The New York herald., 1877-01-06
THE STORM LESSON.
Rapid Transit the Great Want of
New York.
STEAM VS.. HORSE TEAMS.
A Days Travel on the Elevated Railroad
and the Horse Cars.

The unusual quantity OF that has fallen In this
city during tho present winter has done more than
nythng else AWAKEN the public to tho necessity Of
rapid transit Long and comfortcss journeys to and
from business In cold crowded unwhocsoms street
cars have made II apparent TO tho thousands who
are daily compelled to endure them that the present
means OF transportation entirely Inadequate and
that great city like New York should be able to boast
Of modcrn in this respect, as well
in everything else. Tho ordinary snail pace OF tho
street cars is mado still slower by the presence OF
much snow and tho frutess efforts 10 maintain
schedule time by the OF four instead OF two horses
only serve as an argument favor OF steam as .
means OF iocomotion.
THE EIGHTH AVENUE.
Tho cars on this line wore uncomiortably crowded
during the day yesterday, and even with tho aid
OF four horses made slow and irregular time. Tho
necessity OF doubling up as It is called, reduces tho
number OF in use from l0S TO CO. and In conse-
qucncc doubles tho tlmo OF ''headway' or intervals
between the running The road carries.
age, about 900 passengers day yielding the sum Of
Sl,50O
THE SIXTH AvgSrE.
This limo has IN use about the same number OF cors
the Eighth avenue road, and they make about the
same time. The packed a, hours In the day
when there is usually but little railroad travel but tho
fact is OF due to the limited number In use.
the BnoADwAy AND SEVENTH AVENUE
These two roads virtually one, and the COM
bined lumber OF In ordinarily 1872 divided
as follows -35 the Seventh road, 20 tho
Broadway line to Broomc street and u on the Broad
way line TO Barclay street. Tho Seventh avenue and
Broomc street run as usual yesterday, hut
tho ''doubing up' process reduced the number from
Barclay street TO 30 cars The ordinary time taken on
the trip from Barclay street to Fty-ninth street is
as minutes; but since the heavy ial OF snow varies
es roa,c is no s
inult Of the company as some o the streets through
which the line goes are narrow and the clean tracks
are monopoized by trucks and wagons. The COM
bned roads carry daily between go 900 and 10000
scngcrs. Mr. Foshay, tho President OF these roads
tho law prohibiting tho use OF salt on the tracks
tho greater cruelty to the horses tnan
would be. The road as IL IS. he says, rs so slip
perry that horses suffer great fatigue IN pulling and
frequently strained in their Efforts TO regain foot.
hold when they slip
The east side railroads appear as rule to bc net.
ting very comfortable per cent TO their stockhodcrs
and their disposition to accommodate the public IL
probably great Is consistent with their
lerest Most OF the lines have made this year, as
usual slight increase IN the number OF cars, and on
ine tho Second avenue the proportion OF horses
to has been materially increased. This obvatcs
the necessity Of ''doubng up" and for that reason,
dccidod advantage to the general public but has
been learned that this step in the right direction
has been initiated by other lines. All oil them, at
tain times IN the day, continue to iurnsh miscrnbv
deficient supply OF Tor the accommodation Of
patrons ana the alteration OF running time, In order
TO furnish greater number of cars passing stated
points at shorter intervals, Is poor substitute Tor
the natural method Of meeting this want THIS theory
adjustment ''hcadway, the intervals between
tho succession OF cars Is technically called, has been
brought down to line point on some OF tho lines and
is regarded as panacca tor all the complaints with
which they beset Ifthese s an unusual press
point lessen the rate OF "hcadwsy" AT thus point
by correative rise at others ON the line,
and tho demand Is met The consequence
is that the cars most OF tho lines aro
spread out like water in marsh, half pool half
bog Tho argument In favor OF this plan Is that
greater relative number OF passengers bo accom-
modated AT less cost In this way than IN any other but
It does not appear to have occurred tLc managers
hnt IN
the public should be attended 10 as well as dividends
Tho statement OF the condition OF the various roads
lying cast Of Broadway. which has been carefully
ga,hcredfrom hc best sources attainabie sufficiently
shows that the companies In general need more horses
and cars, and afford reduction In their rate OF
profits II tho increased cost OF operating the roads
should make II necessary.
THE FOURTH AVENUE
Tho Fourth avenue has about ll0 cars, Of which go
on average, arc run daily Of these the Madison
aud the Forty y-second street depot limo tho balance
The Madison avenue cars make six trips daily and tho
others eight The number oi horses owned 1e ny TINS
tors and as many drivers Tho number OF cars has
not been Increased Tor tho last hve years, aud
yet their uncomiorabIy crowded condition
at morn ing and night Is a notorious facI This failure
the part Of the road TO keep with the growth Of
the limo cannot certainly DO attributed to
its poverty for the Madison avenue branch at least
well known to be the best paying one In the city Tho
Official running tune betw the termni OF tho Madi-
son avenue hne--Eighiy-cigh street and the City
Halls SO mlnutcs but this apportionmcnt makes
The gross earnings OF this nc for the last financial year
5000 900, speaking somewhat roughly ana divi-
donds OF ten per cent the capital stock were
ccived by the stockholders.
THIRD
This line 276 cars all told, OF which about $50
kept on the road. About 800 conductors ana tho
number Of drivers are employed The total
number OF horses In is stated to DO abo1t 0O0
The Official running time to Harlem Is hour and 20
minutes TO Sxty-nfih street. so minutes, bat owing
bockages in tho Bowery principally. this timo only
eo during @
day. The gross earnings OF thus road are about
$780, 600 yearly and II pays dividend OF ten per
cent
This road has, in all, l5S cars, OF which about 100
are run daily II employs $50 conductors and many
drivers anu works l40 horses. Tho gross earnings
OF the road Tor tho last hsca year were $7s5 OO0 und
It pays a dividend of eight per cent Tho Official run
ming time between Peck slip ana Harlem is nous
and 20 minutes; but, like the other tines, tho
allowance for blockagcs Is undetermined.
THE BELT ROAD.
THIS road 150 keeps from 100 10 100 on
the road II has about $50 horses and employs 40
conductors and many drivers The ming timo
between Fiftyninth street ana south terry lson
east sdc 20 minutes and on tho west sido 81 minutes
however In Front street, especially. Tho sido
run very ciosc to the schedule time Tho
authority TO DC run down to very low margin on ali
the roads yesterday frequent bockages were noticed,
and the schedule timc was not made IN the morning
and evening by any car whose time was taken.
TuE ELEVATED ROAD.
Tho Elevated Railroad has ut present IS cars
and 10 engines. Two OF the latter were placed
the road in December and two others now under
contract ana will DO ready by February
The cars Ia trains Of twos and
threcs all day, from six In tho morning unih
eight IN tho evening. Tho average daily number Of
passengers Tor the present month has been SSi4,
rcscntpg average daily receipt OF SSsl 40 a. tho
fare Is ten cents The largest number OF passengers
since the opening Of tho road conveyed over
road Wedncsday--namcly, 14,G00. The largest day
previous was Tuesday. when 10 800 passengers
recorded During the past year tho numbers
OF passengers ranged between l40 900 and 40
month. THIS year they Will probably range between
10000 and 1000 per month, this large difference
bong caused TO great extent by the fact that this
year trains are run on sundays The OF travel
on the road becomes apparent upon comparing tho
number OF passengers III December OF 1915 and De.
cember 1879 In December, 1875 Ia, l05; in Dccem.
Der, 1876 2l92l3a gain OF 75 los. The expenses OF
the road amount to from nifty SIX to nfyeight pee
cent OF the earnings which rs expected, however,
will be lessensd when tho track Will have BON
/ compieicd.