One Hundred Years Ago Today - 6 January 1911 - the Rise of the Commercial Automobile

Often we see articles posted on the internet that show popular news stories that happened on this day through history, but rarely do some of the more interesting and unusual news stories from just one hundred years ago get seen. Often these stories just lie forgotten in the dust, however with many old newspapers now being digitized, it is possible to read articles from bygone days and see what life was like not so very long ago.

The Sydney Morning Herald on 6^th January 1911 had a very interesting article on the Commercial Motor and the Development Of Road Locomotion.

It seems amazing doesn't it that only 100 years ago the automobile industry was still in it's infancy, and the majority of transport, both private and commercial was performed using horse drawn vehicles.

The article from this day in 1911 reports on the content of a paper that was read before the Institute of Automobile Engineers, showing statistically how in the short space of 5 years, sales of commercial automobiles in London had gone from an insignificant number to levels that sounded the death knell for horse drawn commercial transport.

In 1904, 585 new horse drawn cabs were licensed in London, compared with only 5 motor cabs. The following year, just over 600 new horse drawn cabs were licensed compared with 5 motor cabs.

It's in 1906 however that we see a change, with the number of new horse drawn cab licenses dropping to less than 400, and the number of new motor cab licenses rising to 40.

The following year, we see the beginning of a new era in commercial transport in London, with the number of new horse drawn licenses dropping sharply to under 200 and the number of motor cab licenses rising to more than 500.

1908 and 1909 respectively saw only 59 and then 50 new licenses being issued for horse drawn transport, whereas for new motor cabs they rocketed to 1715 and 1700.

The figures speak for themselves, as it becomes obvious from the data that many operators of horse drawn cabs are switching over to motor cabs at a rapid rate, having had several years to see the benefits of the automobile over horse power.

It's even more interesting when you look at the statistics for buses, or omnibuses as they were more commonly known back then.

In 1904 78 new licenses were issued for horse drawn omnibuses, and in 1905 the number was 75. In 1906 the number had dropped to just 10, and just 1 in 1907.

By comparison, in 1904 20 new licenses were issued for motor omnibuses, rising to over 200 in 1905, and over 600 in 1906.

There are a number of other statistics in this rather fascinating article, including a visible decrease in the cost of road repair as the proportion of motorized vehicles increases as compared to horse drawn vehicles.

Bus journeys are now becoming longer, the travel more comfortable, and public transport availability is becoming more widespread in rural areas of England.

The author of the article finally predicts that the horse drawn tram car will be extinct by 1912, the horse drawn omnibus and hansom cab by 1913, but the horse drawn 4 wheeled cab not until 1921.

100 years still doesn't seem all that long ago, especially given that my Mom was born in 1918, but when you look back at the changes in technology in such a short period of time, it is pretty amazing don't you think?

Sources:

Sydney Morning Herald