New-York tribune., 1909-01-25
NEEDS OF THE SUBWAY
nEpORT OF p. S. EXPERT.
saegests ImproUed Ser1ice and
Recommends Ne1o Lines.

,.- Arnold. consulting engineer Of the Public
&c Commission. has submitted a report on
-. Traffic Of the Subway in which he draws
- t,teresting conclusions that the local trains in
= ,ru-sv gl-e better service than the expresses
as+ The locals make more money for the company
- that. while the capacity of the present subway
., vet be increased TO a considerable extent the
ss-fv increase traffic is SO large that the only
to,e for doing away with existing congestion is
40 hutd new subways.
u-.A-noid saws that the CARRYING capacity ~ the
cypress tracks during rush hours has been in
,sased 70 per cent in the last three months and
adds that Improvements now under way. such as
side doors in the cars speed control signals at the
.ntroaches express stations, the elimination OF
,se a61h street crossover and the running Of all
sr-ress trains to Brooklyn by providing q shuttle
rain service between Bowling Green and South
Ferry will further increase the subway's capacity
n appears that the longest ride for cents pos
sss,e in the subway, without change OF route Is
f-rn Atlantic avenue, Brooklyn to c42d street
Manhattan, on the Broadway division. a distance
of seventeen and one-half miles This is longer
:han the longest continuous ride possible for
rents on the Manhattan L system which is
sn,Yteen and six-tenths miles the Third avenue
line and also longer than the longest possible con-
tinuous ride without transfers on the surface
lines which is twelve and three-tenths miles on
The Third avenue line. from the PostofHoe 10 For,
George.
The growth OF traffic IN the subway since il was
\, cad and
sn0rnous The ticket sales for the year 1903 were
ifsSl2. for 1876 they increased TO 1se rs 80 for
1877 the figures 1S e and for 1905 the total
2ale2l.712 The receipts from passengers FOR
tss amounted to 81. .o4s $50 50
Mr. Arnold compares the trarhc IN the subway
for the year ended June 3o 1905 with the traflc of
fhe underground railroads of London, and with
that Of the elevated lines IN this city and in Chi
ozgo The total number Of passengers carried COM
pares follows; New York subway. 300 4l5. .oso:
London underground tubes, 1saooasa Manhattan
elevated lines. 2s2.s70Sso: Chicago elevated lines
iG87.1S
The rghtest travel is in the subway on SUNDAY
and the heaviest on Monday The heavy traffic of
Monday is attributed shoppers who are at
tracted By the advertisements in the Sunday news
papers. Al the present time the subway Is carry
ing from 65osbo TO 75o.ooe passengers dav The
record for one day was made on Monday Deoero-
Der 2. 1903 when ss6-oso passengers were carried
tables showing the increase or decrea Sc in ticket
sales the various stations during 1905 show that
TIE business at the Times Square station is in
cressing rapidly than the business az the
Grand Central Station. Ths opening of the Brook
lyn extension has decreased the number OF ticket
sales the Brooklyn Bridge station by mora than
20 per cent. and the time has increased the
ticket sales al the Bowling Green, Wall Street and
Fulton street stations.
NJ Arnold estimates the traffic Of the Brooklyn
extension at . eeo.ooo passengers year. He calls
this happy addition 70 the business Of the sub
way. large part Of the Brooklyn passengers
ride & comparatively short distance and in direc-
70 usA more effectively the return and thus
cut down the proportion Of empty seats
Express trains carry the maximum load they
leave the Grand Central station. and local trains
are most heavily loaded they the Grand
Central station. More passengers leave the ex-
presses and locals reach the street the Grand
Central station than any other express station
or the transferring from expresses 10 locals
and vice versa Per cent done Brooklyn
Bridge e per 14th street, Is per cent at the
Grand Central station I3 per 72d street and
?. Per cent at esth street The average number OF
passengers entering expresses is 1se a train, Of
which z per cent transfer to the locals The aver
age number OF passengers entering local trains is
I 80 train Of which s4 per cent transfer TO the
expresses.
figuring On the income Of local and express
trains Nr. Arnold finds that local train averages
.as 81 for an average journey of nine miles in
direction and SIS these trains composed Of FIVE
cars each the income car mile is 81 03 for rush
'hou- service. The income from an average express
train is sss r. slightly than that from local
train.
Nr Arnold shows that the subway is operated
under reasonab bic schedule. and that the schedule
tine is generally made. except IN the rush hours
when the long waits at stations for loading and
unloading trains bring delays which accumulate
rapidly. His conclusions are summarized as 1ol-
toxs:
ent subway car be increased from 1880 seats an
hour 70 1sopD hour, and, as the peak load
is now over 2s.co0 passengers an hour end In
eressng rapidly. every effort should be mace 10
augment the maximum carrying capacity Aool-
ronal doors should be put in the sides OF the cars
and the speed control signal system which has now
been developed should be installed AT all express
stations. These improvements should be followed
by the addition OF extra car on each express
train and the use of an automatic coupler should
receive early consideration
The equitable way TO control the number OF cars
which should Re furnished 20 provide for the con-
Etantly Increasing subway traffic is to determine
upon a constant by which the number Of passen-
gers be expected be divided. The result
will be the number OF miles which the sched-
ue should provide
The measure of the ultimate usefulness Of any
subway is its peak overload capacity II the
present subway could handle sixty trains an hour
OF each express track its usefulness would be
materially increased over its present service OF
thirty trains and beyond its ultimate capacity of
forty trains hour