The Penn's Grove record., 1923-12-21
Plan To Cut Cost
Of State Autos
Old Auto Tags Mean Arrests
DilPs Warning To Motorists.
Gets Tags Early

Trenton Radical changes in the
present method Of maintaining state
owned automobiles and trucks al an
annual cost in excess OF half a million
dollars. are advocated in a report
made to Governor Silzer by the com
m.ttee he appointed some time ago
To make survey Of conditions
TIE committee. comprising New
ton A K. Bugbee, state comptroller;
tar4Eam Jehn Of the Highway Se4=
mission. and John A. Reddan OF tae
r4aaet Commission, recommend thai
zs4te-owned passenger cars IN tae
Trenton zone be withdrawn from pr
vasa and public garages in various
n-res of the county and kept IN
eeeond-story addition it is proposed
to add to the state highway garage IN
,be rear of East Front street. All
repairs would be done under state
supervision instead of by the present
system of patronizng any garage to
which the car operator preferred TO
give the business.
1t is suggested that opportunity be
given TO a number of state officials
in localities too far from Trenton to
be included in the eearal garage
plan to acquire the ears they are
now using or 10 purchase others III
the open market One official has
already adopted the latter plan.
The committee does not consider
IT practical to abolish entirely The
state-owner ear system outside OF
the Trenton zone but suggests that
in certain cases popular priced ma.
shines suitable for local operations
replace the more expensive type.
For the most part the cars housed
in the proposed central garage would
constitute a taxi fleet for trip service.
Where two or mere officials from
different departments are called on
the same day from Trenton to some
common destination, one car of suit
able capacity would be assigned by
the starter.
Owing to the nature of the work
of some officials whose duties keep
them almost constantly on the road,
special arrangements would be made
to take care Of their requirements.
Some Of the garage bills for work
on state cars are rather vague in
every place excepting the price col.
umn. Instances were discovered by
the committee where substantial
charges were made for working on
the front end" or working on the
rear end" without any itemization Of
just what was done to the car. The
state has been called upon to pay a
garage repairman for "going after
parts" which the establishment didn't
happen to have in stock Neglect to
properly look after fabrication has
proven a costly item as reflected in
repair bills. This condition will be
remedied if the central garage plan
is adopted
State Is Defrauded
In a number of cases state en-
ployees who have been unusually con
scientious in the operation of the
cars assigned to them have been the
victims of unscrupulous garage own
ars
Tho occiden+a1 s+rinning of gears
Cor i,,s+ance In ono car formed the
hoeis ~ ra+bar baavv ranair charge
Tba frst dav tho renairad car was
n1a cad IN service If was mt ont of
oo,,, ,,,issio, whom tho brol1en tooth
of the original gears, which had
never been removed from the hous-
ing, wedged into the new cogs.
The bill of one garage shows that
the hour charge for repairs in one
month totals more than the working
hours in the entire month, assuming
that one mechanic worked on the
machine
The report of the committee sets
forth that the mounting cost of car
which increased about $40.
600 in one wear, may largely be at
to the lack Of system in car
ing for the machines. Some of the
more expensive cars are apparently
kent on the 90 ? oreat deal Of the
time The speeda"ater readings Of
one machine show that it covered
27 900 miles in a wear Assuming
that the operator Of this machine did