The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-08-08

Averaging the speed at mile In ten minutes, it is
obvious that the present organization OF facilities
for transit something more than an hour is needed
TO gain the suburbs III any direction northerly For
instance, the time from City Hall to Harlem is one
hour and twenty minutes; while. by way Of Second
avenue hour and ten minutes Is required On the
west side the Fort Washington tract is accessible by
ride OF hour and thirty minutes by way of Eighth
avenue, or in one hour ard thirty-1ve minutes by
way Of the Seventh avenue and Broadw ay road. For
persons engaged III business therefore, esp ecaly for
employed persons residence as iar north as l5Oth
street is impracticaDe account OF the cOnsualp-
ton OF time in t1ansitu, anu hence the overcrowd.
ing OF the lower parr OF the city. Hence too, nigh
rents for tenant houses; nence too, the poverty OF
prospects for the working employed classes who,
on account OF the time consumed in transit cannot
afford to 1--we out OF town, and on account OF nigh
rents can as little AFFORD TO den themselves in the
heart the metropolis Ii Is one hours ride to l00th
street, and ordinarily the employe cannot really al
ford two hours day for travel TO and from BUSH
ness that 1t may be taken for granted that, gene
rally speaking the majority OF salaried pei sons must
stop this side Of the line. transit 10 and fro, to
meet the wants OF this class must be reduced 10 less
than an hour per day, and ought mol 10 IN
may, therefore. be concluded That horse railroads.
though adequate enough in 1855, when the
Park was out OF town, now quite Inadequate TO
the daily needs Of popular trave. and must III the
development OF the metropolis nortnward be super
seeded by more rapid and rather less expensive
means Of transit. in fact, benefit OF the en-
ployed classes passengers ought TO be taken up IN
the central portions oil The city and delivered at Har
lem bridge IN fifteen minutes at an expense not cx
ceednR three cents; and the same faciiItes should
be in operation on the west side OF town. lhe sou-
ton OF this problem has stimulated invention some
speculation great deal-and various plans and
projects have been proposed, none OF which have
been pushed into practical operation. There have
been underground railroad sensations and elevated
railroad sensations, and some pretty names as Tor
wn AG S GREAT Cement nave
to the impatient travelling public, whatever
may have been the results in point OF
nomenclature. There nave not been wanting those
who advocated the multiplication OF horse railroad
facilities, though 1t Is diircult TO understand how
ANYTHING more can he effected In that direction with
u view TO the solution OF the problem; tut tile OBJ
lection applies to the horse railroad system with
fatal force-it inadequate IN two ways Frst it is
not rapid enough for LIE long distances to be ira
versed secondly, 1t IS inadequate In point Of accom-
modations. WHAT is needed Is the train capable OF
carrying passengers by the 100 or 800, and not the
single car, capable OF carrying its Twenty-Five or
hal! dozen more than tnat provided they tthe last
half DOZEN will consent to stand. The
RELATIVE CAPACITY OF THE STREET RAILROAD
proper as compared with other means OF propulsion
Is fatal TO the preensons OF the former either for
large accommodations for distances exceeding
three miles or thirty minutes; and whoever shall
first solve the problem of the combination OF rapid
ity with adequacy and ineXpensiveness In gain
earn his title to De ranked as a pup.
lie benefactOr. The conditions ten miles in thirty
minutes at three cents, with accommodations Tor the
transit OF 100000 per hour-condtons by means
dicult to answer at the present stage OF engineer.
ing science; and between the means OF transit Iula-
ing these conditions and the street railroad there Is
really no competition, since they are relatively
adapted to very different purposes; the latter for
short distances will always hold It's place; for long
distances 1t is inadequate and must yield TO popular
necessity.
In connection with this topic 1t Is necessary to en-
ter into an investigation from data. The pressure
for means OF transit Is limited practically to four
hours OF the day. On routes principally devoted to
the carrying OF the w0rsing classes hours of pres
sure are from SIX to eight in the morning and from
i've to seven In tie afternoon. The Dry Dock and
East broadway the Second Avenue, Third Avenue
aud Ninth Avenue railroads represent this class OF
travel mostly; the Eighth avenue and Blocker
street routes partially. The midtown routea
on the other hand, have their hours OF
pressure from eight TO ten in the morning and
rom TOUR TO SIX in the afternoon. Really
In the case OF b0th classes the exceeding pressure
Is limited to u couple of hours per day. the formsr
routes are taxed TO their utmost capacity from SIX
to seven IN the morning and from five TO six In the
afternoon; the latter. including the sixth avenue
Broadway ana seventh avenue and Fourth avenue
from eight To nine III the morning aud from four TO
five IN the afternoon. FOR the remainder OF the
twenty-four hours travel is mostly sporadic ana
local and fewer cars need to be run.
Excluding the Ninth avenue, winch runs smaller
number OF cars and need not enter into The calcua-
tlOn the value and capacity OF these routes for the
busy hours may be estimated. The present average
Is as follows during the busy part Of the day with
Tie several rOutes:--
Cars
per hour. |
ERhtn avenue. 90
BfOadway and seventh avenue. ..... ......... 10 |
nnlru avenue. 10
snco,, ...'.................. 70
nrv nc,,' n, ..... 40
D.y JOCK ana East broadway, mostly TOR local
"'e''''...... 80 /
oa,.. ....,.................. 300
Leaving out the Blocker street anu Dry DOCK and
ianoI niVauwny routes. Doth or which nave large
LIZA, anu smaller through travel the routes direct
~, y" aIe round TO have an hourly capacity of $50
banlytor ooo persons, and really carving pro-