New-York tribune., 1908-12-04

NOliE F4LL4CTEN ABOUT TRANSfERS'
orr contemporary The New York Times.
has permitted Itself 10 be confused on the trans
fer question by the reasoning of the street ralI-
Nly companies. 1t declines to he convinced ny
the evidence of the Public Service COMMISSION
that the earnings of the street railways I" HlV
car mile actually increased last year. ana poIhts
Ia the fact that while cash passengers lncreased
only - per cent transfer passengers increased
1873 per cent This being 40. the companies must
according to The Times" he worse on even
though they did earn more. Comparison OF
these relative rates of growth. says Inc
Times" would seem tn confirm the gloom!
views of the receivers of the companies "Ihcn
give transfers. to the effect that the more
business they get like that the worse on
THE companies will be
Why so? 1t is not the number OF tunes Il pas
senger transfers that determines the cost OF
the ra ailroad's service 10 him. hut the total length
Of his ride. The Tmes's' reasoning and that
of tbe railway companies pushed to its logical
o,1tcone would mean that railway was bem&
rlined when il carried passenger from ooli'
street down Sixth avenue to 59th street trans
ferred him eastward and retransferred hlm oo"i
Madison avenue to 50th street. while IT was
getting rich when il carried him on the HlAih
ayenue from I25th street to the Battery In tle
ono ease he would he three passengers paying
l,ff
he one passenger paying full 3-cent rare
That is the fault with all of this reasoning. 1t
assumes that A transfer means double service
for 4 single fare whereas it actually means Il
very slightly increased service for single rare
Take concrete illustration which may ne re-
cardpd rs fairly typical. Ten women WISH 10
go shopping from the neighborhood OF "lil
street and Madison avenue TO broadway anu
34th street. They are average persons anu III
nav only one fare apiece TO reach thef ueS
tination walking few blocks rather than pay
the second With transfer system they rue
down Madison avenue to 59th street. transfer
there retransfer TO the Sixth avenue line ana
tbuS IN S41h street and Broadway. Without the
transfer they ride down Madison avenue anu
nv the same line to 34th street and Fourth ave
nue. and then walk TO Broadway The only ad-
ditionaI service the railways perform III the
case of the transfer is to carry the passengers
two blocks from Madison TO Sixth avenue LUZ
4her than they do with no transfer ana the
question whether the transfer Is rulnouS OF hot
IN rbeir case depends upon whether that addl-
tionaI two blocks of transportation IS 10" lluch
for the money Any argument based upon the
Fact that in the one case the company carries
ta, cash ma ssengers and in the other ten cash
and twenty transfer passengers. thirty III All
for the same money is the mereSt moonShlhe'
So all over the city il is not the number OF
Messengers transferred, nor their percentage
of tI,e total. hut how much distance on the aver
AGE of actual use transferred passengers are
carried in addition TO the distance they "oulu
he carried without transfers that determines
the cost of fhe transfer system. And the queS-
zion whether it is profitab BILE or not depends
,,non whether or not The additional facli-
rios il nuts at the publics disposal IN
crease traffic enough 10 pay The addluonal
cost that such service actually entails SINH
Iarlv the ouestion whether the transfer causes
crov-ding or not depends not on the numheF oI
transfers issued but the addit0nal actual
service rendered. the additional length OF ume
the transferred passenger stays in the street
car hy reason Of the greater facilities winch
hiring him 10 his destination with the MINIMUM
of walking The argument that crowdlhg II
nronortioned 10 the number Of persons using
transfers overlooks the fact that the interciahEe
of ma ssepgers at the intersection of two lines Is
about equal in both directions
Tntil some one furnishes statistics 10 snow
how much e,reater distance 'on the average pas
snnoers actually ride for single fare because
of +bair use of transfers than they would other
wise ride for that fare no certain cohcluSlo"S
can be reached. All that is now known Is 'hdt
despi1a the fact that transfer passengers III
creased much more last war than cash pas
sepoe.S the average earnings Of the strePi
railways for each car operating n mile were
slightly increased.