New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-15

%made 10 per cent more money on each
| ticket, but SO many persons refused TO ouy
them that the cash receipts dropped of IS
per cent The service took as many trains
as before. so that the road saved prac-
tically nothing on the cost of operation.
There is only one way this problem OF
suburban transportation can work out
That is by the railroads operating their
suburban trains on the rapid transit plan
The suburbs will keep on growing, and the
demand for transportation lines VIII still
keep ahead OF the supply. Sooner or later
the railroads will learn that if they have
not the equipment Of tracks and plant to
run fast and frequent local trains they VIII
have to get it The faster they build up
! their suburban colony, Of course, the faster
their freight traffic there will grow.
THE sliding scale OF Communication rates
| on the New York, New Haven & Hartford
was established in 1873 thirty-seven years
ago. To-day the suburban passengers on
that road are four times as numerous as
they were then. The freight rates on the
road are one-third now Of what they were
at that time The road is now increasing
the passenger sliding scale from 50 to oO
per cent Instead Of advancing the rate II
should reduce il as much as it has reduced
the freight rates.
1T has been proven that with steam loco
| motives the operating expenses of a ROAD
are about 20 per cent Of the gross passen-
ger receipts, and that with electricity they
are about 40 per cent. The road says that
the increase is made to pay the hrakemen
the increased wages which have recently
been granted them Yet this reduction In
the cost of operating the suburban trains is
1,ar
wages OF all the employees who were af-
fected.
THE New York, New Haven & Hartford
boasts that it saves s650.00o a year by using
electricity for its trains in and about New
York. II has one of the finest equipments
in the world for handling heavy local traffic
cheaply In all this it is modern and looks
to the future. Let it look to the future by
running its great system in the way 1T Will
have TO some day, and it will find the
business popular and profitable. BY In
creasing its rates as it is doing it harms
all the suburban communities on its line
"a railroad Just about owns the towns in
its suburban territory said Henry E. Col
well, Mayor of New Rochelle, who has been
a leader in the protest against the raise IN
rates. First the road makes a very low
fare for the man who viii buy two trips
each way every day in the month. and so
persuades him 10 settle in the suburb and
keep at work IN the city. He builds or buys
a house, and the road hauls the bricks and
mortar and the nails and laths TO build
it with Ike brings his wife, and she rides
on the road when she goes shopping, and !
generally pays fun fare for it.
His -four and his meat and his new
shoes and his milk and his cold storage |
eggs come over the railroad. A grocer set |
ties in the town to sell food to him ana |
his neighbors, and plumber and gas
company come, and a hundred other peo-
pie, and all their supplies come over the
railroad. His daughter is married. and
half trainload of guests come on the rail- |
road and go back by the railroad. When
he dies his lodge charters a special car |
and pays railroad fares to go to his funeral, |
and his widow settles down on the insur- |
ance to support the children till they are |
old enough to be commuters and ride on |
the railroad every day
THE railroad doesn't lose anything in |
carrying the commuter himself. and it
makes a good round profit on all the rest |
of the community which Is built up about /
him. He is the core of il all. and the rea- |
son for il. For a road TO build up a region |
by announcing that it will give certain low |
rates for convenient service and then to |
take advantage of the situation by putting |
the rate up at the first opportunity is not
exactly immoral, perhaps, but it is hardly
an act of good faith. A man seeking a
new home would choose another railroad.
even If the actual rate mile were trif1e
higher, if he felt sure that the fare would
not be increased without warning.
IAN appeal has been made to the Public
Service Commission and delegation from
Westchester County went 10 Albany IN
favor Of Senator Wainwright's bill putting
Communication rates under the jurisdiction
of the commission. The bin was passed
by the Assembly. and the Governor as
sured our people that he would do all he
could in its favor. If the New Haven really
puts its higher rates into effect It VIII hurt /
the whole OF Westchester County. There |