The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-26

From this it will be seen that the short
est IS the Brannan-street electric road
which runs along that street from Third
street TO the Pacific Mail wharf G distance
of q quarter Of q mile, and that the longest
is the Mission-street electric road, which
extends from the ferries out to the new
Ingleside racetrack. distance OF eight
miles.
In addition to the lines above specified,
the same company also operates two steam
lines to the Cliff House, one at the Haight-
street entrance to Golden Gate Park and
the other with its eastern terminus at Gen.
tral avenue and California street. The
former IS known as the Cliff motor road,
ana two trains are operated, one leaving
each terminus at intervals of half an hour.
The other, known as the Cliff and Ocean
road, has but one train in service, which
leaves one terminus or the other every
forty-tive minutes. Each of these roads is
about four miles long.
Quite recently new departure has been
inaugurated in the matter of paying all
men employed on the cars, those on the
cable, electric and horse lines receiving
their respective wages daily. Those on
the steam lines are paid monthly, as has
been the practice heretofore. But no man
receives pay until he has been employed
at least three days.
In an interview with General Manager
Vining OF the Market-street Railway Com
pany on the riding propensities of the San
Francisco people he spoke as follows:
THAT the people of this City are so given
to riding in the streetcars is attributable,
believe. to the many grades and to the
good service that IS always at their dis
posal. We carry every year more people
than there are in the United States. Some
idea of the traffic on our various lines can
be gained from the fact thatwe issue 1,000,-
600 transfers each week"
els ii not the ultimate intention to con-
vert all the lines that it is deemed worth
while to retain into electric roads, and to
abandon some of those that have been made
Improbable by recent additions or i'm
provements?" was asked.
GAS to the conversion of all lines to the
electric system. that is something that has
not been considered, but l can state that
none of the lines are to be abandoned.
They ali meet public need. Some of the
horsecar lines are not profitable, but we
deem it proper to keep them running, even
il we make no money out of them. They
afford an accommodation to the public,
and as long as we do not lose any money
by continuing to operate them we are sat
isficd to keep them going"
Referring TO the mileage of the combined
lines Mr.. Vining stated that when he came
out here to take his present position he
made it his first duty to ride over every
mile of the system, and that it required
steady travelling for week to accomplish
the task.
On the subject of accidents he said: mo
company in the United States has fewer
accidents on its lines in proportion to
mileage than ours, and this is the more re-
markable in view of the fact that we .have
SO many steep grades to pass over, and
when the tracks are wet the danger is in
creased by their slipperiness. Great care
is also exercised to prevent delays to our
patrons. Take the Market-street roadway
for instance. Here the wear ard strain on
the cable is something terrific owing to
the way the cars are punched on it from
Valencia street to the ferry. Only new
cables are used here and these are in SER