. He says for hauling ashes, street pavement, etc., it is cheaper to use horses if the haul is less than one mile. If motor power is used for a haul of a quarter of a mile the loss is 1.8 per cent.; if half a mile, 9.1 per cent. loss. For one mile haul there is no difference in cost. Above that the saving is in favor of motor trucks. Similar investigations have been made at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These show that for distances greater than 1.7 miles, electric driven vehicles are cheaper than either horse drawn or gasoline driven and that gasoline driven are cheaper than horse drawn.
Investigations made by the Efficiency Division of the Chicago Civil Service Commission showed that electric trucks are more efficient than gasoline trucks where the short hauls with many stops are encountered. Its conclusion was that for the long hauls electric trucks were more economical than horse drawn or gasoline driven trucks. The following table gives a detailed comparison of the advantages of gasoline and electric trucks as determined by the Commission:
| Gasoline Truck | Electric Truck |
|---|---|
| (a) Greater average speed possible. | (a) More efficient where the haul with many stops are encountered. |
| (b) Can be run continuously day and night. | (b) More efficient within its limits of operation, 50 to 60 miles per eight hour day. |
| (c) Are essential outside of the radius of operation of the electric truck. | (c) More economical motive power. |
| (d) Can do more work in a given time if speed restrictions do not interfere. | (d) Less average per cent. maintenance and repair costs. |
| (e) Less balking on unimproved streets. | (e) Less per cent. depreciation. |
| (f) Requires less skill to drive. | |
| (g) Affected less in winter by temperature. |
The Commission’s study led to the following conclusion: “That at the present prevailing cost of team hire the saving in the use of electric motor trucks for hauling garbage in such wards as have a considerable haul, would amount to 5.1 per cent. of the total cost of removing such garbage by teams. 2. That either the gasoline or electric power trucks can handle the hauling of garbage with approximately equal satisfaction. 3. That the more economical power truck has been found to be electric. This is governed in a measure by the low cost rate of electrical energy from the Sanitary District to the city for night power and by the fact that the rates for depreciation, maintenance, repair and insurance are less than for the gasoline truck. 4. That the haul below which an electric truck carrying three tons would not be economical when measured against a $5.50 per day team is found to be about 1.8 miles and when measured against a $6 per day team is 0.8 miles. 5. That the three ton gasoline truck at present cost price would not haul economically when traveling in the city at the economical rate of speed, as would the horse drawn vehicle at either $5.50 or $6 per day and traveling at the rate of speed found by experiment on garbage wagons.”
Greeley believes that the cost of loading a motor truck will be greater per hour and the rate of load will have to be increased proportionately to make the cost comparable with loading a team drawn wagon. The cost of hauling by motor will be less. He contends that the use of trucks in refuse collection service will increase and that the cost of loading can be reduced by limiting the motor truck to transportation after the loading of the wagon by the tractor and trailer system.
St. Louis recently made computations comparing the existing cost of hauling garbage from the long haul district with mule teams and the probable cost of haul with or by tractors. The motor apparatus was assumed to be a Knox tractor with two trailers and the assumed haul of seven miles. This would replace ten teams. The investment for a ten-ton tractor would be $3,750, and two trailers, $1,000, with a total of $4,750 for the motor apparatus. Ten teams of mules cost $3,000 and ten wagons, $1,350, a total for animal power of $4,350. The cost of operating per day is assumed to be for the motor, making three trips a day, 42 miles, $4.07.
This computation assumes a loading station located at the center of the long-haul district, which, including lot, building, paving, platform, sewer and water connections, would cost $6,300. The equipment would therefore be $10,650. Interest on the investment is computed at 6 per cent. The annual charges against the motor equipment would therefore become $3,034.92. The year is assumed at 156 days, as the district is collected from three times a week. The charges against the team equipment amount to $6,503.88. The saving in adopting the truck system is thus $3,468.96 a year from this long-haul district. Under these assumptions the equipment is idle one-half the time.
The New York City Department of Street Cleaning made a test of motor trucks and proved their efficiency over the present system, giving a possible 18 per cent. for time lost in hauling, loading and returning light as against 43 per cent. under the existing system. A ten-year test in England proved the superiority of motor trucks.