The Washington herald., 1908-01-24

With the advent Of the 80 pay-as-you-
enter street cars in New York. this new
idea Of urban transportation seems to be
coming TO stay. II was tried for less than
a day in Pittsburg, with ordinary cars,
and was pronounced a failure, but every
where else that it has been tried it has
proven a satisfactory innovation to the
patron and a profitable one 10 the street
car company. Some one with "a taste for
statistics has figured out that about o.
per cent Of the urban population OF
the United States spend one-third OF
their waking hours on street cars. To
the layman this seems "a pretty strong
estimate. but il IS adopted IN good faith
by leading manufacture of pay-as-you-
enter cars. so that 1t seems 20 comport
with the information street car companies
have al hand
Census figures show that over $4,000
6og. passengers were carried on the
street car lines OF the United States IN
1902. and il is estimated that this increased
20 6mW0W0 iu 1907 This amounts 10
something like 200 rides "a year for every
person residing IN cities and towns hav-
ing street car lines The street cars
carry more than seven times as many
passengers as the steam cars Of the
United States.
For many years plans for the arrange
ment Of the interior of street cars were
Ike the laws of the Modes and the Per
slams that altereth not Then came along
some authority who declared that the
details Of car designs are Of immense
importance in thciE effect on the eX-
pauses OF accident claims and the eco
n0mic movement Of rolling stock. Since
then an sorts Of new designs OF cars
have come out and many gratifying
changes have been made. the latest OF
which IS the pay-as -you-enter car
But il takes work 20 educate the people
up 20 the point Of paying as they enter
ears. II IS striking innovation, and az
best there are many who resent the idea
Of having 90 Dig up q fare while holding
an umbrella in "a rainstorm. Therefore
liberal use OF printers ink has % be
made 10 ger the popular mind friendly
toward the change. When the Niagara
Falls lire started its pay-as-you
cars II issued circulars 10 al patrons
some time in advance. telling them what
manner Of service was proposed, and
showing. by many half-t0ue cuts. just
now the system works I'm actual prac-
ticc. The newspapers were interested IN
the matter and helped it along by col
umns of stories about the new service.
When the opening day arrived every one
wanted 20 try &C. and things worked
20 the entire satisfaction Of the traction
company The experience there has been
duplicate everywhere that they have put
on the pay-as-you-euter cars along with
the pay-as-you-enter rules. Where they
have not done SO, as in Pittsbu-g, the
rule has not worked we'll
These new cars are Of the Ions, single
car type They have an extra wide yesti-
bule at the rear. The front vestibule is
used only for the motorman, and is not
open for entrance or exit The people
getting on the car get into the rear end of
the rear vestibule and those aIjghung
from it get of at the front half of it, The
conductor stands facing toward the rear,
well up by the door of the car He can
see every passenger as he gets on, drops
i'm his nickel, and passes into the car
As a rule the conductor is eiven discre-
ton as TO whether the car SHALL be opar-
ated as an ordinary car or as one Of the
pay-as-yo u-euter type when there is
very bad weather,
The advent of the new car has brought
with It new cash register. THIS regis
ter VIII be used on the Madison avenue
g-. is D. tod
that when the patron drops his nickel
into the slot the fare is automatically
registered. The conductor does not have
access 10 the money until it has been reg
istered. but after that he can get all that
he wants for change-makng purposes.
If anything goes wrong with the regis
tering apparatus the channel thereto is
cut of. and the nickels drop directly into
a locked box and continue 70 do SO until
the register is set in order again. There
are other kinds of cash registers in use
with the new cars one of them being
known as the coffee pot register from
its resemblance TO that well-knOwn
household utensil Another is "A little
hand register. which the conductor holds.
1t has q slot in IT, and the conductor
hands it out TO the patron, who drops
his coin in It resembles closely i'm its
mechanism one OF the simpler bicycle
cyclometers, every passing coin CORE
spending to a revolution of the wheel. It
is said to represent the company in the
street car transaction. 1t registers the
money and then releases ii 10 the COnduC-
tor, who is free to use il in making
change Another innovation that has
come along with the cars is the change
making machines. These machines have
been tested in Montreal and have given
satisfaction They are intended 20 be
stationed at convenient points so passen-
gers can secure the proper change before
boarding cars.
One of the principal things that have
impelled street ear companies to adopt
the pay-as-yOu-enter cars is the alleged
existence of dishonesty among the en-
ployes It is said that there are 1850
conductors on the City Railway lines Of
New York During the past year 1.S00
resigned Six thousand, five hundred
were discharged, more than $500 Of them
for alleged dishonesty, most of which
consisted in the practice Of knocking
down" fares. Thus practically the en-
tire force was changed twice inside OF a
single year
The pioneer city in making the pay
as-you-enter" experiment was Montreal