The Washington times., 1912-08-10
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS?

To the daily Consular Report of August 6, vi
'nsul General Tredwell of Dresden, contribut
; following description of street car efficiency
1t German center of trade and activity:
The city authorities who control the street
car service of Dresden have put in force a sys-
tenn which greatly increases the efficiency of
their lines. BY their plan it is possible for a
stranger to make immediate use of the street
railways without either speaking foreign Ian
guage or having any OF the advance knowledge
that is needed in getting about by street car in
many cities of Europe and America.
Each of the eighteen lines Is known by
number instead of by name, as this makes pos
sible the system of public indexing which is in
vogue here, Cars belonging to lines of even
numbers are painted red, odd numbers yellow.
The number is placed conspicuously on each
car, together with the general route which is
indicated by side signs. ..
Every car carries a conveniently placed piece
of CLOSED cardboard. on one side Of which is
route map of all the car lines together with
their numbers, and on the reverse a map show
ing the various numbered zones into which the
city is divided. All the lines except two cross
the city diagonally. These two make an inner
and an outer circle, and one or the other touches
every car line SO that all parts of the city are
accessible without making more than two trans
fers Fares vary with the number of zones
traversed, and may cross Dresden for 4
cents. Two cents is the fare for an average ride
When trailers are used, they are employed as
smoking cars and have side pockets of porcelain
at each seat to hold the cigar stubs, etc.,
which would otherwise be thrown into the
streets to the possible inconvenience of pedes-
trians.
The terminals of each line are indicated by
signs inside the cars, by which passengers may
tell the direction in which they are travelling
As a means of advertisement each car Is fur
nished with clock and daily newspaper.
In order to expedite the service cars stop
only at specified places, all of which are marked
by red signs attached to lamp posts These
middle Of n wh tha
stopping of car will interfere least with the
traffic. The lamp globes show bands of red
which make them easily seen at night; and the
zones in which they are found are indicated on
the posts by bands of white paint, one for each
zone. These assist passengers in estimating the
correct fare. Small white signs project over
these bands, showing the number of the car
lines passing there and the names and direc-
tons of the terminals of each line At the
principal railway stations and at other import
ant centers illuminated index signs have been
placed for the convenience of strangers. Every
street corner is conspicuously labeled in blue
with the name of the street and the numbers
of the houses included in each block.
This careful attention to the intelligent in
formation OF passengers does away with many
inconveniences, as the car system in part or in
whole Is made plain at each stopping place or in
each car, so that "he who reads may rum" 1t
is system well worthy of imitation.
WHAT do you think would happen if Washing
corporations we're asked to give I
ueh consideration to the comfort of their patror
hat do you think they would say II they were ssl