El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-11
UNDERGROUND
TRAVELLERS
MANY
Congestion in Great Cities
Solved by Subway Build
ing.
NEW YORK IS NOW
LEADING THE WORLD

Washington. Feb. 1.-THE present
New York subway running from Atlantic
avenue, Brooklyn. to the Bronx. Is miles
N a straight line, or a matter Of %
miles, with So miles trackage. reckon
ing both the east and the west side
branches. carries in round numbers an
average. Of nearly 100000 passengers
a day. During the Hendrick Hudson.
festivities in 1909 the paid fares reach
ed as high as 1900. 900 In one day The
lower figure at 3 cents per passenger,
totals q daily revenue CT S5e, coo, or
s15, 200, eco for 900 working days And
these figures represent only about half
Of New York's daily transportation
bill
When it is remembered that the New
York subway was originally built to
carry an estimated daily travel of 4O0,-
GOO passengers. and that the increase
Of 100000 has grown in less than six
years it viii be seen that the subway
traction question in New ycxk is in
deed serious Consequently, plans have
been drawn and bids submitted for
what is known as the i've borough
route. which viii literally gridiron
the greater city from Coney Island to
the Bronx, giving rise TO the popular
Shibboleth. Ocean to Yonkers for 8
cents" BY this addition another mil
lion of people can be taken care of
daily, although at least three years
must elapse before any relief from the
present intolerably crowded conditions
can be expected,
Five Tunnels TO BE USED.
When the new lines are in operation
use viii be made Of no less than five
tunnels under the North and East riY-
ers, all OF which are finished and three
IN actual use Thus the five borOughs
comprising Greater New York will be
welded together with two and four
track links Of steel, all underground
or underwater. forming probably the
most matchless system of SubWays in
the world.
Underground Travel Necessary.
Travel underground has become an
absolute necessity in the greatly con-
gested and overgrown cities Of Europe
and America, where surface conditions
long ago became intolerable London
was the pioneer with its dark and
smoky underground railway in the
later sixties Of the last century. Tho
use Of steam consuming and smoke
producing locomotives was finally dis
continued some 10 or L years ago,
when the electric traction motor be-
came perfected. Then an American
syndicate took hold Of the London
'tuppeny tubes" rebuilt, enlarged and
extended them. until today the Eng
Hsh metropolis possesses 200 miles Of
subway trackage laid out on the exact
lines Of q giant spider web, so that il
IS possible to reach any part Of the
vast metropolitan -district-24 miles in
diameter-for a single fare. With its
10000 residents, London naturally
furnishes many more daily riders. the
average being close to a couple of mil
lion, at fares ranging from one penny
for workmen's trains-What in Amer
lea is called rush-hour- seryiQe-up to
two pence and three pence. As an In
stance of the facility with which the
underground crowds are handled in
London ii may be noted that during
the recent Anglo-French exposition
at Shepard's Bush, seven miles from
ChaT1ng Cross, $780, 900 visitors we're
handled daily for many weeks, the
average time being Is minutes. There
IS no SMELL no smoke and no bad air.
An example Of welfare work for pas
sengers is afforded by the fact that
the underground railway issues week
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