Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-17
FIGHT ON FOR
25-CENT RATE
ON PLANK ROAD
Commissioner MungIe Seeks to
Compel P. S. Co. to In
cIude Ferry Tickets.

The State board of the Public Utility
Commission conducted a hearing OF
arguments in the complaint Of Commits
sioner William Mungle, of the Board
Of Works, against the Public Service
| Railway Company, at the Court House
today.
Two separate complaints were argued
before the commission by Joseph j.
Wolber on behalf OF Mr.. Mungie--one
asking that the trolley company be
compelled TO carry passengers from
Newark to New York and back over
the Plank road line, furnishing them
with ferry tickets for twenty-five cents,
and another petition asking that the
company be forced to issue transfers
at all points where trolley lines inter
sect.
Twenty-Five Cent Fare impossible.
L. D. Howard Gilmour, attorney for
the trolley company, argued that
changes in conditions over which the
company had no control made 1t inn
possible for the contracts fulfllment
in regard to the twenty-flve-cent fare
to New York.
The first change, he said, occurred in
1905, when the company reduced the
price from twenty-five cents to twelve
cents each way. Later the refusal by
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
to continue the sale of ferry tickets to
the company at a reduced rate made
it impossible for the trolley company
to provide through service. Mr.. Gill
mour stated that the Curriers' act of
1904 prevents the company from pur-
chasing tickets from the railroad COM
pany at the regular rate of fare.
Held Under Amusement.
The commission took the 25-cent fare
proposition under adv,sement.
Testimony was taken in the ON
plant of Mr.. Mungle In regard to the
company's refusal to issue transfers
at all intersections of trolley lines.
Transfers Not Issued.
City Trolley Inspector Joseph Craw-
ford, when called to the stand by Mr..
Wolber, told of the points where trans
fers are not issued, and explained that
passengers are thereby unnecessarily
Inconvenience.
He explained tina the Kinney street
cars are scheduled to run from Market
and Broad streets to South Tenth
street and Springfield avenue in 16
minutes, and the Springfield cars are
under the same schedule time to 60
between the two points. The latter
line can make the time, but the former
can not do 1t in less than % minutes.
Very often a passenger could save time
by taking a Springfield car and trans.
fer north on South Tenth street, ar
riving at his destination more quickly
than il he took the Kinney car direct.
Never ON Scheduled Time.
When asked if the Kinney a makes
schedule time Mr.. Crawford answered
II have never known 1t to happen"
Mr.. Mungle was next called to the
stand by Mr.. Wolber. He told the
commission that he was continually
put to great inconvenience in goins
from his home In Garside street to the
City Hall by conductors who refused
to grant transfers from the Bloomfield
line on South Broad. He said also that
he very often o a Broad car goins
home and was refused q transfer on
Bloomfield avenue.
He explained that 1t was not always
convenient to travel by the Mt. Pros
pect line, and that when he took the
Bloomfield line he maintained he should
be carried to his destination without
paying an extra fare.
Refused.
Mr.. Gilmour explained that a con-
ductor on a Bloomfield car refusing a
transfer south on Broad street was
doing so wrongly and had evidently
m-isinterpreted instructions. Chairman
Frank Sommers, f the commission,
asked what system governed the
PRONUNCIATION of Instructions to en-
ployees, and Division superintendent
william B. Graham was called to the
stand to explain.
Superintendent Graham Explains.
A card containing copies OF transfer
| issued on the various lines, explaining
the transfer system in the city, was
presented to the commissioners for ex-
animation.
A hearing Of arguments in the case
was heard by the commission late this
afternoon In their offices in the Scheuer
building at 1876 Broad street.