New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-15
Wrof6 and SOrrOta,
FOHote, Action OF
tie NetO Hdpen
Road.

Communication rates are going I'D. While
rhfIauthropists and sociological experts are
racking their brains for ways TO spreao
New York's congested population over 'lie
COUNTRYSIDE, some of the railroads are ap-
paren1ly stirring themselves to cheek sucA
movements by making home IN ne couii-
try cost the city worker more than loi-
rnerly. Seven great roads bring lS0.uo men
and women TO this city every morning anu
take them home every night one OF the
seven has already raised its communication
rate: two others Will make an extra charge
for the use Of their new tunnels from Long
Island and New Jersey. and the other Iour
are frankly considering an increase
When q railroad considers" putting up
prices the proposition is far advanced;
nothing short of fight is likely to stop it
And though there has been a great TODD
among the unfortunates who live along the
New Haven road. where the mischief is
done already, there is not word OF pro-
test as yet, from the commuters of the
other six lines where an organized opposl-
ton would have some chance of preventing
the threatened raise of fare
There is a popular notion that railroads
run their Communication service at loss, or
at best, practically without profit. planning
to get their money back in the greater re-
ceipts from freight and from straight
passenger fares which come with the thick
ening population. Most railroad men are
willing TO let this idea spread without con-
tradicting 1t, but few Of them VIII say
fatty that IL is true OF their own particular
road. Many men who have studied trans
portation say outright that it is not true;
that communication business by itself is
profitable. One of these men is Joseph ;.
Wood Mount Vernon lawyer, who has
facts and figures TO prove his point-that
by proper management the railroads could
make their Communication traffic even more
profitable than il is at present
BY electrifying their lines he said
when questioned on the subject the rail
roads have revolutionized suburban travel
In region that is as thickly settled as
westchester County a suburban railroad is
really a rapid transit line, and 1t ought to
be operated as such. Where there are
towns like New Rochelle and West Ches-
ter. with 10000 and 5000 population within
a few miles-parts. in fact, Of the netropo-
lis itself-it is absurd to apply all the rules
and the rates of fare that were made thirty
years ago for train service between cities
lying hundreds of miles apart.
1t does not pay TO run a Steam iocomo-
tive unless il can haul four or five cars at
once, for It IS burning coal all the time.
Thus, a steam train service is usually run
with long intervals between trains, SO that
several cars full OF people Will be carried
at each trip. But an electric locomotive
uses only as much power as it needs TO
pull its load. It can pull one or two cars
at time with very little waste
Instead of putting up their Communication
rates both the New York, New Haven &
Hartford and the New York Central should
start a regular rapid transit service, such
as that in the subway, as far as Stamford
and White Plains. Let them run trains on
their suburban electric tracks at frequent
intervals, say. twenty minutes, during the
BAY. as well as at the rush hours Let
them charge by a system 81 fare zones
say. FIVE cents TO all points within the city
limits in The Bronx, and five cents more TO
points outside Their traffic would Jump
joy leaps and bounds. Within few months
they would be running trains Of the fun
number OF cars ali day long, and the in
creased traffic would make UP for the low
cred fares ten times over.
There was an excellent example Of what
happens to passenger traffic after a change
IN fare when IN 1907, the New York Cen
trial raised its communication rates 10 per
cent on July ]. During the first six months
of that year the railroads station at Mount
Vernon sold 4. 453 Communication tickets and
2ls fifty-trip family tickets. which. to-
gether. brought in 81, SIS 75 at the rate then
in force In the last six months OF the
same year. after the increase in price, the
road sold from the same station 2.556 COM
mutation tickets and 14s family tickets.
which made receipts Of only Sl5656 80. 1t