The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-07-19
THE HTMiN FiCTOR.
surprising Results OF the study of Man In
Public ItlIity ReGuIaiisn.

hfliAl NNFin WIN uneTFlnk accuracy 10 the
work OF regulating public utilities. By
thousands of observation, made under
normal conditions Of service they have dis
covered for Instance. that telephone ser
Nice u poorer on a dismal. cloudy day than
on fair day heCau-e OF the effect which
the weather has on the mental condition Of
the telephone girl that badly ventilated
offices AFFECT telephone service for the same
reason that certain percentage Of persons
using street ears are strap hangers NV pref
erencr. and that there - great difference
In IA" quI"kn"-s With which people Of
| different large cities hoard ears. An lndi-
annapolis man I'll board car In Oa seconds.
hut II takes the average MlNaukee man
! ) -econds to Chamber aboard. Through
| thousands Of observations these results
, showed that for some inexpliCable reason
Milwaukee people are slow Ia boarding cars.
One of the most elaborate single investi-
cations yet undertaken nv the commissions
engineers was in connection with a street
| railway fare case and complaint on service
coming from the city Of Milwaukee. The
| hrst step Was tho stIdy OF the traffic n a
| whole. II soon became obvious that the
heaviest traifir or greatest travel occurred
between and . 4 NJ. ~ 4. VI. and 7 NJ.
s and = \ VI and ~ To II 4 NJ
! The fourteen main lines Of the street rail
way system we're then invest gated in much
| detail for each ~ the different periods Of
heavy travel Observations on about 900
cars showed that quite a number Of the peo-
pie riding really preferred tn stand even
when seats were available. and this tendency
was - pronounced that II seemed to follow
fixed law. In fact observations showed
that in 900 cars an average of two people
| stood by preference when only ten TO four
! teen people were ON the car. In asa cars
| observed three people stood when there we're
only fifteen 70 nineteen passengers. In
I al cars observed four people stood out Of
| twenty To twenty riding In NO. cases
/ ia which there we're from forty to forty-two
! passengers ON the car eight of these stood
/ by preference Therefore for a car having
! n seating capacity Of foTty-two people the
| size at the street car in general use In Mil.
| waukeei comfortable load was taken a.
| hfty passengers on the assumption that II
eight people preferred 20 stand even n
seats we're provided for them II was there
fore unnecessary 10 provide seats for these
eight people
4 number of rea-nus might be suggested
a. explaining this preference ~ a number 81
passengers to stand rather than to Ill down
Unavailable The passengers may wish
90 stand on the rear platform to smoke or IN
front for observation. oT they may have
basn sitting down all day and prefer To
stand for that reason. or having only
short distance to ride they may not car"
to 90 To even the sight trouble Of selecting
one or a number ~ available -est- In fact
there - n 1T" variety of reasons why n
number NJ the passengers should prefer TO
stand rather than avail themselves of seats
and this tendency, A. shown above. seems
. to OheN u general Law
Another poln, covercd ~ the inNeStigat ION
was the movement OF passengers In allgh'.
ing from and boarding cars II was noted
that pa-sengers m Milwaukee We're slow IN
alIghttng from and boarding Car- "a COM
pared With the average passenger in her
frlf Naa rms a a.
l"ui- ~ Paul, Minneapolis. Duluth and
Indianapolis, ~ well a. Milwaukee. % va-
determined that during m" evening psaA
IN The downtown Districts 81 these ,.'tic~
u required an average 81 one and a hall
-~cond- passenger Ia Milwaukee Ia hoard
a car hen ten passengers were GET Ing on
TINS T. ,ontrp-'ed WITH - seconds m Duluth
and - Louis nav A. YOU enter % Sc
Louis and - Paul ant ~ seconds N In
tianapoii, Whom r." P""rle boarded
'ar the average IN Milwaukee WaS also longer
II Indanar"li- rVe people would hoard
a rsr IN an average of % seconds A pasSen-
ger Whil. AZ Milwaukee ; ~ ~, onis we're
required Md even nh"n fifteen passengers
we're boarding car Their" VA. considerable
age passenger between Milwaukee and the
othet cities investigated. " matter 81
fact the hest time made NJ Milwaukee was
approximately ~ seconds a passenger.
no matter how larg" she crowd. while the
other cttl"- ATTAINED an average 81 apptoNi-
fineen To tNrnty penpl" or more boarded
the car In general way this same i"ntIr"
wa. noted IA the movement Of passengers
when leaving 'hr~ IN all III" cities men
~ he first glance ~ would appear that
this slow ness NA- due entirely tp the pas
-engcr- themselves. but upon inv 90 tgation
~ Wa a-orriainei that the company was
mite established stopping pla'c- for their
csrs For in-tHn'" a ar might stop eN-
The ar follow ing might stop car length
or 80 pa-f tbs point ~" PEOPLE would
generally 'opgr"ga'" ~ certain place.
exporting to board The 'ar there. and y hen
the 'ar pro"e-. i"d thirty or forty feet past
ihi- point q Ma ne ''~-arE foT them % walk
r..,iuiT,.I on.i,israhlv more time In board
ing h" car than would otherwise he he
ca-e
norma conditions. not conditions when the
companies ver" avar" iha' their service
regarded a. -u- pi'iorI- characters and taken
In 'harge hy policemen one telephone
au-vs rtnC 'all- would 90 INTO public
telephone hoo %. ,nii a number ~ random
and hang up he receiver when the par'y on
The other end lnsS cred With the excuse that
he had JAILED the wrong number lie had
hsen doing hi- "a one town for Two or three
hours when the -uh-orihers began 10 notify
the police that a man had called their houses ,
FOR he purp1-S 81 finding ont II tho o,Cu-
pRnis ere ~ home with the intention Of
rohhing Them n they we're not. The insp
'or IS a. Touudcd NJ hN = policeman and his
statements not being satisfactory he vaS
audience with tho chief a. soon arranged
aud . that offirial enough ~ the facts were
given 20 satisfy him and 20 obtain his a. !
-uranre that tho Information given would |
90 no further
The telephone exchange In Tho eighteen /
largest cities IN the state were tested in !
October and November. i'slo Al Of the-. /
ts-t- NeTs made hv the same insue, tor and
therefore errors ot psr-onHl equation ,
we're avoided \ double handed split |
,ond stop watch va u~ed in making the /.
tests and the t.:ue required 10 ="' re-pon-ss /
from tho eN'Gtu operator and from the |
parties wanted Wa obtained quite aCrur-
AfeIy Other features than promptne-- of !
response especially 10y the exchange opera !
tor were noted. such ~ the percentage Of ,
errors ia connecting tho caller With the |
party 'allesl. the percentage ~ busy
don't answer rspori- and the amount ~
supervision or attention given tn calls by !
the operator that ~ central asks. MD !
YOU got them or informs YOU I'm ring
again Wide Differences in the character
of service gwen 10y the various exchange.
were clearly seen The average time 70 !
CURED to get a response from CENTRAL va.
~ least tW,c- a. long IA some cases "a In .
Others
In the case Of on" ~ the eychan.ca nm |
earlier test had been mad" about tx months
before the series above mentioned and !
.nnparta0u a the Fe4tttts a. tha