The San Francisco call., 1896-04-10
AN OWL SERVICE
AND LOW FARES,
The Time Propitious for
Presenting Reasonable
Demands.
STOCKHOLDERS TO MEET
Owners of the Market.Street
~ n 1ryoxy ~ Ii. VET.x1.
Owners of the Market.Street
Railway to Assemble Within
the Next Week.
VIEWS OF PRESIDENT CROKER
Reduced Fares Will Be Considered
Manager Vining Discusses an
All.Night Service.

Within week there is to be meeting
of the stockholders of the Market-street
Railway Company, and those who are
agitating for an ''ow" or late service and
a scent fare will have an opportunity of
presenting their case, such as will not
| occur again for at least year.
One of the stock replies to requests for
these concessions has been that there was
| not sufficient demand for them, but that
they emanated from few chronic discon-
tents.
Colonel Charles F. Crocker IS the presi-
dent of the road, and when interviewed
yesterday stated that the matter of g.
cent fares had never been officially brought
to his attention, and that all he knew
about it was what he read in the papers.
The matter of late service, he added, was
entirely in the hands of the general man.
ager, Mr.. Vining. Mr.. Crocker then con-
tinued:
Personally, do not wish to express
any opinion on the matter, and officially [
would have no right to speak unless the
matter comes up before the directors of
the company in some way, which would
enable them to express their views and
adopt policy, and then authorize me to
speak for them. l do not care to express
myself, as | could, as you see, only do SO as
an individual, and that l ought not to do.
1T is matter to be carefully considered
by the directors, as they alone have the
right to say what policy shall be adopted
and what course pursued in the face of the
present agitation to compel reduction in
fares.
II have no doubt that the matter will
come up at the next meeting of the stock
holders for consideration, though mind
you, do not say that anything will be
done. We hope and expect there will be
great many stockholders present, and nat
urally some one. in view of all this aglta-
tion is sure to bring the matter up, and it
will then be discussed and acted upon"
a call was then made upon Mr. Vining
relative to the "owl'' service. He SAID
that when he first came here to take
charge OF the Market-street railway system
some friend called his attention to the evil
dent necessity for an all-night service In a
city as large as San Francisco. He re-
ferred the matter to the directors, but they
decided against it as they did not believe
it would prove paving proposition. 1t
was suggested that the experiment be
tried. but this met with opposition on the
ground that fit were once established and
then discontinued it would raise a howl
against the company worse than any
simple agitation for the establishment of
such a service. For this reason, he said,
nothing has ever been attem pied in that
direction.
Mr.. Vining then stated that it would be
impossible to maintain such service by
either electric or cable power, and that if
cars were run after / o'clock they would
have to be horsecars. Continuing he said
such a service, say out into the Mission
district, would have to be maintained be-
tween the hours OF l and A. NJ, so as to
give an all-night service, as the regular
time for starting in the morning was
5 A. NJ, and it would have to be operated
from the ferry to China avenue on the line
of the Mission-street electric line, a dis
tance of nearly six miles.
To run car every half hour would re-
quire six cars, twenty horses and at least
six men. The expense would not be less
than $50 a day, and it would therefore re-
quire not less than 600 fares, at 5 cents
each, to pay the running expenses.
Another serious obstacle that had to be
considered he said, was the fact that the
Mission-street electric tracks were laid on
a broader gauge than the horsecars, and
before the cars could be used their gauge
would have to be changed, and connecting
tracks would also have to be laid from the
carhouse at Fourth and Shipley streets to
Mission street. This, he said, would in
volve considerable expense.
From these interviews it would appear
that if proper and concerted action is taken,
something may be accomplished both in
the way of securing lower fares and in an
all-night service.