The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-12


The Manufacturers Record quotes "a
mechanical expert who has built and
rebuilt more street railways than any
other man In this country" as ex-
pressing the opinion that Sin few
years there will not be a street car
track in all New York" And it is his
belief that in other progressive cities
the same will be true. Indeed, there
are certain cities that will probably
be in advance of New York in aban-
doning the street car, just as there
were dozens of them that preceded
New York in the final abandonment
of animal power for the propulsion of
street cars. In the opinion of this ex-
pert. auto-busses are the coming
means for the moving of urban and
interurban passenger traffic. In Lon
don, for instance, the movement has al
ready begun. In that city not less
than 400,000000 passengers per year
are transported in omnibusses, which
vehicles are being changed from
horse to electric power; and with the
change of power it is calculated that
the number of passengers moved will
be very greatly increased In New
York, Washington. Los Angeles and.
Denver among American cities. there
is decided tendency towards the
auto-buss for surface passenger traf-
fic. In each of the cities mentioned
there are employed a considerable
number of auto-busses in the public
service, and without exception, II
seems, they are giving satisfaction.
BY way of illustrating the growth
of the auto-vehicle business, the ex-
pert said: During the last twelve
months our automobile output exceed
ed i'm value all the locomotives built
in America by 500, 100000" These re-
markable figures are to be considered
in connection with the fact that only
a few years ago the "horseless car
riage" was a thing unknown in act
ual service and only dreamed Of, while
as lately as five years ago there was
no automobile employed exclusively in
the business Of carrying passengers for
a fixed fare. like a street car.
City streets as originally designed
were intended for independent wheeled
vehicles and pedestrians. Oglethorpe,
notwithstanding he provided Savannah
with excellently broad streets, could
not have foreseen that a considerable
part of these streets would eventually
be taken up by the tracks of cars run
ming on metallic rails. The trend
towards automobile passenger traffic.
therefore, Is somewhat in the nature
of returning to first principles and
this movement will be accelerated as
the cities complete the paving of their
street areas with smooth, unbroken
street surfaces, free for and devoted
exclusively to Observation-Disclosures
ed vehicles, there is reason to believe
the traffic would move with less inter-
ference. In New York blockades are
Of daily and almost hourly occurrence
on Broadway and Sixth avenue, which
have two-track surface roads, while a
blockade is OF rare occurrence on Fifth
avenue. which has no surface tracks
but on which there is a line OF auto
busses.
In enumerating the advantages OF
auto-vchicles over vehicles that run
on steel-rail tracks the expert whose
views we are considering points out
that the automobile can thread it's way
among vehicles where the street car
must stop ana wait. that the auto will
pick up and deposit its passengers al
the sidewalk, whereas the street car
passenger must walk 10 and from the
middle of the roadway even m sloppy
weather, that with the auto the great
eKpenss of building a track Is obvi-
ated, ana that there has been lees
| change ln autO-moiors than Boz street
car equipments during the pasi nps
! years. ~ is me constant changing
bias eosta heavily ln street raf opera.
flon No. fhs isadinF cities lu ono citv.
tlamff ~ ~ expert hs had nssn fhs
sfaism m traction completely oianffG
four timsa i1 tHtiFf tatfa