New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-21
ppou CABLE TO ELECTRICITY.
.-.rnoporJTAN ANXIOUS FOR CHANGE IN
BROADWAY AND LEXINGTON-AVE.-
QUESTION OF TRANSFERS WITH
THIRD AVENUE.

-,-,os the officials Of the Metropolitan Street
80. -o-nnanv express themselves as anxious to
- electric cars running on the Broadway and
w;,qton-ave. lines with as little delay as posi-
- n is doubtful II this can be accomplished be
-, oarI,. autumn Most Of the eXcavating work
..assarv 10 the laying q the ducts has been com
'.s r,7+ ,bera IS vet a great deal TO be done be-
-, al,ra cars can be banished from the main ar
,o-tes of the city Men are now employed in Lex
ton-ave In fitting the iron covers to the insulat-
70 boxes which laid at intervals OF few
-.-7s between the tracks. With the finish of this
,,.,~or,, work the Metropolitan people will be
'rfronted with the problem of removing the cable
,rd putting IN the electric bars, without inter
ring with the traffic to such an extent as TO
,,,Ise public Inconvenience
On the Second. Fourth, Sixth and Eighth ave
ines the bars were placed without interrupting the
raf7c for the reason that those thoroughfares
ora s,IppIed only with horsecars. But when it
.,r,es to making turn over" it is technically
allied from cable 10 electric power. the conditions
,re different In sections least there must be
rspensIon Of service. in the case Of the Third
Avenue line while the change is being made. The
rjckest way Of effecting this transformation is
he question on which the Metropolitan experts are
rudying. 1t is their aim TO have everything pre-
,ared so that the cables may be torn out Of the
,onduits and the bars substituted in night If
,ossiAle Before this is done however, the rails
Broadway viii be replaced with The
cork Of renewing the tracks will be begun next
month.
The inhabitants of the upper West Side are
aanloring for the institution OF a transfer system
rbich VIII give them facilities OF travel both
he Metropolitan and Third Avenue systems. The
,eople Of that part of the city have held several
Meetings recently and urged the Metropolitan au-
norites devise some means whereby the &C
sramodation they seek may be provided. The Off
daIs Of the company say that they perfectly
rilIng 10 establish a general transfer arrange
nent but are debarred from doing by the
,greement which exists between the Elevated
nd Third Avenue companies which has still four
rears TO run. This agreement. which admittedly
Eas directed against the Metropolitan contains
he somewhat unusual clause that the Third Ave
Tue company shall not make any transfer arrange
with other surface railroad. But while
he people Of the Fort Washington district are In
lined to admit that the legal questOrs OF giving
transfer between the Metropolitan and Third
avenue companies apparently insurmOuntable
hey argue that there IS great physical difficulty
o far they can see, of overcoming the trouble.
The Metropolitan company controls the Third
Avenue tracks: therefore. II Is commended there IS
tothing 10 prevent the Metropolitan company from
Washington residents asking why the Metro
totan does not connect their territory with its
Nest Side system by crossing Manhattan-st. and
mining over the existing lines north This, they
maintain. would give new and short line down
Re West Side with all the transfer facilities which
AVE been for years promised and long denied
o the upper West Side.