New-York tribune., 1907-04-29
MORE SUBWAYS NEEDED
BIG TRAFFIC INCREASE.
Chief Engineer Says Ten NeS0 Lines
Mast BE Built by 1916.

GsSDS III %~eSS w AS%Us
Despite 'the fact that private capital cannot az
present be obtained and that the city lacks sutii-
oient funds for extensive subway building Chies
Engineer Rice. I'm his annual report 10 the Rapid
Transit Commission. made public last night, says
that within the next five years. before 1871 :vo
tour-tracC subways must be built 20 Brooklyn and
three four-track subWays in Manhattan and The
Bronx.
While fhe fact has been stated over and over
again. Mr.. Rices figures on the increase Of traffic
impressive. and show that, unless the traffic
carriers are going to be swaInped, plans viii have
20 be carried forward without delay
After eEhaustively treating the question OF
growth Of traffic and population. as verified by the
United States government charts. Mr.. Rice makes
the following deductions:
First-rhat the population Of the territory com
ft@e8 each tWenty-five years during the last half
century. and Will probably double Itself again by
sscOnd-That the total paid passenger traffic IS
about doubls itssn a~ within a the NEXT decade
Ihrdthst TO bring about the Sent oscon nondj
70 @gons nov prsyaing on al fat tbe foon
additional subWays be constructed and put In oper-
Fourth-wlthin the next hve years. or by 1911.
as follows: For Brooklyn. two four-tEaek SURVEYS.
o. eISb, s5SJ,Iorsi frscEs crossing East River
either IN tunnels on bridges ana trayerslne uIe
borough; for Manhattan and The Bronx, three iouI-
track subWRys. for operating ten-ear uains' u4-
Bifth-Within the second I'VE years. or by 1915.
as follows; For Brooklyn. two more four-tFae6 track
more four-tracl subWays.
sixth-Or within the next decade altogetheT; Tor
Manhattan. The Bronx and Brooklyn ten Iour-
track subWays
with reference to the increase Of passenger traf-
&c Mr.. Rice says
Considering all the boroughs grouped into one
great population centre, It appears that during the
four years ended June So 1905, the total number
o. paid passengers travelling on all street rallNay
surface. elevated and subway roads-incTeased
practically in a straight lire During 1906. how
Srafic While the average increment for the four
preceding years was only about SSeo99yo @ o yea,
during 1906 Il amounted 10 nearly llOOOOOOO. NO
oesHs 6 o. a ne i.o 1bf or i'm iposss5ie TO deter
mine whether this large additional number OF riders
IS due TO corresponding increase In the popIauoh
20 increase in the number OF riders per cap.
ita but increase in the population is the most
During lsos and 1906. with the travel in the whole
city stil increasing at Iniform rate N AlanhaU-
but mainly in Brooklyn corresponding gam 4"
IN ie0s there was general increase in the rate OF
travel IN all the bOrOughs Inis was greater I5tte
Tesrs ,s VIA wiicb have been coSsdeTed Manhattan
covered than lost during the years lSva !
and 1875. An the other boroughs made material
IN the upper portions Of Manhattan great many |
apartment buildings nave oee!l ~. sI,b
been large movement 'nto THIS district tne suo-
y elgnL ana a IL ..slIIi i ynosT ~ ibess
hsca year OF 1sub assuming Hat Il4oSt u
suburbs in New Jersey, Long island and West /
chester a total OF nearly seventeen million add- /
ronal passenger fares are accounted for on the
II would appear. therefore. as already stated /
above. that the pronounced growth in 1905 IN the
whole city can only be accounted for by a CORE
spoP61g increase & n the G oP tbs cv rst
Duri1e the fiscal year of 1906 $50 555o25 paid
passengers were carried the street railways in 1
1O67.0O0 This represented 27S rides an inhaoitant
The elevated lines carried u. ss1 and the
spectively. OF the total number. over 50 per cent
sengeTs, were carried 10 ana from Manhattan over /
the bridges and ferries There has been slight
crease OF the total passengers carried. But con-
on the elevated than on the surface.
The number OF surface riders in 1903 was about |
q per cent greater than in 1901 During the same
period the amount OF single track operated has IN
Sot 5s per cent s Ri ' 6as rsued s IN Erea
increased croWding on az lines For the same hve /
per cent. Each inhabitant has taken iSs rides on
the surface cars during 1906 as compared with ia
i the same rates Of increase which have pre-;
vailed during the past hve years are maintained
for decade, in 1si the number of paid passengers
amount 10 about s6 90 oo in 1916 about as 600 o
The travel the elevated railroads IN Brooklyn
has nearly doubled while the surface roads
reas Of tgsfic only gss miles ~ sins f az
have been added or only Il per cent more than was
operated IN 1901 The car mileage in the same
period has not increased 60 per cent. It appears
therefore, that the Increase in facilities on the
elevated has not kept pace with the growth in the
surface and elevated roads. is greatly over |
DlrdeneQ. II Is obvious that 70 provide relief
E3rooklyns population the subway systems must be |
possible.
The population Of The Bronx Borough at the |
end OF the fiscal year 1896 2s3 AZ; IL has grown
over % per cent In the last fve fiscal years. In
carried on the surface lines. may say the 1
travel within the borough. has increased uniform
raTe Of more than SO cent. The corresponding /
increase In the passenger car mileage has been /
less llan q per cent consequently the service
provided is good $ II was five years ago: |
the tackage Is sufficient and adequate surface car
transportation in this borough be furnished /
FOR some years by increasing the mileage or |
Eurnner Of cars in
Manhattan's population was 2l57 5S5 for the 1906
fiscal year. This represented an Increase of about
Is per cent il five wears. The traffic on all the
lines in the borough has increased nearly 80 per
cent during the same tlrae, but the growth has
been uniform throughout the whole period The |
vas less than that for the preceding year up to 1
800 For 1906 there was n marked increase in the
travel al lines. While IN each year the total
travel has increased over that OF the preceding
year. the same thing cannot be said OF the sur
face, elevated and subway lines when considered
Increase tL the number OF paid passengers
rled on both the surface and elevated roads. In
l90s there Was falling of the surface lines
and a corresponding Increase the elevated; this
ence with the surface caused by the construc-
lion OF the subway But the surface and elevated
lines showed loss in 1905. which. combined, VITA
equivalent 20 the travel on the subway during that
were drawn from the elevated lines There
nearly 000Oe0 less passengers using the elevated
than IN l90aAa loss Of 10 per cent, instead what
should have been gain OK nearly 20 per cent ex-
cept for the subway.
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