Evening star., 1907-11-05
TRAFFIC
Over One Billion Passengers in
New York Annually.
LONG RIDE FOR A NICKEL
For a Fare One Can Go Over Thirty
Seven Miles.
EQUIPMENT COST MUCH MORE
Service In Metropolis Covers 7O5
Miles-11s Elevated, II Subway,
423 Trolley, 90 Horse Cars.
EQUIPMENT COST MUCH MORE
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record-Herald.

y
Chicago Record Herald
NEW YORK. November 2. 1907.
The local traffic of Greater New York
during the year 1905 was 1.245. .516 O56
passengers while the steam railways of
all the rest Of the country handled only
two-thirds as many. or 799, 5O7 1913 pas
sengers The ticket sellers of the ele-
waited and subway stations in New York
| city take in through the little holes over
their counters more than 2.O00.O00 nickels
and dimes every day which have to be
carried in carts to the treasurer's office
and from there to the bank because they
are too heavy for human hands The
average daily traffic Is about 100000
passengers or about 1O2 100000 a month.
More than half these people are hauled
five miles. about one-fourth of them are
hauled seven and a half miles. and Is
per cent are hauled ten miles, for
cents, while the legal rate Of fare would
be 10 cents, Is cents and 30 cents. re-
spectively. Fifteen years ago passen-
ger rode a mile or so IN street car
that cost about 5000. drawn by $500 worth
of horsefesh over roadway that cost
$4,000 a mile. for which he paid cents
and did not complain. Today for the
same price he can ride a distance OF
thirty seven and half miles In car
| that cost 81 300 over a track which cost
| S. 600 900 q mile.
| The local service in New York city
proper consists of the following:
| The elevated d........................118 ..118 miles
The subway. y.'.........'......''.J % 81 nnies Innes
| Horse cars. w miies
| Underground trolley ey................Z23 miles
Overhead trolley ey....................2O1 POI miles
| Total 7O5 miles
The total surface mileage is 424 miles.
7 All of this system Is controlled by the
| Interborough Metropolitan Company.
stock-holding corporation. owning the
stock of nearly forty individual companies
which have been consolidated into COM
plete monopoly. The same company con-
| trolls what are called the Belmont tunnels
between New York and Brooklyn. and all
Of the transportation facilities In Queens
| county on Long Island adjoining Brook
| lyn, which adds 125 miles and raises the
total to $50 miles of track belonging to the
Interborough company. over which Theo-
dore Perry Shonts. recently of Chicago.
and recently president of the Panama
canal commission, is supreme.
| All OF this system except the 90 miles
| of horse cars Is operated by electricity
| generated in four big power houses 10
Gated upon the banks Of the Hudson and
| East rivers. They transmit several hum
| dred thousand horsepower to sub-stations
| located at convenient points In the city.
! This power is transl slormed from alter
! mating to direct current, as required. and
| Is applied to third rail on the elevated
| and underground roads. and to conduit
| and overhead trolley for the surface roads.
These power houses consume more than a
| million tons Of coal year.
| The elevated and subway roads use ]. sos
cars, the surface electric roads use 3.04O
| cars. and the horse lines 555 cars. making
| a total of one more than 6,OO0 cars in
| daily service. The company has recently
contracted for several hundred additional
| cars by order of the public service COM
| mission to relieve the present congestion.
An average of 10000 men are employed
| In the operating department.. The number
is increased during the winter months and
| reduced somewhat in the summer On the
pay roll for September there were 2O,71O
| names.
The Passengers Carried.
The subway service began in the sum-
| mer of 1905 and during the rest Of that
year carried 72.722. 800 passengers. This
| relieved the pressure upon the elevated
and the surface roads considerably. al
though their traffic fell OFF only 32 600 300
passengers during that year. as against a
gain OF nearly 100000 by the subway
During the next year. 1906 the patronage
| Of the elevated railway was 25f 1S8, $50 a
failing OF of 3O.O0O.O0O from 1904. but the
| surface roads carried Ia. 600. 600 more as
sengers and the subway carried nearly
13S OOO. 900. altogether making u net In
| crease OF llS,OUU,UO passengers IN the
traffic OF all the New York city roads,
The figures are quite interesting, and
have been furnished me by Mr.. Travis
| H. Whitney. secretary Of the public serv-
ices commission of New York.
| It should be understood, to- Begin width,
that Greater New York Is composed. Of;
Manhattan Tor New York city proper),
the Bronx. (which used to be known as
Harlem).. Brooklyn. Queens county, which
| adjoins Brooklyn on Long Island and
Richmond which is Staten Island. Each
| one of these divisions has its street car
| service, and the following table shows the
number of passengers carried. by :: them
annually during the last six years: =
Manhattan and the Br6Ax Sesnp
-. =. bined.
! ".H Elevated Surface'ii.; -. -.
! ... Roads. Roads. Subway.