The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-08-12
TRAMWIY TRAFFIC.

the investigation being made into the of the tramway systems in New York by the Hughes Public Util- ity Commission will agree that they are slowly but surely being educated in the difficulties which beset their Every man who uses a tramway car knows exactly the kind of service he wants. Apparently the man who Is skillful enough to give | the traveller what he knows he wants is as scarce as a hens tooth.
 It is conceivable that surface rail way company may be so selfish and blind to its own material interests as to improvise an insufficient business policy, but it Is inconceivable that that should be it's fixed policy. The alter native is altogether too fierce for its investors and officials. The examina- ton of the officials charged with the running of the subway cars in New York has already clearly established the fact that the science of traffic management on underground, surface and elevated railways Is in its infan- | cy. Thus far 1t has been impossible to establish a schedule which can be depended upon either by the compa- nies or by the public, What is rela- lively easy to accomplish with steam roads with infrequent stops and with all of the facilities for rapid transit Is thus far impossible with the electric Iroads run to accommodate street cor Iner traffic, A thousand things at once Iappear to block the best schedule Imaginable and to make perfect ser vice impossible
 The inability of the tramway com Ipanies of the country to get the equipment they want and are willing to pay for is easily understood. Not only has the tramway service grown faster than the officials and manufact- lurers of supplies have grown but the
 travelling public has made demands
 upon the companies far in excess of
 their own expectations The elevated system in New York offered no relief
 worth mentioning to the overburdened street service. The subway has ac-
 complished little more to ease the sit
 uati6n Strap hanging is still the
 order of the day on all the systems
 The dependence of the public upon these systems and the increased con-
 venience of frequent and rapid sur
 face facilities call for a genius in the
 art of traffic management, compared
 with which the traffic manager of
 steam roads will seem a juvenile. The
 counsel for the commission fh New
 York has uncovered serious shortcom-
 ings in management there which can
 be remedied by order of that depart
 ment of State but he has at the same
 time disclosed the stubborn human
 obstacles to successful railroading.
 There is no lack of a disposition In
 this city to give an up-to-date service in and about 1t. New cars have beer
 ordered. additional equipment has
 been contracted for and more rails are being laid, but 1t is,yet to be de, monstrated that even these new frs aids to the embarrassed will material
 ly solve the problem. The fact i : that the street railroad business has become 8 mighty undertaking which requires evidently a new set of trafTi, : abilities It can borrow to a certain : extent from the experience of thu steam railroads but as a broad pro position its problems are its own it new demands self creative. It is thi condition which justifes the operatinI lcompanies in asking the indulgence O
 the travelling public without relaxing in the slightest degree their enthusi asm In undertaking to cure the sltua ton. Not alone is the endurance o
 electric traffic men being taxed. Thei
 ability Is being tested to the utmost
 Theirs Is a new problem which call for all the experience of the stean
 traffic managers and little bit more