The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-04
BRIB'S CAB SERVICE.
City to Be Divided Into Zones
on Which Charges Will
Be Based-H How the
Vehicles Will
Look.

Some time ago 1.-THE News" exclusively
published the fact that the Erie Railroad
Company were considering a system Of
cheap cabs. This has at last been de-
cided upon ands the service will begin
when the prices to be charged can be
figured out.
About twenty-five cabs will be put on
at first. says the Sun OF these
about half will be hansoms. The others
will be large, roomy cohpes, with extra
seats opposite the regular seats, SO h q
four persons if necessary may ride in
a coupe. This is the plan upon which
most of the coupes in Philadelphia, after
which, in a measure, the Erie coupes VIII
be- copied, are constructed.
The Erie will follow the example of
the New York Central in dividing the
city into zones or sections. The charge
for service will be made by zones. The
charges will range, probably. from %
cents to 50 cents. A feature of the Erie's
cab service will be that the zones will
be laid out from Jersey City as a centre
Under this plan a passenger on one OF
the Erie trains may leave the train at
Jersey City, step into a cab, and not
leave it, unless he chooses, until he
reaches his destination.
I The company will establish cab stands
in Jersey City, at all of the stations on
this side of the river, at its office at
Twenty-third street and Fifth avenue, at
its Harlem office, and at its Brooklyn
office. No. SSS33 Fulton street. The cabs
will not in any sense be for general hire,
but a patron of the road either arriving
or departing from New York may take
a cab at any one of the stands, and make
any calls hat he may care to on ms
way to or from the trains. For this ex-
ira service a nominal extra charge VIII
be made, based upon the time consumed
in making the calls. Each cab will be
provided with a tariff card, giving he
rates by zones and the rates by the hour
The schedule of time charges has not yet
been decided upon. but they will probably
be fixed at about ten cents an hour
For the further convenience of the pa
irons of the road the cabs will carry
whatever pieces of luggage 1t is custom
airy for the regular public cabs to carry.
A passenger from one of the Erie trains,
or a person about to leave town on the
Erie. having a small trunk or several
pieces of hand luggage or both~may have
them transferred to or from the station
For this. a small extra charge will be
made.
The Erie officials do not believe, how
ever, that with the new system or
transferring baggage which they have es-
tablished, any of their patrons will have
need to turn the ~company's cabs into bag
gage wagons. BY this new system a
patron of the Erie may check his baggage
at his hotel or residence direct to the ho-
tel or residence at the place of his destin-
alton.
General Passenger Agent Roberts said
yesterday
1.-THE two things that we have, striven
for in our cabs are comfort and neon
-spicuousness. Our cabs will be the best
that we can buy. They will be hand
tires. They will be painted black, with
dark blue trimmings. They will look as
much like any other frst-claSS cab you
see on the street as possible. There Will
be nothing about the cabs to attract at,
~tention, so that a person hiring one VIII
not feel as if he were part OF a circus
parade. The coachmen will wear dark
blue liveries. AS it is a custom nova
days for Smith or Jones or Brown 10
have his coat of arms on his cab or car
riage door, SO we will have ours on our
cabs. /,
1.-THE coat of arms of the Erie is what
is Familiarity known as the black dia-
mond.' It is q black disk, upon which,
in letters of white, is the word Erie
Surrounding the disk is a diamond, shad-
the black disk. This, in the space usual
ly occupied by a coat of arms and no
larger, will be the only distinguishing
mark of our cabs"