New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-11
1T is A KNOTTY POINT.
THE PROBLEM is HOW TO CARRY BIO
CROWDS ON TROLLEY-CARS.
PRESIDENT ROssITER SAYS HIS LINE IS NOT
BOTHERED. BIT THE NASSAU PEOPLE TELL
DIFFERENT sToRY-sPEED RULES
AND SPECIAL OFFICERS.

DIFFERENT STORI--SPEED RULES
AND SPECIAL OFFICERS.
The problem Of RAPID transit, OF how TO accom-
MEDIATE the immense crowds who take advantage
OF the weekly holidays and low rates OF fare 70
visit favorite resorts on the Atlantic stu con-
fronts the managers OF Brooklyn trolley ROADS,
Since the accident of last Sunday. criticisms as to
the overcoming Of trolley cars have been IRE
quent and caustic.
Had this car not been crowded" said a Brook
Ign official Yesterday the conductor could nave
properly attended to his duties, and these mis-
chievous boys could not have pulled the trolley
from the wire" The managers Of the Brooklyn
Heights and Nassau companies we're seen yester-
day afternoon and asked to give their opinion
upon the best method OF stopping the overcrowd-
ing Of the President Rossiter. OF the Brook
Ign Heights Company. said his company mad not
been troubled with overcoming At least no
complaint had been made and certainly no serious
accidents had occurred. His remedy was moro
cars. He thought ordinance could be framed
which would meet all the requirements OF any
road Since his company had adopted the rule OF
dividing up certain amount OF money each year
among the who faithfully performed Their
duties, they had had no trouble. AS an example
of the work performed by the road. he gave the
following figures taken from the books: On
Memorial Day. the Nostrand Avenue Line car
rie1 10 1862 passengers; the Fatbush Avenue Line
1925 passengers; the Lorimer Street Line Ial~
passengers making a total Of 3d. people carried
that day. To carry these passengers they made
223 round trips or 2.+is cars. This made the
average about forty car. less than their car
rying capacity. The entire Brooklyn Heights sys-
tenn on Memorial Day carried 57I.52S passengers
On the day following Sunday they carried ol',Ss
passengers making a total Of l,0so3So passengers.
or more than the entire population OF the city in
those two days The company has employed sixty
inspectors to look out for instances OF overspeeding
and overcrowding In addition to this. they have
train OF emergency wagons out continually 10
repair any breaks which may happen in the over
head equipment. and make delay as short as pos
sible He admitted that there were certain defects
In the system now. which they were endeaVorlnS
TO remedy as fast as possible.
zone Of these Is the different apparatus with
which their are now equipped. On tie closed
cars the power Is applied by turning the lever TO the
right and notches numbers are provided as IN
dcators On the open cars the lever is turned in
the opposite direction. no indicators provided.
and 1t takes several more turns 10 put on the power
This might confuse motorman IN certain cases.
The Nassau officials were still smarting from the
criticisms which have been made upon them since
the runaway accident in Thirty min th-s, James =
Church. counsel for the company. was asked X II
n he as csrs on and
Sundays. His answer was they might as well give
overcrowdlng was passed; the city would be OBJ;
make no objection The difficulty was to have an
officer where the overcrowding occurred For IN.
stance. a car might be delayed by some accident
for four or Ave minutes and when IT arrived at
transfer point It would be overcrowded. and the
car Immediately behind might have only few pas
sengers on. Il would be next TO Impossible to MAKE
1et SO the speeding OF trolley-cars was con,
cerned. the records kept by the company showed
cars had not attained the rate allowed by law. for
the that the crowded condition OF the street
In portions OF the city particularly in the sparseiy
settled territories covered by these roacs, tne Or
sarily lost in other places He believed that the
present trolley system Of Brooklyn was as good
as any rapid transit system yet devised. The
knowledge OF the use OF electricity was compare.
lively limited, and improvements might be made at
any time which would greatly facilitate the opera-
ing OF trolley roads He hoped that some scheme
would vet be devised for carrying the current unders
ground as the overhead system had many faults