The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-11-30
MORE CARS
Vice Pres. Goodrich Promises
an Immediate Improve
ment of Service.
Small Cars Will Be Used if
People Will Patronize
Them.

yesterday b e Journ a ! began the
publication OF facts bearing upon the
present and long suffered overcrowding
of the street cars at certain hours OF the
day.
To-day G. G. Goodrich, vice president of
the street railway company, came to 9
o u r office to say that the street
railway company were aware of the fact
that the demand upon their present equip
ment were very heavy but that they were
trying to the best of their ability to meet
1t. There are, he said, about sixty large
cars under way at the shops at Thirty
first street for the Twin City system
which will go into service between now
and spring. In the meantime the COM
pany, Mr. Goodrich says, will undertake
to furnish additional accommodations dur
ing the crowded hours of the day by put
ting on more of the old. smaller cars.
Their experience, however, has been that
the people are so fond of the large new
cars that they choose to stand in them
rather than to sit down in the smaller
ones.
More Smaller Cars.
However. more of the smaller cars, he
said, would be added to the crowded lines
during the busiest hours of the day, and
he asked T b ourn a to call the at
tention of the public to the fact that
these cars would be offered as the best
the company could do now to meet the
heavy demand upon their equipment.
This company, he claimed. is furnish
ing in it's new equipment the best accom-
modations afforded anywhere in the coun-
try. There are no cars finer than these,
and few, Mr. Goodrich says, to compare
with them. But the company is not yet
fully equipped with them, and he attrib-
utes the crowding of these cars in part to
the fact that they are so popular that the
small cars are not used as much as they
might be.
He thinks that mistake may have been
made in trying to distribute this equip
ment over so many lines before there were
enough built to supply every line in full;
that if the larger cars had been confined
to such lines as they were able to equip
fully in that way, and the old cars had
been run until the company was able to
equip a particular line in full with the
new cars, the present dissatisfaction might
have been averted in measure.
The Public Must Help.
Mr. Goodrich insists, however, that the
solution of the problem is largely in the
hands of the public; that their prefer
ence for the larger cars, and their disin-
clination to ride in the smaller ones ex-
plains the crowding. and the only way to
remedy that for the present is for the
public to accept the service which the
company promises to furnish in the way
of more small cars until such time as
the company can build enough of the big
cars thoroughly to equip the entire twin
city system.
Unnecessary Loss of Time.
In this connection, reference was made
! to the loss of time in the large cars, when
crowded, due to the failure of passengers
to leave and enter the cars promptly.
The deliberate manner in which Mime
apolis people get off the street cars is
the subject Of comment among visitors,
and much time is lost owing to this lei
surely habit. The requirement of that
habit may be attributed in part to the use
of gates and the character of the entrance
to the cars. But the street railway COM
pany are reluctant to do anything to Sc
cure greater celebrity in filling or empty
ing the cars lest sensitive people take
offense and resent any suggestion from the
conductors that they should hurry up. 1t
1t no doubt true that many would take ex-
ception to suggestions Of that kind, but
they submit to suggestions to "crowd up
in front, please" and certainly, it would
be greatly to the advantage of the public
generally If the habit of sitting still in
| front seats until the cars stop, with no
effort to reach the rear of the car, were
less frequently INDUCED in, and pas
sengers had sufficient regard for the con-
venience and interests of their fellow pas
sengers to betake themselvs to the door
| by the time the crossing is reached at
which they wish to alight.