The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-02-21
ANEW ERA ON THE BRIDGE.
syEEPIyG CHANGEs IN THE fAs-
sEyGER SERVICE.

Prescription md History OF the Improve
mert. That Have Made . Trip TO Hroek-
,,r Easy and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
u.u. or the Electric Cars from
the Power uou.e-No More Coastins.
rbs most persistent. rancorous. and unroason-
.b,e rtufnblcr at the Brooklyn Bridge manage
mani that there was In the Greater New York
.,tered his office last Monday morning with q
lo,k q, astonishment on his face. 1t was some
ZINE before he found voice, but when he did no
exclaimed
Astonishing! Wonderful Doesn't seem
no..blc. Never supposed It could be dono!"
Then he relapscd into silent bewildnrment,
ou, OF whch he aroused himself to remark:
81 lust came across tho Brooklyn Bridge in
.ho rush hours without being jammed In n
crowd on the platforms and having to light my
way into a train. can't understand itl'
The statement was true. and It remained true
Tor ALI Of that day and for every following day,
and will remain true for all the days to come
un,l tho traffic b-tween New York and Brook
l,n shall again outgrow the new facilities Of the
hridce AS IL outgrew the old ones years ago.
rbe great change was brought about by q
.,cond cable. an entire new double set Of tracks
across tho bridge. and second set OF tall
tracks and switches at each terminsl. In other
words the ability OF the bridge to transport
Messengers by rail has been doubled and the
IMPROVEMENT 10 the accommodation OF the rush
hour passengers has been produced BY calliaR
into service less than one-half OF the now facili-
ties The difference was made by putting four
teen trains into service instead Of the twelve
which were being operated on one set OF tracks.
and running those At seventy.ive seconds head
way instead OF tho ninety seconds headway
hav all nm n
the departure platforms.
10 on. look. back to the service OF less than .
month ago he will find the change even more
marked. At that time the bridge management
had been forced TO return temporarily to the use
Of the old steam motors TO switch the trains at
the terminals. Tho new electric motor cars
had been in use for seventeen days In December.
but the breakdown OF an engine in tho Brooklyn
Heights trolley lines power house had forced
that line TO cut OF its supply Of electricity to
the bridge. and tho bridges own new engines
and dynanlos were not ready. The use OF the
electric motors alone had made II possible to run
twelve trains on one track A. ninety seconds
headway by saving time In making the switch
Ing Before that, the best that could be done with
the steam motors was to run ton trains at l05
seconds head way. When you figure up tho
number OF trips an hour which were made on
each OF these schedules. and consider that each
four-car train carried 500 persons, the sigma.
canoe Of the changes that have taken place
within a month becomes apparent The ten
train schedule, on one and three-Quarter
minutes Roadway, admitted Of the despatch
Dc OF O tribe more than thirty-four trains
an hour, with q capacity OF approIimating
1900 persons an hour, and with twelve trains
on q ninety-second schedule. forty trains an
hour were run and the capacity OF tue bridge
was increased by 5000 an hour. That number
Of trains had been run since Jan %, and the
difference II had produced was clearly mark ed.
1t relieved the Jam in the morning rush hour
except perhaps for q few minutes. but at night
It was still inadequate to take away the persons
who were hurrying ~ Brooklyn.
With fourteen trains running on . seventy
fye-second schedule the Increased capacity 10
much greater. even In proportion. II means
forty-eight trains an hour. having . carrying
cavacity of %. 900 persona This lie an imme-
diAts increase over the twelve-train capacity Of
1000 an hour and OF 1000 an hour. or IL per
cent over theservice OF one month ago. There
are now trains enough, power enough. and
enough facilities Of other kind. on tho bridge
10 increase the service until twenty-f four trains
ere put into service, and these run on forty-
ave second schedule. This would mean eighty
uans an hour. and a capacity for passengers OF
10000 an hour to be moved In one direction.
10 other words. the entlro twenty. folr hours
buld be moved in one direction In three hours.
Mmoye,l on both sides of the bridge 10 ~ hours.
stations and in the cars during the rush hours
was felt III the bridge treasury at once. On Tues.
day. the second business day Il at the new sys-
TEN was In use. the receipts from passengers rose
$500 above those the day before-that 10, about
1000 more parsons travelled over the bridge In
Had the bridge railroad been . surface road
the doubling of its tracks and terminal facil-
tiles would haze been but q picay une anair
m n n n min NJ
view but changes made in q structure built
In the air are another matter. They involve
great cost. and possible danger to tho structure
Seven years ago It had become evident to tho
bridge trustees, rs before TO the public. that the
bridge railroad was overtaxed. On May ~,
1880, the trustees decided to appoint q commits
sion Of experts to decide what should be done.
New York and Mayor Alfred Z. Chaplin Of
brooklyn each TO appoint u member OF this
Ss,IPn lion Ihs third member wa: 70 b.
OF the bridge. Mayor Grant appointed Samuel
Spencer and Mayor Chaplin appointed George
trustee. .SSt it Would 5e Sss,sr f5 n 10 inc 10
remain outside OF the commission, where hs
rc.e tho work done 60 and in r. paes Prs
dent Howell appointed c. w. Buckhoiz. Mr..
Spencer was made Chairman OF the commits
sloh ana Mr., BuckhOlz Secretary. Anybody
Sho had plan for the Improvement OF the
Fridge had q chance to present II and to be
heard In advocacy OF II, and q great many In
genious plans were presented, together with
those OF many mechanical cranks. Tho most
Ingenious plans which divided the attention
OF the expert Commissioners with those which
we're hnally adopted were schemes for using a
Ioop az each terminal and running the trains
around on continuous track. A number of
ihese plans were considered seriously. On Jan,
Az, 1871, the commission made q report and
recommended the adoption OF the plan which
mas Just been brought to practical com ple elton.
meantime the situation WAS growing worse
ssery day The bridge had been overtaIed In
,soo. Every year the crush grew greater. until
TWO years age II seemed a. ~ nothing outside of
slunntic A-ylum could equal the d isorder and
Sscohiorts oi trip acrOrs tho bridge In u rush
nour. Besides tho natural causes there were re.
sIIiot'nas OF the terminals on account Of work.
men and ,cafIOlds. Tools dropped on persons and
manned them. Oh dripped on persons heads,
ihe sources OF discomfort seemed innumerable
nnu we bridge management was abused from
morning until night.
me pIans that had been recommen ended by the
saprrt commission and were being carried out
mee FirHaly the plans which wers recon-
mrnIeH los Chief Engineer Martin. The com
mission had already decided that THE enlarge.
mieht, I" ue ,uccessfu must be upon tho lines
oonGNper,ence. The volume OF travel 10 OF n size
, ~ CHARACTER which admits Of no serious
,,reLnNt'"h N0eIperiments can be tried with
e." machinery watch huuls II, and no plan OF
''N ThNtleit il Derlulssl ble "a ndan ifs